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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.