Newspaper Page Text
CHATSWORTH’S HORROR!
OVEll 100 PEOPLE KILIAD ON
A WESTERN RAILROAD.
Ending of an Excursion—A Bridge is Set on
Fire—A Train Fail of Peopln Go to
1 bt*ir Awful Doom.
All railway lioirors in the history of
thi3 country were surpassed three miles
east of Chatworth, Illinois, wheD an ex¬
cursion on the Toledo, Peoria & Western
Railroad dropped through a burning
bridge and over one hundred people were
killed and four times that number more
or less badly injured. The train was
composed of six sleeping cars, six day
coaches aud chair cars, and three bag¬
gage cars. It was carrying 960 passengers, for
all excursionists, and was bound
Niagara Falls, N. Y. The train had been
made up all along the line of the Toledo,
Peoria & Western Road, and the excur¬
sionists hailed from various points in
Central Illinois, the bulk of them, how¬
ever, coming from Peoria. Some of the
passengers came from Canton, El Paso,
Washington and all stations along the
line; some as far West as Burlington and
Keokuk, Iow T a. A special and cheap rate all
had been made for the excursion, aud
sorts of people took advantage of it.
When the train drew out of Peoria in
the evening, it was loaded to its utmost
capacity. of Chatsworth is
Three miles east a
little slough and where the railroad
crosses a dry run, about ten feet deep
and fifteen feet wide. Over this was
stretched an ordinary wooden trestle
bridge, and as the excursion train came
thundering down on it, what was the
horror of the engineer on the front en¬
gine, when he saw that this bridge was
burning. Right out before his eyes
leaped the bright flames, and the next
instant he was among them. There was
no chance to stop. Had there been a
warning it "would have taken half a mile
to stop. And the train was within 100
yards of the red-tongued messenger of
death, before they flashed their fatal
signals into the engineer’s face. But he
passed over in safety, the first engine
keeping the rails. As it went over, the
bridge fell beneath it and it could only
have been the terrific ypeed of the train
that saved the lives of the engineer and
his fireman. But the next engine went
down and instantly the deed of death
was done. Car crushed into car, coaches
piled one on top of another, and in the
twinkling of an eye nearly 100 people
found instant death, and fifty more were
so hurt they could not live. As for the
wounded, they were everywhere. and
Only the sleeping coaches escaped,
as the startled and half-dressed passen¬
gers came tumbling out of them they
found such a scene of death as is rarely
witnessed, and such work to do that it
seemed as if human hands were utterly
incapable. Down in a ditch lay the
second engineer, McClintock, dead, and
Fireman Applegate badly injured. On
top were piled three baggage cars, one
on the top of another, like a child’s card
house, after he had swept it with his
hand. Then comes the six day coaches.
They were telescoped as cars never were
before, and thiee of them w T ere pressed
into just space enough for one. The
second car which had mounted off its
tracks, crashed through the car ahead of
it, crushing the woodwork aside like tin¬
der and lay there, resting on the tops of
the seats, -while every passenger in the
front car was laying dead and dying un¬
derneath.
Out of that car but four people came
alive. On the top of the second car lay the
third, and although the latter did not
<iover its bearer as completely as the one
beneath, its bottom was smeared
with the blood of its victims.
The other three cars were not so badly
crushed, but they were broken and
twisted in every conceivable way. And
there was another bridge terrible danger, yet to
be met. The was still burning
and the wrecked cars were lying on and
around the fiercely burning embers. Ev¬
erywhere in the wreck were wounded and
unhurt men, women and children, whose
lives could be saved if they could be
gotten out, but whose death in a most
horrible manner was most certain if the
wood of the wreck caught fire, and to
fight the fire there was not a drop of
water and only about fifty able-bodied
men who still had presence of mind and
nerve enough to do their duty. The only
light was the light of the burning bridge
and with so much of its aid the fifty
men went to work to fight the flames.
