Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 March 1893 — WENT OVER THE BANK. [ARTICLE]

WENT OVER THE BANK.

WRECK ON THE FT. WAYNE ROAD NEAR COLUMBIA CITY. Om Man Killed and Twenty Ferson* Injured in the Accident—A Broken Kail Caused the Disaster—Bimetailsts Meet In Wasington. Derailed at u Bridge. The two rear coaches of train No. 21 of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Bead, eastbound, left the track at Eel River bridge, one mile east of, Columbia City, Ind. One man was killed and twenty persons, injured. The cars rolled down a rocky embankment twenty feet high. The accident was caused by a broken rail. The rim on a driving wheel of the locomotive came off and broke the rail. The train ran over the bridge on the ties, and the two rear cars left the track 800 feet further on. Five minutes after the wreck every passenger, with the exception of Dr. John W. Paramore, had been removed from the ruined coaches. Dr. Paramore was sitting in the rear coach when the' cars left the rails' and began to bump ac:oss the ties on the bridge. When the coach whirled over the embankment his head wa3 caught between the crashing timbers of the roof, and crushed like an egg shell. The body was so entangled in the wreckage that axes had to bo called into use before ft could be removed. Scarcely had the body of Paramore been secured when both coaches caught fire from the overturned stove. The flames were soon extinguished by the passengers, who threw snow and ice over the burning debris. The wounded passengers looked on while the fames were extinguished with that thankfulness which comes to those who realize a narrow escape from the most horrible of deaths. One feeble old woman, whom fate had miraculously allowed to escape without a scratch, knelt down in the snow and offered up a silent prayer of thanks.