Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1894 — DEATH IN THE DARK. [ARTICLE]

DEATH IN THE DARK.

HORRIBLE WRECK OF A WIBCONSIN CENTRAL TRAIN. Biz Persons Art Mangled and Horned to Death and a Much Larger Number Seriously Injured—Fire Adda Its Terror* to the Straggling Survivor*. Switch W»i Tampered With. The St Paul limited southbound train on the Wisconsin Central Railroad, which passed Marshfield at 1:03 a. m. met, with a horrible accident which has n sver teen equaled in Northern Wisconsin, and adds another long list of victims through disasters of this kind. Six persons are dead, and from fifteen to twenty are injured, some of them fatally. Following is a list of those killed outright. Bigelow, Judson, brakeman, Stevens, Polut, Wla Hoslee Oliver, newsboy, Stevens Point. v/u Gebhardt, George, fireman, Stevens Point. Wla Hubbard, James, engineer, Stevens Point. Wla Russell, William 8., railroad surveyor, Milwaukee Wagner Mrs John Butte, Mont. The train, which was in charge of Conduct >r Gavin and was made up of seven coaches and sleepers, left Abbott’s Ford behind lime, and while running at fifty miles an hour struck a defective split switch at Mannville, a deserted station, derailing the entire train and piliug engine aud cars in a heap of broken timbers. To add to the horror, the entire mass was soon in a sheet of flames, which, mingled with the groans and cries of the injured, made a scene that terrifiod the hearts of the bravest. Number of Killed Not Known. According to the dispatches about fifty pa Bange s were on the train. Under direction of Division Superintendent Horn, Who hapi oneil to l>e on the north-bound passenger, a special train was fitted up and left fo.'Utovons Point at 7 o'clock bearing the remains of Engineer Hubbaid, Hremisn Gehhardt and Russell and a passenger. When the body of Bigelow, the head brakeman, was recovered it had a watch In one hand and u lantern on an arm. Mannville, t e scene of the accident, was once a lively sawmill lown, but of late vears has gradually sunk to nothing, until n w all that remains is a tew scattered buildings. Duringithe forest tires last fall the depot Burned, and about all that is left t < mark the placo is a heap < f but nod ruins and l a numb jr of side tracks. The accident occurred at the first suit h, whore a supposed broken bar caused a switch to open sufficiently to derail the train. After leaving the track the train plowed along over the ties for a distance of ton rods and then toppled and rolled over, the engine and tender going into the ditch and the cfcrs piling on top of each other. All were soon set on fire from the stovos. From out of this tangled muss men and women who were lucky not to bo pinned down crawled, many malting wonderful escapes. Receiver Howard Morris and Sidney Hirsch, a business man from Ironwood, ocoupied the company’s business car. which did not got into thO' heap and escaped destruction by burning. The rear sloeper and 1 he business car alone came out practically unharmed. Cause of the Terrible I>l«a*ter. General Manager Whitcomb said of the accident and the possible came: “The split switch of the passenger track has evidently been tampered with, allowing tho wheels of the locomotive to catch tho point.” Describing the catustropho Mr. Hirsoh said: “Our train was running at the rata of about fifty or sixty miles an hour when Ihe crash came, and tho train scorned to go into a heap within a few seconds. I was asleep in the next to the rear sleeper at the time and was thrown from my berth, as were ull the other passengers. As soon as we could scramble out we found a terrible state of affairs. The baggage, express, smoker, day coach, a business car, and a sleeper were piled on top of each other, and within a very few minutes the pilo was on fire.”