The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-05-08
JcFFRE'S TRAIN
JUMPED TRACK
Continued from page ID

J
the rear end of the wrecked train
This might have been broken by tn
two heavy engines pulling the train
4 The French special was derailed
\ experts decided. when cars bumped
off the rails and the wheel shattered
the fish plates which join the rails
thus allowing them TO spread.
| Government officials practically de
! cided today that the derailment was
an accident. The train was composed
] of five steel cars drawn by two en-
gines and was running eastward al
| forty miles an hour oyer the Penn
sylyania line. Three cars were ditch
ed and all aboard shaken up, but no
one hurt.
After the jolt. NJ. Hovelacque.
f. French inspector general of public in
Istruction. Visiani, Admiral Caochep. at,
iDetausan and other members of tn :
iparty regarded their escape as mira1-
Iulous. If the cars had been French.
Tor wooden construction, they agreed
that many might have been killed
Some members of the French COM
German plotters had spread the rails.
hCAlbcT III lIlS SOIu-
mission was calm and collected
throughout.
They were sitting in the diner when
the crash came The luxuriously ap-
pointed car, bedecked with red and
white roses, became scene of turbu-
lent confusion as il banged along the
ties. Joffre and the others were show
cred with unsolicited bouquets as the
rsr 81, Of ,ra
tIesm N chicken 1Eo asparagus salaG
flsw into the lag: Of The distingd,-heo
Amid the fly:i'g flood of 10 '--g
Marshal Jodre, s-asped the w.:-i.s
leose and Re aaIneo unpertu Dsd.
Wee the swsyirg ano joIting finally
cen'a TO a stop awIy On the ira X RE
n.a.l Snal OF Fra 80 arcse, assured MIN
sels that there hui teen no casIllI:.e..
an. Clietly prc"et "as way out CT the
vrs tknge. Ha ,Iofeed back u rss
state room in the observation car, sat
in stolid calm, awaiting relief from the
situation.
John Redmond, veteran engineer, OF
the Vandalia, living at Arcola, III, was
the hero and savior of the French
party. The front car had blocked the
track and IL Redmond had not jam
med on his emergency brakes the mo-
ment he felt the humping. the balance
Of the train would have piled UP.
A farmer boy giving the name OF
Weinberg came running across tho
fields in the darkness Just after the
wreck and described having seen
mysterious man leaving the scene
fifteen minutes before the crash. a
bridge guard nearby had not seen
him. however.
The first i'll luck since the French
commission left Washington was at
Decatur when the special train kille |
/ drunken laborer staggering across
he tracks. The smash came a few
minutes later.
Immediately after the jolt. secret /
service men took the underailed Loco |
motive and ran ahead to Filson. They /,
,ode messaged Washington concerning !
he wreck. CHAMPAIGN, H., sent a /;
special train. This train was coupled
with the two underailed cars of the
French special and hauled them bacS
10 an unnamed point
Great excitement prevailed all right /
1t the little towns Oh ATr5is aHI Eis- /
son. Automobiles war. rented at nsli- /
lay prices 20 take sigtrscers 10 he
wreck. Doctors rushed =, The stcne, |
tut they were NJ neaiai Viriani l
climbed from the wreckage and yaded !
through mud and weed; 10 examine /
he debris. his stocky figure pI3fding /
.long in the pale Eloanligh. with tam (
nen in oyeralls. swinging lanterns, IS +
lis companions.
Hovelacque. his squaro black beard
as he talked, argued enthrs- I
astically with the conductor The t
ears of two French oT1erl;es and !;
foffre's valet were quoted when Sc
ret service chief Nye tossed them a
Jack of cards. They sat in the half
wrecked car, playing quietly amid the
Lieut.. Col. Spencer
,osby, the American military attache,
uttered bruised leg. He was the
My one even slightly hurt
Will investigate Wreck.
PHILADELPHIA. May s.-The ex
cutive Offices of the Pennsylvania
announced today that thor
ugh investigation has been started of
he wreck OF the French commissions
pecial train near Arcola, H. Officials
nnounced dispatches already received
there is every reason to be-
eve the derailment was purely acct !
entail. but the authorities will not
top their investigation until a deli
e. e.