For four hours they fought like fiends.
too, and for four hours victory hung in
the balance. Earth was the only weapon
with which the foe could be fought, and
the attempt was made to smother the
fire out. There was no pick or shovel to
dig it up, no baskets or barrows to carry
it. and so desperate were they that they
dug their fingers down into the earth,
which the long drouth had baked almost
as hard as stone, aud heaped precious
handsful thus hardly won upon the en¬
croaching flames, and with this earth¬
work, built handful by hhndful, kept
back the foe. But finally the victory was
won. The fire was out after four hours
of endeavor, and as its last sparks died
away light came up in the east to take
their place, and dawn came.
While the fight had been going on men
had been dying, and there were not so
many wounded to take out of the wreck
as there had been four hours before; but
in the meantime the country had been
aroused, and help came from Chatsworth,
Forest and Piper City. As the dead were
laid alongside of each other out in acorn
field, there were ready hands to take them
into Chatsworth, while some of the
wounded were carried to Piper City.
One hundred and eighteen was the awful
roll of the dead. The wounded number
four times that many.
When the news of the disaster was
first reported over the wires, prompt aid
was at once sent. Dr. Steele, chief sur¬
geon of the Toledo, Peoria & Western
Road, came on a special, and with him
were two cth«r surgeons and their assist¬
ants. From Peoria also came Drs. Mar¬
tin, Baker, Flugler and Johnson, and
from every city whence the excursionists
had come, their physicians and fronds
hurried on to help them. From Peoria
had also come a delegation of Red Men
and Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Members of both societies were on the
ill-fated train, and so, after 8 o’clock in
the morning, there were plenty of people
to do the work that needed such prompt
attention.
No sooner had the wreck occurred than
a scene of robbery commenced. Some
band of unspeakable miscreants, heart¬
less and with only animal instincts, was
on hand like guerrillas who throng a
battlefield the night after a conflict; and
last night did these human hyenas plun¬
der the dead from this terrible accident,
and took even the shoes which covered
their feet. Who these wretches are is
not known. Whether they w r tre a band
of pickpockets who accompanied the.
train, or some robber gang, who were
lurking in the vicinity, cannot be said.
Horrible suspicions, however, exist and
there are many who give it credit that
the accident was a deliberately planned
case of train-wrecking. That the bridge
was get on fire by the miscreants, who
hoped to seize the opportunity offered,
and the fact that the bridge was so far
consumed at the time that the train came
along, and added to the fact that the
train was an hour and a half late, are
pointed out as evidence of a careful con
:n Cy in,I hC “r S 8 when ln ,he U r 'Z
burning fiercely underneath, and when
legged them, jetfrfandTarch -For God’s sake to th help
watches'atid d
pockets for money. When the dead
bodies were laid out in the
cornfield, these hyenas turned them
over, in their seach for valuables,
and that mm/was the plunder was done by an or
"anized mo’rning, proven bv cornfield’, the fact
that in the out in the
16 purses, all empty, were found in one
heap. It was a ghastly plundering, and
hadthe plunderers been caught in the af
ternoon, they J would surely have been
Ivnehed
'
There was one incident of the accident
which stood out more horrible than all
of those horrible scenes. In the second
coach was a man, hi* wife and little
child. His name could not be learned,
but it is said he got on at Peoria. When
the accident occurred, the entire family of
three was caught and held down by *tbe
broken woodwork. Finally, when re
lief come, the man turned to the friend
lv rescuers and feebly said: “Takeout
my wife first. I’m afraid the child is j
dead.” So they carried out the mother,
and as a broken seat was taken off her
crashed breast the blood, which welled
from her lips, told how badly she w^as
hurt. They carried the child, a fair
haired, blue-eyed girl of three, and laid !
her in the cornfield, dead, alongside her
dying mother. Then they brought the
father out. Both his legs were broken,
but he crawled through the corn to the
side of his wife, and feeliDg her loved
features in the darkness, asked pressed her some how
brandy to her lips and
she felt. A feeble groan was the only
answer, and the next instant she died,
The man felt the forms of his dead wife
and child and cried out: 4 t My God;
there is nothing more for me to live for
now,” and taking a pistol out of his
pocket pulled the trigger. The bulkt
went suerlv through his brain and the
three dead'bodies of that little family * are
lying • • side • i by i side • ] • Chatsworth, ni . „»
now in ..
waiting to be identified.
