Newspaper Page Text
The Jones County News
VOL. X.
DEATH'S ML BUEST
SIXTY-TWO LIVES SACRIFICED
IN FRIGHTFUL TRAIN WRECK
ON SOUTHERN RAILWAY
UNSOLVED MYSTERY
Engineer Had Plain Orders
as to Meeting Place But
Rushed on to Disaster.
Scenes Appalling and
Heartrending.
one of the worst disasters in the
history of southern railroading occur¬
red on tile Knoxville division of the
Southern railway Saturday morning,
t Two trains carrying heavy lists of
passengers came together in a fright¬
ful head end collision near Hodges,
Tenn., sending fifty-four people to
death and injuring 120, several of
whom died on the relief trains and m
the Knoxville hospital, swelling the
list to sixty-two.
This appalling loss of life and maim¬
ing of the living resulted apparently
from the disregarding of orders given
4o the two trains to meet at a sta¬
tion which has for a long time bean
their regular meeting point. The claim
of failure to see either the station or
signals could not be set up by the en¬
gineer of the westbound train were ne
alive to enter a plea of defense, as the
Xiccident happened in broad daylight
and according to the best information
obtainable he had the orders in a lit¬
tle frame in front of him as his mon¬
ster of iron and steel rushed by New
Market and soon after came upon an
eastbound passenger train making for
New Market, in compliance with in¬
structions, to meet the westbound
train which carried the sleepers from
the east for Knoxville, Chattanooga
and other southern cities.
The possibility exists that the ill-
fated engineer may have been asleep
or that sudden death had taken the
sight from his eyes before New Mar¬
ket was reached, But nothing is
known, save that the orders were not
obeyed. The trains were on time and
not making over thirty-five miles an
hour, yet the Impact as they rounded
a curve and came suddenly upon eacii
other was frightful. Both engines and
'the major portions of both trains we-e
demolished, and why the orders were
■disregarded or misinterpreted proba¬
bly will never be known, as the engin¬
eers of the two trains were crushed,
their bodies remaining for hours un¬
der the wreckage of the monster loco¬
motives.
The trains were turning a sharp
curve when they met, and the west¬
bound train seemed to jump over the
engine of the eastbound train. Two
day coaches were crushed on the east-
bound train between the baggage car
and sleepers. In one coach only one
person escaped with his life.
, The collision occurred about 1 1-2
miles west of Hodges Station, and, 18
miles east of Knoxville.
At 9 o’clock Saturday night it was
known that fifty-nine lives had been
lost and 120 persons injured, accord¬
ing to reports at the Knoxville hospi-
al, to which institution all the serious¬
ly injured were taken. Workers at the
scene of the wreck had at that hour
recovered all the bodies except those
of the enginemen and the passengers
whose lives were crushed out in the
smoker of the eastbound train.
The collision occurred between east-
bound passenger No. 12 and west¬
bound passenger No. 15, from Bristol.
No. 12 was a heavy train, carrying
three Pullmans, two day coaches and
PEACE CALL IS SLATED,
President to Act on Suggestion of In.
ter-Parliamentary Union.
President Roosevelt announced Sat¬
urday afternoon that at an early date
he would ask the nations of the world
to join in a second congress at The
Hague for the promotion of arbitra¬
tion.
The occasion of the announcement
was the reception by tjie president of
the delegates of the Inter-Par’.iament-
ary Union which recently held a ses¬
sion at St. Louis and adopted a reso¬
lution requesting the president to cal!
such a conference.
LOUISIANA POPULISTS MEET.
Hold Convention in Shreveport and
Put Out State Electoral Ticket,
The populists of Louisiana met ip
in Shreveport Saturday,
a platform and placed a full
electoral 'ticket in the field. Every
congressional district was represented
when the convention was called to or-
der by Joe A. Parker, of Louisville,
K v campaign manager for the south-
ern states
a mail and baggage car. No. 15 is a
light local train.
The greatest loss of life occurred in
the heavy eastbound train.
The trains were to have passed at
New Market, but Engineer Kane ran
through that place without stopping
and had gone nearly two miles whan
the collision occurred.
Relief trains were dispatched from
Knoxville within ah hour. All physi¬
cians in the vicinity of the wreck were
ding what they could in the mean¬
time.
Horror Indescribable.
