Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1913-02-01

Central owl due In this city at 2:1
a. m, was wrecked this morning 3
mile and half north of Benchley
while running thirty minutes late ant
at high rate OF speed The engineel
and fireman were killed and five o.
six passengers more or less Injured.
The Dead.
| JOHNNIE LATCHFoRD OF Hous
ton. engineer.
j w. l. DURHAM Of Ennis, fireman.
The injured are:
e. S. Crocker of Hearne, hurt II
the hip.
Ross Stuart of Bryan, suffered
strained back.
w. H. Rengstorf of Bremen, Kan.
elbow wrenched.
B. H. Crimes. colored, Of Houston
foot and leg injured.
John B. Hines of Bryan, injured ii
the back.
The colored train porter, arm hurt
Assistant Superintendent Hall Of
Houston and Express Messenger Irwin
of Rice were painfully injured, and a
negro woman, employed as a waitress
by the H. & t. C. at Hearne, was also
among the seriously hurt.
After the wreck members of the
train crew went to the telegraph Of
flee at Benchley as quickly as posi-
BILE, and the officials of the road were
notified and steps taken to relieve the
situation and provide relief for the in
jured with all possible haste. The
southbound Owl. due here at 4:1O
a m, came down from Hearne to the
scene and carried a majority of the
passengers back to that point. willie
an engine from Benchley was attached
to the Pullman that did not leave the
track, and the other passengers, the
dead and injured were brought to this
city.
Thirty minutes late, the train was
speeding northward with its sleeping
passengers, when without warning, at
a point just north of Benchley, the
crash came, bringing death, bodily in
jury and great loss of property.
A scene of wild confusion followed,
and the darkness added to the horror
of the terrible situation. The groans
of the dying and injured were pitiful,
while the shouting of the passengers
in their excitement and the kissing
steam as il escaped from the broken,
battered engine, completed situation
so tense and thrilling that it win not
be effaeed from the memory OF those
who witnessed it to their dying day.
AS soon as something like order was
restored, a hasty examination showed
that the engine and tender, baggage
car, negro coach, and chair car and
two Pullmans left the track. One Pull
man remained on the track.
In recent years several attempts
have been made to wreck the trains
near this point on the H. & t. C.
Superintendent Hall said this morning,
however, that he was not certain as
to what caused the wreck. He was
dazed and sustained a wrenched back
and knee.
The Owl was about thirty minutes
late and, according to Superintendent
Hall, making about thirty-five miles an
hour. There is double curve just
few yards north of where the wreck
occurred and trestle over a small
ravine. Had the wreck occurred there
many Of the passengers would have
been badly injured, as the track is on
an embankment about fifteen feet high
Steel coaches saved the day. None
of the cars were crushed, although the
force brought against them when they
left the track was terrific. The tender
of the engine was thrown clear over
the locomotive and about thirty feet
north of the pilot, falling to the right
of the track. The pony trucks Of the
engine were found about eighty feet
south of the locomotive, while the
trucks of the tender were thrown
eighty feet north of the locomotive.
The baggage and express car was
thrown to the left of the tracks and
the other cars fell to the right of the
grade. Both the baggage car and the
combination negro coach and smoker
passed by the engine.
Engineer Latchford and Fireman
Durham met instant death. They we're
badly scalded by escaping steam, and
when Express Messenger Irwin and