Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1893 — OVER THIRTY INJURED. [ARTICLE]

OVER THIRTY INJURED.

Passenger Train Ditched by a Broken Bail —The Wreck Burns Up. The Big Four passenger train which left St. Louis at 7:55 Tuesday night waswrecked by a broken rail one mile east (>f Pana, 111., at 11:10 the same night. Baggageman Charles Kessler, of Indianapolis, was killed and thirty-one-passengers were injured. The train consisted of eight coaches, including baggage and mail car. The accident occurred on a small trestle which spans a creek. The engine passed over in safety, but all the rest of the train leftthe rails and immediately caught fire. The mail tar, which was next to the engine, was the first to ignite, and split completely, in two. The. express car and the' two following day coaches were thrown from the trestle at least thirty feet. The remainder of the cars were saved by an embank- ■ raent on the opposite side of tho ditch, otherwise the death roll would have been horrible. The passengers in the dfty coaches-were rescued with great difficulty by the trainmen and uninjured passengers. All the bed olothingiu the Bleeper was utilized for the comfort and warmth of the wounded women and children. Baggageman Bessler was pinioned between the mass of trunksand burned to death in sight of the trainmen and passengers, who were unable to rescue him. A Mrs. Laughlin was tiaveling with the corpse of her husband, which was in the baggage,car. The corpse was cremated. Mr. Laughlin’s four children were slightly injured. The weather was bitterly cold, and the wounded suffered greatly from exposure in addition to their injuries. The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad sent a special train of two cai’B lo the wieck and brought the Injured passengers to Pana.