John W. Brown, of Rogersville,
Tenn., a newspaper man, tells a most
graphic story of the wreck. He was
in the rear coach of the westbound
train and had no intimation of the
wreck until the terrible crash came,
accompanied by a fearful jolt. All the
seats in the car were torn loose by
the momentum and people and seals
were hurled to the front end of the
car. When he recovered from the
shock he heard the screams and
groans of the dying and injured com¬
ing from the front of the train.
“I left the car,” said Mr. Brown, "a§
soon as I could and walked to the
main part of the wreck. It was the
most horrible sight I ever witnessed
in my life. I saw a woman pinioned
by a piece of split timber which had
gone completely through her body. A
little child, quivering in death’s agony,
lay beneath the woman. I saw the
child die, and within a few feet of
her lay a woman's head, while the de¬
capitated body was several feet away.
Another little girl, whose head was
fearfully mashed, was pitifully calling
for her mother. I have since learned
that she was Luc He Connor, of Knox¬
ville, and that both her parents were
killed in the wreck,
“I heard one woman, who was ter¬
ribly mangled, praying earnestly to be
spared for her children, but death re¬
lieved her suffering in a few minutes.
“It was the most horrible, tragic
scone I ever witnessed. Both engines
and all the coaches of No. 15 were
literally demolished, the smoker and
baggage car completely so. The sleep-
ers remained on the track undamaged.
“The scene around the wreck beg¬
gars description. Both engines lay to
the north of the track, jammed togeth-
er in one mass of indescribable
ruin. The cars which were demolish¬
ed, were piled on the wrecked engines
I saw women, who were perfectly
frantic, trying to find their husbands
or children who were buried in the
wreck. I saw one woman discover
her sister lying in a dying condition,
and I never heard such frantic
screams as she gave when she made
the discovery. Forty-eight bodies were
counted before I left for Knoxville.”
Death List Increased.
The death list had grown Sunday
night sixty-two, and it will probably
exceed seventy, as many of the in¬
jured are in serious condition, and
more deaths will occur at the Knox-
ville hospital.
Sunday there were six deaths at the
institution, the last one occurring at
8 o’clock Sunday night, when M. P.
Gant, a prominent North Carolinian
residing at Shelby, N. C., passed away
Others who died during the day at the
hospital were the two colored firemen,
two little girls and a colored man, of
Johnson City, Tenn. To the corrected
list of dead there must be added an
unknown infant found at the scene
of the wreck and two other unidenti¬
fied bodies.
Nothing has developed to change
the previously stated opinion that the
wreck was due to the failure of the
westbound engineer to read his orders
correctly.
SEVEN IN ONE FAMILY KILLED.
One Sad Incident of Frightful Wreck
Brought to Light.
A telegram was received at Gaffney,
S. C., Saturday, announcing the death
of Mr. Lee Hill at Jellico, Tenn., who
was killed in an explosion in a powder
mill. ■
The corpse was expected at Gaffney
Saturday night, but instead a telegram
was received that the corpse, accom-
panied by Mr. Scott Hill, bis father;
Lee Hill’s wife and four children anti
a single sister, was on the ill-fated
Southern train which was wrecked
and that all the parties were killed.
GRAND SIRE WRIGHT INSTALLED.
Delegates from th e Grand Lodge of
Odd Fellows Call Upon Sick Chief.
Grand' Sire-elect Robert Wright, cf
the sovereign grand lodge of Odd Fel-
lows, who was prevented by illness
from attending the meeting in San
Francisco, was installed at his home
j in AHentoown, Pa., Saturday by Past
Grand Sire Campbell, of Ontario, in
the presence of a score of officials of
I the grand lodge of Pennsylvania.
,
GRAY. JONES GO.. GA.. THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 29. 1904.
DAVIS OPENS CAMPAIGN.
Democratic Vice Presidential Candl.
date Fires First Gun in His Own
State of West Virginia.
The democratic campaign in West
Virginia was opened at, Wheeling by
Hon.. Henry G. Davis, the vice presi¬
dential candidate. Mr. Davis arrived
from his home at Elkina Wednesday
night, accompanied by Hon. Charles
A. Towne, of New York; Hon. George
T. McGraw and Hon. William P.
Campbell, who are leaders of the West
Virginia democracy, and other promi¬
nent democrats of the state. There
was a general gathering of democrats
from all sections of the state Thurs¬
day for an informal conference.
