Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1890 — HURLED INTO ETERNITY [ARTICLE]

HURLED INTO ETERNITY

THIRTY-FIVE LIVES LOST IN A j WRECK. | An Express Train Thrown Over pn Embankment While Running at Foil Speed —Awful Scenes or Horror a* the Debris Is Cleared Away. Reading (Pa.) dispatch: A fatal and disastrous wreck occurred on the Reading railroad, seventeen miles above this place. The train which met with disaster left this city ten minutes late. It was running at the rate of thirtyeight or forty miles an hour, It had on loard 125 to 150 passengers, and it insisted of engine, mail and express cars and three passenger cars. Above Shoemakersville, about fifteeu miles above this city, there is a curve where the the railroad is from eighteen to twenty feet higher than the Schuylkill river. Here, shortly after 6 o’clock a freight train ran into a coal train, throwing several cars of the latter train on the apposite track. Before the train hands had time to go back to warn any approaching train of the danger tho Pottsvllle express came around the curve aud ran iuto the wrecked coal cars on its track. The engine went down the embankment, followed by the entire train with Its human freight Someof the passengers managed to crawl out of the wreck and arouse the neighborhood. Word was telegraphed to this city and help summoued. Physicians and surgeons and a force of 300 workmen were taken to the spot by the company, and the work of clearing away the wreck was at once commenced. Work was slow and the dead and dying were takeu out with great difficulty. Up to 2 o'clock a. m. lifteen dead and thirty wounded had been taken out. Of the latter some were brought to this city and others taken to the miners’ hospital at Ashland. The dead so far discovered are still on the ground. The dead ta*ren out aud identified up to this time are as follows: WILLIAM D. SHOME, Reading; badly mangled. JOHN WHITE, engineer, Pottsvllle, Pa. JAMES TEMPLIN. fireman. Pottsvllle, Pa. HARRY LOGAN, conductor, Pottsvile, Pa. DAVID AUGUSTADT, Mahony City; died after being taken from.the wreck. LOGAN, baggagemaster Shenandoah. MAIL AGENT GREENAWALDSBERY. TWO FIREMEN. lOHN L. MILLER. The injured so far taken out are: Hah bison Riland. Philadelphia, leg broken and Internally injured. Joskph Southwood. Centralla; badly cu t and internally injured. James F. Merkel, Bethlehem; badly cut about head and Internally injured. John Thohnton, Lees port; badly out about head- and body; seriously injured. Joseph Noll. Shenandoah; cut about uead and left shoulder broken.

Fbank B. Holl, manager of Frank Mayo’s company; cut about head and body, bruised about arms and legs. John Carroll, St Clair; back and internally Injured. Joseph Asfield, Mahonoy City; bruised about body and legs. William Glassmayer, Port Clinton; badly cut about breast. Thomas Cooney, Philadelphia; head and legs Injured. Rohert Colling, Pottstown; injured Internally. Samuel Shollenberger, Hamburg; legs Injured. B. W. Cithler, Girardville; foot and leg smashed. John Culick. Mount Carroll; hurt Internally and hand smashed. W. W. Johnston, Shenandoah; head badly cut and leg broken. George Saunders, Reading; badly hurt ebout back and neck. Benjamin Franklyn, Shenandoah; left hip badly cut and leg hurt James Bernhart, Shenandoah; left hip crushed and leg hurt John Hess. Mahonoy Clty:leg badly hurt David G. Young.Maliouoy City;head badly cut and legs sprained. Lyman Dick, Hamburg; both logs broken. Dr. B. F. Salade, New Rlilggold; right arm badl hurt. Jacob Ulmer. Pottsvllle; both legs broken. Samuel Coomb. Mahonoy City; badly hurt about body and legs broken. William Simmers. Ashland. The wrecked train is still lying at the bottom of the river. The exact number on the passenger list is not known, but conservative people estimate the number kiiledat tit rty-livo. At 11 o'clock Mail Agent Greenawaldsbory was taken out, followed by the horribly mangled bodies of two Mahatioy City fireman.

.. Prof. Mitchell of Lehigh University, Bethlehem, is among the injured at the Reading hospital. Lawrence Barnes of Philadelphia has his arm dislocated. The body of John L. Miller of Cressonia was taken out at midnight. George B. Kaercher, Esq., the eminent railroad lawyer of Pottsvilie, who had also a law office In Philadelphia, is among the killed. Persons who wero well acquainted with him have identified the crushed body in the debris of the Pullman car. William D. Shone, one of Reading's wealthiest citizens, was a passenger on the train and was one of the first persons reported killed. He leaves a widow and two sons. A gentleman who escaped from the wreck said: “The train was going at a lively rate of speed. The passengers appeared a happy crowd, tnanv of them ladies, chatting and laughing after a day’s pleasure at the Berkes county fair. I was viewing the country through which we were passing, when there was a terrible crash. I was hurled from my seat, while the cars rolled down the twenty-foot embankment, and I was thrown from one side of the car to the other. One end of the car went into water and I was thrown against the side of the car with a force that partially stunned mo. I quickly recover ed myself and managed to climb upon the seats * on that side of the car which lay against the embankment. I was a prisoner in the car, unable to get out. Around me wero human beings struggling in the water, screaming’ in their fright, and some almost dragged me back into the water again. A few saved themselves as I did and the remainder struggled in the water and then quietly sunk out of sight.” The three reasons which a good woman presented for objecting to a preacher were striking ones. She said that, in the first place, he read his sermon ; in the second, he did not read it well; and in the third place it was not worth reading. To rejoice in the happiness of others is to make it our own; to produce it is to make more t|mn our own. It is simple enough to be a great man. Keep your mouth shut, and when you see a dollar grab ii. V