McClintoek’s engine plunged down in
to the black hole, and as the tender
mounted on top of the cab, it took Mc
C tin ton in the back of the neck and cut
his head clean off his should^. The
trunk was found under the engine, but
the head could not be disco\ered and
the presumption is that it was g'ound to
atoms in the horrible millstones of the
engine and tender.
Several thousand people were at the
Peoria arrived depot in the afternoon when the
train to bring ?rowd the wounded front
Chatsworth. The was so large
and so eager to obtain a view that it was
difficult to control it. Accounts of the
disaster were obtained from several
sengers on the trains. J. M. Tierney
was in the first sleeper, and he said :
“I felt three distinct shocks, and then
heard a grinding sound, and on looking
out saw that the car in which wc were in
was directly over the fire, which was
slowly blazing on the stringers of the
bridge. I got out safely, and the scene
presented to the eye and ears was one I
wish I could forever efface from my
memory, but I know I never can.
On the mouths of most of the corpses
could be seen foam, which showed that
they died in agony. At last we secured
feeble lights, but the wind blew them
out, and about 2 o clock the ram poured
down in torrents on the unprotected and
dying in the hedges and cornfields adja
cent. Our efforts were divided between
trying to put out the lire and rescuing
the dying, whose cries for help were
heartrending indeed. Mothers ran wildly
about, crying for their children, and
wives, for their husbands. Strong men
were weeping over the forms of their
beloved wives; prayers, entreaties and
groans filled the air„ until daylight, when
relief parties got to work and moved the
dead and wounded from the scene. The
scene in the child cars was beyond found fastened description.
One young was near
the roof of the car, head down, where,
in the jar and confusion, it had been
thrown, and was dead when taken down.
Others were found in all conceivable
shapes, all thrown out of their seats,
piled in the end or the aisle of the cars,
bleeding from gashes in their faces, arms
or other portions of the body.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN ?
_
Bl , -arek Is 8aId To „e Makiu. a More On
Holland’* Border.
Tho fnilnwin** A n f worn
“ —* ,f» J
on \ he Du t ch ‘ ““ Aerl'n ufrri
f V*h\ ^cTtf th
'T "*
\ J
.__ be constructedI at this purely , military ....
station for the landing of cavalry, and a
j/servoir will be built for the purpose of
fc ?d“g ^c^ives. I he whole works
will cost 1,200,000 marks. The German
ctat-major, which has 300,000 men con
centrated in fortresses between Cologne,
Dusseldorf, Ant, etc., estimates that,
with such an installation, within an hour
would be m a position to throw oO,000
troops upon Maestrecht, to occupy the
fridge from blowing there and it up. to prevent This bridge the Dutch is un
German ^nnined etat-major for military is also purposes contemplating The j
measures to put the government m a po
sltl o n f throw an arni y of 50 00 ‘J mcu
under the walls of Antwerp at 24 hours’,
notice.” f the The European correspondents
« New York papers report, that
Bismarck . has designs Holland and
on
bas agreed with France to restore Alcase
Lorraine if she will agree not to interfere. ;
This will account for German military
movements.
!
ADVENTISTS MOBBED.
A tent in which Rev. Messrs. Hoslcn
and Schultz, Seven-Day holding Adventista, from
Nebraska, were revival services
at \\ inona, Minn., was attacked by a
mob of two hundred Germans and Poles,
and pulled and down free fight The congregation re
sisted a ensued, in which
several persons were hjift.
SOUTHERN BRIEFS.
