Strike bulletin. (Clinton, Ill.) 1913-1915, 1913-12-23
COACHES JUST MISS
PLUNGE INTO CREEK
L. e. " r~rk ss N"ckf"rd ta~~ Near H~iss tsss
0se. dsr. Jsmpsss rvsrk. Grase NiAds~s ssp-
p"rs.. Passenger. Tk,s~s lat. rssis~-Hs~ W"-
mas ts siis kay Hart.

Rockford. December tl=Psss.ngers east.
bound omaha aS-r. No /. due her. at /.
W.r" given scare tins morning when two rear
coaches diner ard day left the rails Just
.,st of corhin ,tre., coming 10 q stop under the
hig concrete and steel NiHduct over the yards at
south Ninnebago street
The cars. which remained upright. Just graz.h
the steep uItights which support the viadu,t and
narrowly missed piunSing INTO ihe creek None
of the passengers were severely injured. although
the day coach Was wei filled.
The accident o,,ur.d shortly after o'clock
as the fast train ntering the western end Of
the Yards
The cause of the accident az stated hy rail
road due defective. trucks under
Of the coaches, the fanges of the wheels being
worn bad and sharp that they split
n. switch. several wrecks hax. taken place o
the Illinois Central on this division since the
strike Of the shop men, and since the scsbs have
placed the cotpsnys equipment In dangerous
condition The travelling public Is getting greatly
alarmed and ro ioubt the Illinois GENITAL viii he
The first five cars passed over the switch In
safety. bu, the rear trucks ~ the day coach and
the forward trucks Of the diner were thrown from
the rails. They ploughed over the ties until the
train was brought to a stop
rs..essess .. Paste
Passengers In the day coach were panic strick-
en- for a few moments. and II was not untii the
train crew rushed In after the had lost
their momentum that they could he aueted One
woman became slightly hystericai hut she was
soon Gained and proceeded on eastward with the
rvrt of the passengers
That there one hurt Is regarded by
the railroad officials as more or less Of miracle
Had the day coach struck the steel supports OF
,iaduet sausr.y instead of grazing them. there II
no telling what damag. would have resulted Ger
tain II Is that there would have been some fatal
ii.s at least among III. occpsn,s OF the dsy coach
Even though the steel cars had been able TO stand
the force Of such n collision the breaking Of
tA. steel beams would without a doubt precipitate
tn. entire south end Of the yiaduct upon the cars
slow.
Nearly Ist~ The Cseek
Another fortunate circumstance was that the
coaches did not tip over. At tha point where the
accident occurred Kent creek parallel with the
H. \ great deal OF damage could easily have re.
s1lted had tn. gone into the ditch at this
point As II Was the coach leaned perilousy near
the brink Of the emhankment
wrecking crew arrived from Freeport short
/, before eleven o'clock and proceeded to put the
d-raii.d cHrs back on the track. They finished
there work late this afternoon Neither one OF the
coaches damaged To any extent couple OF
broken vestibnle steps and stripping Of little
o. n. underpining covering most of the damage
The ties and short portion of the track We're
also torn up little
Engineer Waugh and Conductor Walker were
seemed To indicate that they Mere not in any way
Ia blame They continued on their run to Chicago
The woman who was injured resides In Wa
|. .rioo la She thrown against the sid. OF the
with great force. As she was dismissed from
a hospital only few weeks sgo the shaka-up she
ed this morning was especially severe to her