Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1892 — KILLED AND MANGLED. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KILLED AND MANGLED.

FATAL RAILROAD ACCIDENT AT WOODLAWN. iUliioli Central Suburban Train Leave* the Track at Woodlawn—The Locomotive Buried In a Sand-Bank Uany Person* Killed and Injured. Two Are Bead. Woodlawn Park, 111., was the scene of a terrible accident on the Illinois Central Railroad, in which two men were killed, one seriously injured, and a score more or less severely cut and bruised. The following is a list of the victims: The killed: John Finn, engineer of the train; 40 years old; home, Riverdale; leaves a widow. James Corea, Italian laborer. Injured: Thomas Leahy, 21 years old, of 4209 Langley avenue; severe scalp wounds and crushed leg; taken to St. Luke’s Hospital. Frank Rita, peddler, of Kensington; slightly bruised about the body. Charles Direch, Pullman. Joseph Direch, Pullman; Mrs. Direch, of 39 Fulton street, Pullman; slightly injured. Miss Helen Aiken. 5 Arcade row, Pullman; several bruises on face and head. C. T. Thomas, colored porter, 221 3d avenue; leg bruised. G. Omsted, Valparaiso; thigh bruised, A large number of persons received slight injuries from broken glass and flying parcels, which were not reported to the police. The Harvey fast express left Chioago at 10:40 with four suburban coaches loaded with passengers. The Btreet

guards at Woodlawn Park were rung down as usual a few moments after 11 o’clock. The train dashed up at the rate of forty miles an hour, the engineer gayly waved his hand to. an ac-' quaintanee, and a moment later the' train left the track near 63d street, bumped,along on the ties for about two hundred feet, and plunged headlong into a sandbank, the engine almost burying itself, snorting and steaming, in the loose earth. Men shouted, women screamed, and for a moment everything was in the wildest confusion. The cries for help from the victims brought the bystanders to their senses, and they rushed to the rescue. The engine was almost coverod with pand. It had plunged so far into the embankment that a track on top was bent and tom from its place. The smoker had been telescoped by the tender, and over half of it was ground into kindling wood and lay scattered for many rods on either side. The other three coaches did not leave the track. James Corea, the Italian laborer, was working on the embankment when the accident occurred and was unable to escape. He still breathed when taken from under the engine, but died twenty minutes later. His body was horribly scalded and both arms were broken new the shoulders. Thomas Leahy was found wedged between the platform of the smoker and the tender, where he had to be cut out. The exact cause of the accident is not known, but it is thought that the crossing, owin*. to recent heavy rains, was soft and springy, causing the rails to spread under the heavy, rapidly moving train.

KILLED BY TRAIN ROBBERS. Four Men Fall Under Deadly Fire from Bran* and Sontag's Dang. Evans and Sontag, the train robbers, were overtaken at Bamson Flats, near Fresno, Cal., and a deadly exchange of shots took place. A posse consisting of United States Deputy Marshal McGinnis, “Dick” Wilson, L. Olsen, Constable Warren Hill, George Witty, two Apache scouts and one or two other's had tracked the robbers from Dunlap to Bam6on Flats in a mounta n fastness. The posse was coming down the trail by Young’s place, and* when opposite the house a door was violently thrown open and Evans and Sontag appeared on the sill. Be'.ore the officers could recover from their surprise the two robbers opened a deadly lire with shotguns, and then with Winchesters. The posse was so demoralized by the sudden attack that they could make no effectual resistance. Four men fell under the deadly Are of the robbers. Three were mortally wounded—United States Deputy Marshal McGinnis, “Dick" Wilson and L. Olsen. George Witty, who was so badly wounded in his encounter with the robbers at Visalia, was shot through the neck, though It is not believed he is mortally wounded. The horso ridden by Constable Warren Hill was shot from under him, and two other members of the posse were slightly wounded. The Apache soouts escaped unhurt. It could not be found out whether the robbers were wounded, but it Is likely they were not very badly wounded if at all. They immediately escaped without any interference and went up farther m the mountains. The dead men and George Witty are in Young’s house, where Witty is receiving the best of care. The whole country in the neighborhood of the encounter is aroused, and it is said no further attempt to take the robbers alive will be made. They will be shot on sight if discovered. The news caused great excitement, and Sheriff Hensley immediately got a posse of eight men and left for Bamson Flats. The Sheriff of Tulare County has been telegraphed and Mil leave for the mountains immediately to head off the robbers on the south. The whole mountain country in the neighborhood of Samson Flats is in arms, and it is hardly possible the robbers can escape. The robbery for which Evans and Sontag were wanted was committed on the night of Aug. 3, near Coilis. A south-bound passenger, train was stopped by'masked men, who crawled over the tarik to the engine cab and drove out the” engineer and fireman. They thep west to the express car and smashed in the side w.th dynamite bombs. .Compelling the messenger to open the safe, they took out sacks.of money ana carried them off with the assistance of the fireman, whom they pressed into service. Th y finally galloped away on horseback. The robbers carried double-barreled shotguns. To prevent the train from getting away from them they smashed the piston-rod on the locomotive with a bomb. The passengers were intimidated by a rain of bullets from the robbers’ revolvers. A posse soon started in pursuit and overtook the robbers near Visalia two days later. Several shot were exchanged, but though a hundred armed men were in pursuit the robbers escaped. At that time Witty and another man were wounded.

IN THE SAND-BANK.