Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1859 — Shocking Railroad Accdent. [ARTICLE]

Shocking Railroad Accdent.

[From the South Bend Register, 23d nlt>

From Forty to Fifty Lives Lost. Two miles east of South Bend, midway between this town and Mishawaka, the track of the Michigan Southern railroad crosses a narrow ravine, on an embankment about twenty-five feet high. At its base was a culvert, through which ran a rivulet, too small a stream, indeed, to be called a creek, and whose waters were drained from the high ground south of the road. When this culvert was put in, the neighbors, remembering the extraordinary and sudden rise of this rivulet, eighteen years • go, contended that it was too small; but it seemed impossible that its wa'er could be swollen to such an extent as to exceed its capacity to carry off; and indeed they have not been till the fatal night of last Monday. Monday afternoon and evening, the rain poured down litterally in torrents, and the little rivulet grew rapidly. But no danger was apprehended. After dark, at half past eight o’clock A. M. the express train from the east passed over it safely. What happened after that time till midnight we can infer. But it is evident to all that the culvert must have chocked up with driftwood and sand, as it might have done even it larger—that the embankment thus became a dam, behind which the water rapidly accumulated—and that it rose, as the water mark in the fields around abundantly prove, almost the level of the track. Many person; at fi rst thought th-t the embankment had been swept off Deiv» e the midnight train | reached that point, but the opinion of experienced railroad men, and of the passengers, is the reverse. A little before midnight, the night express from Chicago passed South Bend—Mr. Osgood, Conductor, and T. Chulip, of LaPorte, Engineer, and one of the most careful ones on the line. The passengers had all noticed how carefully he had run his train, when it passed over a bridge or any other locality which he thought might be dangerous. He checked up the train when passing over the Studebaker bridge, less than a mile this side of the ravine, and then regarding the embankment as unquestionably safe, increased his speed. He must have been running, however, at less than twenty miles per hour when he reached the fatal spot. The emb .nkment was, beyond a doubt, thoroughly water-soaked and ready to give way as he reached it; and the weight of the train, or any other violent concussion, was all that was needed to complete the work of destruction. Down went the track, train, embankment and all, in to the narrow gorge. The tender, baggage car and two second-class cars, mostly shattered into fragments, piled up their ruins on the engine upon the opposite side of the bank. Two passenger cars followed, landing* nearer the center of the channel, and the sleepingcar, the last of the train, with all its inmates escaped comparatively uninjured, though taking the frightful leap with the rest. The vast volume of water thus released, by the destruction of the dam which had confined it, swept for a few moments over them, carrying several, who finally escaped, down its stream, and doubtless drowning many of those now missing, for three of the dead bodies were found two hundred yards below where the rivulet empties into the St. Joseph river. In a short time it had run down, and the uninjured were enabled to look for the wounded and the dead. As soon as possible, the alarm was given at Mishawaka and South Bend—the citizens of both places came to the wreck and worked zealously through the remaining hours of the night and the following day—Mr. Denslow, who lived near by, opened his house end barn for the wounded—physicians, with many other citizens, came from La Porte, tiiirty miles distant, as well as the neighboring towns —and all was done that was within the power of man. The engineer and fireman, who were brothers, were killed at their post —so were the baggage man and express messenger. The express safe was broken to pieces by the crash; but the money, over s6o,ooQ,_was about all found during the day. The dead, as they were found, were mostly taken to M'shawaka, and many of the wounded also. The rest were brought here. The scene at the wreck was sorrowful beyond description and we hope never to look upon a similar one. There were at least one hundred and fifty passengers on the train. Of these thirtyeight dead bodies were found. ---<>---