Mr. Davis announced that it was not
his intention to make many speeches
whilo on his tour over the country
campaigning. "I am not much of a
speaker and rather dislike the task,' 1
said Mr. Davis. “My intention Is to
get around among the people and meet
them with as little public speechmak¬
ing as possible. We have with us
here Senator Charles A. Towne, wno
is one of the most able oratofS I know
of. He will be with me for a short
time. He will do the public meeting
talking, and it will be my aim to meet
as many voters personally as is
possible. I make more friends in that
way than by getting up before an au¬
dience and making a speech.”
Following are extracts from Mr. Da¬
vis' speech. In comparing the two
great parties, he said;
“The democratic party always ad¬
ministered the government with pru¬
dence and economy. The republican
party Is a party of extremists and has
been wasteful and extravagant in its
expenditure of government funds.
More money Is being collected In the
form of taxes than ts necessary for
an economical management of the
government, both national and state,
and if the republican party is contin¬
ued in power still larger taxes and
greater expenses will follow, as their
leaders tell us they propose to pursue
the same policy In the future they
have in the past.”
After citing the tariff on coal as evi¬
dence against a protective tariff, he
continued;
“That the tariff, as a whole, needs
revision is plainly manifest. Combined
as it Is at present with trusts, it per¬
mits of too large a profit on many arti¬
cles of production, stifles individual
enterprise, brings on strikes and dis¬
turbs generally the business interests
of the country. Manuy manufacturers
under present conditions sell their
goods cheaper abroad than at home.”
He regretted that the national plat¬
form of the republican party raised
the race issue, and continued;
“The southern people, who have to
hear the burden of this question, were
dealing with it in moderation and fair¬
ness; but Its unfortunate agitation by
republican leaders has made its solu¬
tion much more difficult and hindered
the efforts of those who were honestly
striving to aid the colored people ’n
uplifting their race. A large majority,
over a million, of the white voters of
this country are democrats. McKinley
received 864,000 more votes than Bry¬
an and this was the largest majority
ever given a presidential candidate.
There are, however, as shown by (be
last census, two million male negroes
in the United States of a voting age.”
HONEST BANKER ANDREWS
Begins Paying Depositors Who Lost
Through His Failure.
Frank C. Andrews, former vice pres¬
ident of the defunct City Savings
bank, of D'etroit, whose overdrafts
caused the failure of the bank, and
who Is now located in New York,
where he went after his release from
Jackson prison on parole by Gover¬
nor Bliss, has inserted in the Detroit
papers an advertisement announcing
that he will pay the claims of 250 de¬
positors whose names are given.
Andrews says that, he will continue
,0 P a Y other depositors as fast as he
can.
WATSON DRAWS COLOR LINE.
Forcibly Objected to Riding In Hack
With a Colored Woman.
A dispatch of Thursday from Hous-
t0Ilj Texas ,is-as follows: “Hon Thom-
ag Watson, oUOeorgia, who is to speak
j lere tomorrow, arrived unexpectedly
tonight and the committee failed to
meet him. At the station Mr. Wat-
son entered a hack to drive to a hotel
allf j wa8 requested by the driver to ad
mit another passenger. The drive:
thereupon presented a negro woman
ag his seatmate, whereupon Mr. Wat
SO n left the hack and struck the negro
a blow.”
A DOUBTFUL HONOR.
Kaiser Bill Confers Decoration Upon
Two American Professors.
It is officially announced in Berlin
that Emperor William has conferred
on President Harper, of Chicago unf-
versity, the Order of the Red Eng )a
of the second class, and on Vice Pres¬
ident. Judson the Crown Order of th«
second class.
•
DROWNED IN FILTH
Most Horrible Fate Befalls
Nino School Children,
PLUNGED INTO CESSPOOL
While Frolicking in Outhouse on
School Grounds Floor Caved in
and Revolting Cataspro-
phe Occurred.
An appalling horror closed the pub¬
lic school at Pleasant Ridge, a village
seven miles north of Cincinnati, Fri¬
day, with the first quarter of the ses¬
sion, when nine, possibly ten school
girls were suffocated in a vault durtng
the forenoon recess, and over a score
of others narrowly escaped the same
horrible death.
During the rest of the day the lit¬
tle town was wild with mingled ex¬
citement, sorrow and indignation, and
those openly charging the calamity to
official negligence are making serious
threats.
On opposite sides of the spacious
ground in the rear of the school build¬
ing alfcetwo outhouses. When recess
was given, about thirty of the smaller
girls, all from the primary grades,
were in the outhouse assigned to
them, when suddenly the floor gave
way, precipitating them into a vault
of filth. This vault is twelve feet
deep and walled up with stone like a
well.