CONDENSATION OF THE BUSY l
HA I’PENIXOS OF A WEEK.
Craps Assnr* d-j»'oria\ and
Trm ner.ii.ee <iaii.cr»..«s-iioiied Down
Items— Country Generally Healthy,
The Louisville spoke factery was burn¬
ed at Louisville, Ky. Loss £30,000; in
sured.
The Eagle flour mills on the corner of
Vance aud Tennessee streets, in Mem¬
phis, Tcnn., were destroyed by fire. Loss,
£30,000; insurance, £1,500.
The board of directors of the Decatur,
^i., hand company formally ra'itled the
0O ntract with the Louisville & Nashville
Railroad Company for the location of
their consolidated car shops at that place.
*»"*“ , Mr - ..... " ', *« miles , from <£• A»
t'‘P n| ts tha ir onm mai>.^^.
a thick grove on It s farm, rhej were
">««<*. Mack, spotted and wood var.et.ea,
l he 1 nited States barracks, four miles
j from Atlanta, ( la., on the East Point
road, are nearly ready for occupancy,
The finished part will accommodate 500
men. When all the ground is built over
as contemplated, and it will be an important
| station will house 1,500 troops,
A large piece of ornamental stone work
on the front of Odd Fellows’ Hall on
North Gay street, Baltimore, Md., fell
to the pavement, a distance of about
forty feet. An unknown man, who was
j passing, was weighed struck aud about crushed half to death,
The stone a ton.
, Griffith! a justice of the peace of if
I>oolittl< . district, had a serious,
not fatal accident. lie was examining a
gun to see if it was loaded or not, put
his mouth to the muzzle and blew in the
barrel. While in this act the gun dis¬
charged and the contents entered his
moulh.
The jury in the case of I. II. Vincent,
ex-treasurer, of Montgomery, Ala., in¬
dicted for the embezzlement of a Dill of
exchange of £20,000, came into court
and rendered a verdict of guilty, with a
recommendation of mercy, on two courts
in the indictment. The penalty is from
two to five years in the penitentiary on
each.
Mrs. Moore, the widow of James Moore,
who was hanged mob, last has August, entered at Macon, suit
Ga,, by a a
against Sheriff Wistcott for the recovery
of damages to the amount of $20,000.
She bases the her claim carelessness cm the ground and that negli^ it
was by gross sheriff officers that
gence of the and
James Moore was mobbed.
John Clay, the only remaining son of
Henry Clay, died near Lexington, Ky.
While giving instructions to some work
men about a pump, he fell dead, without
P remonition ’ of >‘™ t *««*«• Mr -
a^o ^0°°^ 'ZX
|
| f
j • C °"» TZtvJlZu vZs
ago.
INDIAN TROI BLK8.
Senator Eddy, who returned from
White Rncr, ( t oloredo , met , a party of ,
sixty bucks the other night, who were evi
d’*ntiy trying to join Calerow The lat
ter has also sent a runner to bn brother
a , neomp.i igrc ag< ru \ - mg or as
»stance and will probably get fifty or
MX 3 lom 1,1< * The fact that
has reached . Glen 1 Springs .
no courier woo
from Meeker lately leads people to
believe that the redskms are holding the
roads between those points. Adjutant
General M eat has issued an order for all
state militia, infantry cavalry and ar
t ! her - v < panics to get ready to move
at a moment s notice, He will, in cast
of a serious outbreak of Calerow rene
gadcs, order companies at.Mon trose and
Ouray to head off the Ues at Grand
-.unction,
THE ITALIAN IDEA.
The inquiry condu< ted by the Italian
ministry of commerce into the effect of
the American trade upon the orange and
lemon production of Italy has been Califor-. con¬
cluded. Tiie report states that
nia can supply the American market
next year; that in Florida the plantations
art » n0 £ situated on land suitable for the
grow r th of oranges, while m regard to
Louisiana the opinion is expressed that
Italy has nothing to fear, the season
there being of brief duration.