Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1893 — TWELVE ARE KILLED. [ARTICLE]

TWELVE ARE KILLED.

AWFUL COLLISION ON THE MICHIGAN CENTRAL. Nine Cars Smashed to Pieces—The Engine of the Second Section of a World’* Fair Excursion Train Plows Through the First Section. Forty Injured. Twelve persons were killed and more than forty injured in a rear-end collision on the Michigan Central Railroad between two sections of a special excursion train from Oswego, N. Y., bound for the World's Fair at 9 o’clock the other morning 100 yards east of the passenger depot in Jackson, Mich. The first section was standing at the depot when the second section nulled in. The morning was dark and foggy and the engineer of the second section did not know he was so close to the station. When he discovered where he was he lost control of his air brake and could not stop his train, and it rushed at the rate of forty miles an hour into the train ahead, plowing under it and throwing the cars in all directions. Nine cars are wrecked completely, and the engine smashed beyond recognition. All but two of those injured will recover. The corrected list of the dead is as follows: Mrs. J. W. Beardsley, Canton, Pa. Miss Harriet Breeze, Pine City, N. Y. William R. Gilmore. Morris Rim, Pa. Mrs. William R Gilmore, Morris Run, Pa. Mrs. D. L. Gibbs, Wheeling. N. Y. Nellie Barrington, babe of Mrs. Anson Harrington’s, Elmira, N. Y., 6 months old. Geo. Huffman. Hawman, N. Y. Mrs. J. H. Keeler, Hammondsport, N.Y’. Maggie McMasters, Penn Yan, N. Y., aged 20. Mrs. Charles Starr, Elmira, N. Y. James Vioodbury, Bath, N. Y. Mrs. Lloyd Woodbury daughter-in-law of James Woodbury, Bath, N. Y.

Happening as it did in the center of the city the accident attracted an enormous throng of onlookers within a few minutes of its occurrence. The crash of the trains as they met, the hissing of steam from broken valves and burst pipes was audible a long distance away, and. it seemed as though every one within hearing was on the spot five minutes after the collision. As the news spread the crowd increased until at last the greater portion of the population of the town blocked the street beside the tracks.

Ready hands were prompt to assist in the work of rescue. A hundred volunteers set to work to raise the timbers that imprisoned the wounded and concealed the dead from view. So actively was the work pursued that within twenty minutes after the accident six dead bodies had been taken from the wreck and a number of wounded set free. There was no difficulty in discoverng the whereabouts of the injured. The air was filled with their piteous cries. Women shrieked in agony, pinioned and helpless by the weight of the huge masses of timber and metal As the upper layer of wreckage was removed and the first of the victims leached the horror of the spectacle sickened the onlookers. Grewsome Sights and Sounds.

Splintered boards were lifted with particles of human flesh adhering to them. A stream of blood trickled slowly from beneath'one of the broken cars and flowed into a pool at the very feet of the. crowd. Arms and legs were seen protruding from beneath the timbers. Women who had been drawn to the spot rued their curiosity. Half fainting with the grewsome sights and sounds, they pressed backward to fly from the horrible scene, but in vain. The throng was far too dense to allow them to draw back. It was among the worst features of the sight. They stood covering their eyes with their hands and imploring the bystanders to allow them to depart. It was with some difficulty that a l*ne could be formed in the crowd to permit of the removal of the corpses. The local police were compelled to fight tooth and nail to prepafe a way by which the task could be carried out. When this was accomplished the injured and dead were removed in all sorts of extemporized ambulances, grocers’ carts and delivery wagons that chanced to be at hand being pressed into the service. • The neighboring houses were, converted into hospitals and every doctor in the city was summoned to the spot. Thousands of people were aboard the two trains, and they were wedged in in all kinds of shapes. It is miraculous, considering the shape the cars were in, that any at all escaped without injury in some of the cars.