There was four feet of water or filth
that would have been over file heads
of the girls falling In it singly, hut
those falling foremost filled up the
vault partially, so that, others were
not entirely submerged. The girls fell
eight feet from the flooring before
striking the filth, and the struggles of
those who were on top kept at least
nine underneath until they were dead.
Tho frame sheds oyer these vaults
were about twenty feet square, with¬
out windows, and only one narrow
doorway, so that only one little girl
escaped from the door.
She ran into the school building and
told the teachers what i.ad happened.
The teachers were soon reinforced by
the entire population of the town.
Those able to climb out on the ladders
themselves were rescued by Principal
Simmerman, who finally fainted. Then
others went into the vault and brought
dead bodies from the filth until the
vault was cleared. The firemen drain¬
ed (he vault so as to be sure that the
rescue was complete. Those engaged
in the rescue work recite the most
ghastly experiences.
Even those rescued alive presented
such an appearance as to make many
in the crowd of spectators faint, but
the sight within the vault beggared all
description. The children who were
on top of (he writhing mass were res¬
cued first. Whilo they were getting
out of the vault their feet crowded re¬
lentlessly down on others who were
meeting with a most agonizing death
in (he filth. It was noticed that the
older ones were on top and rescued.
The importunities of friends, especial¬
ly of the weeping mothem, were al¬
most beyond the control of the offi¬
cers. Br. U. G. Senour and P. J.
Shank, with their assistants, used the
school building for a hospital and a
morgue until after the dead and tho
rescued were taken to .heir homes.
Reports about the floor having giv¬
en away last year are denied by the
school trustees. They state that the
floors were repaired during (he, sum¬
mer vacation and nothing was wrong.
Janitor Smith states that he had told
members of the board that tho place
was not safe. Coroner Weaver had
the wrecked girders preserved. It is
claimed that as soon as they were
dried out that the timbers were found
to be rotten, and it is reported that
one of them was spliced.
TRAIN HITS LOAD OF DYNAMITE.
Crashes Into Wagon on Crossing and
Dreadful Explosion Results.
Fast freight No. 24, on the BaKi-
more and Ohio railroad, struck a wag¬
on loaded with 750 pounds of dyna-
mite at the crossing at North Branch,
W. Va., four miles east of Cumberland,
Md., Friday afternoon. Two persons
were killed and nine were Injured,
three of 1 hem‘seriously.
James Tiling, who drove the wagon,
escaped with only trivial injury, as did
the two horses, although tho latter
were blown fifty yards Into a field. .
According to eye witnesses, Laing,
hearing the train, became terrified,
and stopped on the track. The engine
was overturned and stripped and sev¬
en cars followed, loaded with high
grade merchandise, were broken, sev¬
eral being demolished.
BRYAN STILL AFTER MONEY.
Nebraskan Determined Not to Let Up
in Bennett Will Case.
A dispatch from New rr Haven, r „ oao.,
says; Mr Bryan now has suit pend-
ing against Mrs. Bennett, In which he
seeks to get possession of $80,000,
which he says is held by her in trust
for him, and also $30,000, in three al¬
leged trusts for educational purposes,
to be distributed by himself find wife.
NINE SENT TO DOOM
Dynamite Wrecks Crowded
Trolley Car,
A FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT
Box of Deadly Explosive Falls from
Wagon and is Struck by a
Trolley With Hor¬
rible Results.
At Melrose, Mass., early Wednesday
night an outward bound Boston elec¬
tric. car was blown to pieces and nine
persons were killed outright, several
fatally Injured and at least fifteen se¬
verely hurt. It is thought that the
car struck a charge of dynamite left
on Hie track. The front dashboard of
the car was hurled more than fifty
feet.
The following dead have been identt-
iled: Dr. Malcolm E. McGlennon K.
B. Haynes, Winfield Dowe, motorman;
E. Stowe, Frederick 1>. Marshall.
The unidentified dead were three
women and a 3-year-old girl.
Edward A. Waterhouse had a foot
amputated and was otherwise badly
injured; Dr. Perry had both legs bro¬
ken; Mrs. John Comvay had both legs
broken; George H. Andrews received
a compound fracture of the left leg
and his foot, was also amputated. All
of these are likely to die.
The immediate vicinity presented a
fearful spectacle. The ground was
strewn with logs, arms and oihor por¬
tions of human bodies.
