Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1892 — WAS FOLD OF HORROR. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAS FOLD OF HORROR.

PARTICULARS OF THE DISASTER ON THE MONON. Section Men Charge that They Had Vainly Applied for a Kali—Caring for the Dead and Wounded—Agents Settling with Victims—Statement of Officials—Services of a Heroine. Many Are Maimed. In all truth the officials of the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Bailroad Company have said that the disaster which overtook their northbound passenger train north of Crawfordsvllle, Ind., was the Worst in the history of the road. The Monon has had its share of misfortunes. There were more fatalities at Broad Hippie and at other wrecks on that line, but none exceeded the Crawfordsville affair in horror, or in wholesale maiming, as the stories heard and the investigations made at the scene of the accident go to show. Three victims are In the list of fatalities so far. They are Mme. Erina Van Kokay, the danseuse of the City Club Burlesque Company; Ben Hamburg, the Cincinnati traveling man; and C. N. Cheek, lumber merohant, of Green Castle. Nellie Hanley of the show company, Mrs. Bosa Evans of Green Castle, and E. Whitesides, three of the thirty-four maimed victims, will die. In Crawfordsvllle the wreck caused great excitement. Feeling was strong against the section men, who were reported to have left the rail which caused the wreck insecurely spiked to the track. But there came a change of sentiment when Samuel Burkholder, a respected citizen, reported that In a conversation with ono of the section men he had been told that the rail which caused all the trouble had been broken for a long time, and that the section men hud applied in vain to the company for a new rail. It was refused, sp the section man said, on the ground that the whole line was soon to be supplied with new steel rails.

The accident occurred at a place that is one of the most dangerous points in the Monon system. A mile and a half north of Crawfordsvllle the track crosses a deep ravine on a trestle some forty feet high. After crossing the ravine the roadbed winds around a hill, and follows the bends of the hollow for some distance, the traok being for the most part cut out of tho steep side of the ravine. Just north of the trestle there is a point especially precipitous, and it was chosen by the fates for the scene of the disaster.

A hundred yards before reaching the steepest point the train struck a broken rail. The engine passed over safely, but the first car, a mail coach, was derailed. The ears broke loose from each other, but followed the ties until that awful declivity was reached. The mail

car turned endwise and rolled down the hill. The second car, a combination coach, carrying the baggage of the theatrical company, stayed right where it was on the track, not even leaving tho ties. The smoking car fell on its side and started down the hill.' Three times tho car turned completely over. The brakeman was fixing the fire at the time the car left the tracks, and, the stove-door being open, the live coals flew everywhere among the many passengers. The car was set on fire in many places, and the flames burned the frightened occupants. The car was not broken much, however, and all those in the car escaped by breaking through the windows before any were fatally burned. Some painful bruises resulted, however, to the people in the car, as they were thrown from floor to ceiling and from ceiling to floor with each turn It made. The car was consumed by the flames after all the passengers had gotten out. Next to the smoker was the ladies’ car, and In it the greatest mischief was done. As it started to roll down the steep decline, as the smoker had done before it, it found a harder road to travel. Directly in it path was the broken, jagged stump of a tree. The side of the car struck this with terrific force, and the Sharp, firmly set timber piercing the side instantly killed Mme. Van Bokey and Ben Hamburg. Both victims were mangled in a frightful way and what was left of tho drummer was partly car-

ried away in a basket and the rest brought on a stretcher. The other occupants of the car were Just realizing that something awful had lappened and to feel their own injuries when the car came to a stop against a large sycamore. A moment later down came the last car, a heavy Pullman coach, with an awful crash, settling down almost squarely on the ladies’ car, crushing the top clear off and exposing the already injured passengers to still greater danger. For an Instant after the cars had settled nothing was heard save the crackling flames that were consuming the splintered coaches. Then the engineer blew an appealing blast for help, and the screams and moans of the wounded Bounded forth from the wreckage piteously. One of the victims, bleeding from many cuts, climbed the hill and started toward Crawfordsville, calling loudly for help. Farmers and men cutting Ice in a stream near the wreck hurried to the rescue. The disaster developed a heroine. Miss Helen Watson, formerly of Louisville, daughter of H. 8. Watson, local agent of the road at Crawsfordsville, who helps her father at the depot, was one of Hie first to hear the alarm. She hurried to the scene, running the entire two miles, and, being thvo»sly woman unhurt, she was of infinitstUmvioe, giving her cloak to one helplestfsufferer, soothing otfeaca, and WHKking

tho cold blasts as hard as any man. The dead and wounded were carried to Crawfordsvile and cared for. The people of the town offered many gentle services. Another costly and almost equally horrible accident came near filling out a day of misfortune for the Monon. Just before midnight the wrecking-train pulled into Crawfordsville from the scene of the day’s disaster. Nine men were sleeping in the caboose of the wrecking-train, .at the station, which was lying on the main track, when suddenly around the curve came a -through freight at full speed with twenty-five cars heavily loaded. The last three cars of the wrecking train wero completely demolished, and some barrels of oil assisted in making a terrible conflagration. But no one was hurt. Agents of the road appeared in the city soon after the accident and were busy settling claims for cash where they could, and refusing to settle where the passengers were unreasonable in their demands. Claim Agent Houston had a

satchel full of greenbacks which he distributed in lots of $lO to SIOO. All affirmed that there was no defect in the road or roadbed. “There are many things about this wreck I don’t understand,” said Mr. Kretzinger. “The roadbed was in just as good condition as it possibly could be. As a proof of this, I might say that the roadbed was that firm that in the whole hundred yards of track that was dragged over by the trucks after the cars left the track, and before they fell down tho hill, not a single tie was disturbed from its place, so firmly are they laid and so perfect is the ballasting. ” “The Wreck,” said General Superintendent Collins, “was tho result of a broken rail, but how the rail was broken I do not know. I have not 6een the pieces, to know whether the rail was defective or whether it was the work of frost. The rails were of the best of steel, and I think frost did the work. I do not see that it could possibly have been avoided by any precautionary measures. It’s just what would have happened on any road, but it occurred on about the worst spot on the whole line, and it is a wonder to me that there were so few fatalities. In my thirty

years of railroading I never saw a worse wreck.”

LOOKING DOWN THE EMBANKMENT.

BURNING OF THE BAGGAGE-CAR.

CHAIR-CAR AND LADIES’ CAR FROM BELOW.