Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1903 — FATAL WRECK AT REMINGTON. [ARTICLE]

FATAL WRECK AT REMINGTON.

Local Freight on the Pan Handle Wrecked and Engineer Lang Instantly Killed. ' Remington was the scene of a fatal railroad wreck Monday afternoon, and ns a result Engineer Charles Lang was instantly killed and his fireman escaped miraculously by jumping from the engine cab. It seems the east bound local was pulling into Remington at about 11 o’clock a. in., running probably nt the rate of ten miles per hour, with Engineer Lang, his fireman and the head brakeman in the engine cab. At the first street crossing at the west side of town the pilot of the engine caught ono of the heavy oak planks of the crossing and shoved it along for about half a block, whore it caught in the frog of the switch and hoisted the engine from the rails. The engineer shouted to the fireman and brakeman to jump, and they did so, as the engine careened over, the former jumping through the cab window, and ties, rails and iron were flying all about them. When the engine left the rails it dashed from side to Bide, tearing up rails ties, etc., and Anally fell over on its side, pinning the engineer—who had stuck to his post and reversed the engine and applied the air brakes—underneath it, face down, and killing him instantly. The tender lay ofT to one side. Lang was a large, fleshy man, weighing upwards of 200 pounds, aud he was cut one-half in two at the abdomen, the entrals protrouding on the ground. One of his arms, the one at the throttle, was burned quite badly. Otherwise, lie was not disfigured very much. Immediately behind the tender was a refrigerator car, which was smashed to pieces, aud back of it was a car of hogs. The end -of the second car was smashed in but none of the hogs were killed, and they were later unloaded in the stock yards and transferred to another car. *

It was impossible to extricate the dead engineer from under the engine until the wreck train came out from Logansport and the broken and twisted locomotive was jacked up. It was about 2:30 p. m., when he was finally extricated. The remains were taken to Logansport, where the dead man resided. Before the crew had cleaned up the wreck they were called back to Logan to clean up another one at Royal Center, and the wreck at Remington was not finally cleared away until Tuesday night, when the damaged cars and engine wer£ hauled away. It is is not known whether the pilot of the engine had become loose and dropped down so that it caught in the crossing plank, or the plank had become loose and 6tuck up at one end, causing the trouble. Mr. Lang was about 45 years of age and leaves a wife and four children. He entered the employ of the Pan Handle in 1876, as fireman, and had been running an engine since ’B2.