So great was the force of the ex¬
plosion that two men standing in the
door of a store 5U feet away were se¬
verely injured by flying pieces of wood
and iron, while every window within a
cadlus of a quarter of a mile was bro¬
ken.
Tho car contained mostly people on
their way to their home in Mtdrose.
Tho accident occurred at 8 o'clock,
and at 9 o’clock Ifufc a few of the dead
had been identified, while In tho con¬
fusion it was impossible at the time
to obtain a list of tho injured. Widen
rescuers reached I he scene of the ac¬
cident the sight was appalling. Tho
ground was covered with torn and
mangled bodies of the dead and
writhing forms of the injured.
Tho polico announce that the cause
of (ho wreck was the striking of a
50-pound box of dynamite, which had
fallen from an express wagon just
ahead of the car. The express wag¬
on was driven by Roy Fanton, who
discovered that the box had droppwi
off and rushed hack to take it off the
track, but before he got within a hun¬
dred yards of the box the car cable
along and was Mown up. Fenton
was taken into custody.
The force of the explosion was ter¬
rific and the report was heard many
miles. 'Directly opposite the scene
was the Masonic building, every win¬
dow of which was shattered, and
through one of the windows a human
foot was blown. A score of persons
within a hundred yards of the car
were knocked down and rendered deaf
by the concussion.
MANY APPROVE LYNCHING.
Jury in First Trial at Huntsville Diffi¬
cult to Obtain.
The first trial of the alleged parti¬
cipants in tho Horace Maple lynch¬
ing of September 7th was commenced
in the circuit court at Huntsville, Ala.,
Wednesday before Judge Speake.
Thomas H. Riggins, proprietor of tho
Stegall hotel and restaurant being tho
defendant.
The court room was filled when the
prisoner was brought in1o court under
guard of Sheriff Rogers arid a posse of
deputies. Tho militia still guards tho
jail, but was not present in the court
room.
After examining 60 special jurors the
tank of forming a Jury was finished,
every one called was asked if he would
bold a man guilly of murder for be¬
ing a member of a mob that committed
murder. Many of them replied “no,”
Presbyterians Draw Color Line.
; The St. Louis presbytery, by a vote
j that was unanimous but for one nega-
! tive from a colored delegate, adopted
' overture from tho genera)
an assem-
| My which provides for the establish-
| ment of 8e I ,arate presbyteries for the
negroes.
Russia Wants to Sell Railway.
The London Morning Post’s Shang¬
hai correspondent telegraphs that na¬
tive newspapers assert that Paul Lea-
Bar, Russian minister at Pekin, tie
mands that China shall purchase the
Manchurian railroad.
HERRICK CONGRATULATED
By Judge Parker on His Nomination
for Governor of New York,
i When Judge Parker learned of the
; nomination , of , Judro T , Herrick ... for gov-
ernor of New York he , av0 wut for
> bI|uatJon t|j fo „ owinB Ingram ad
„
dressed to Judge Herrick;
' Accept my hearty congratulations.
The action of the convention assures
the party a good candidate arid the
people a good governor.”
NO. 46*
C. B. WILLINGHAM.
Cotton Factor J
MACON, GEORGIA.
By it libernl policy ami honorable methods I
have built up the largest Cotton Commission
business in Macon , Ca.
Ship Me Your Cotton and Get Best
Returns.
. B. WILLINGHAM.
— ,1 __
W. F. HOLMES. F. 8. HARDEMAN
Cotton Factors
Macon, Georgia.
%
AGENTS FOR
Deering Harvesting Machines,
CLARK HARROWS,
Elmwood Fencing, Red Ripper Hay
Presses.
420 FORSYTH STREET, MACON, GA.
S. JONES & CO •»
3io Third Street, Macon, Ga.
GROCERS.
Bagging and Ties,
Texas Bust Proof Oats and Seed
Potatoes.
Lowest Market Prices at all Times.
MERRITT & ,C0.
1 Successors to T. E. MERRITT.)
. DEALERS IN
Staple Grocereis and Tobacco.
Headquarters for Bagging and Tie*.
451, 453 and 455 THIRD STREET, MACON, GA.
W. A. DAVIS * CO.
Cotton Factors »
MACON, GEORGIA.
Best Cotton Sellers in the City.
They Keep a Full Supply of Bagging and Ties.
Farm Wagons and Buggies
ARE SPECIALTIES.
The, Also Handle the Highest Grade Fertilizers on the Market
COTTON FACTORS.