Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1885 — A Wrsck Near Rensselaer. [ARTICLE]

A Wrsck Near Rensselaer.

A firolrn Kail Ditches the C.tsiu»n-fla3l Trails. t ; Many fiinengen injured. I * p At about 3:30 o'clock last Saturday fnorni ng as the So ut h bolt u d pHS«e n«er tram” No. 8, the ‘vanuen ball" trSui” wbiisb rtiu.-i from Chicago over the Air Lirite to Indianapolis, and w hich should have parsed Rensselaer al 11:28. p. m. Friday, was passing over the track hear - the ho::sc of- Mr. -W. S. C'cen, about one and a half miles north o| town, a the track. T®e engine and tender passed over the broken rail all righ and did not lea ve the track, although the forward trucks of the tender were off the track. Besides the engine and -Aend.ertlic train consisted of a baggage car and two passenger coaches. The rear oach was locked up a; d empt , and had no fire In the other passenger coach were about 18 or 20 people. At the time of the accident the train had probably slowed up a little preparatory to stopping at Rensselaer, altliougn it was still running at the rate of 20 or 25 miles an hour. When the cars left the track it would seem that all the couplings between the different coaches and betwceM The tender °and the baggage car must have broken immediately and the coaches after bumping along over the track for a few rods, went over upon their sides into the snow. The two rear cars are separated by an interval of 20 or 30 ieet, whileWlie baggage car is-StilL further than that from the car behind it. The engine ran d,own the track as much as 15 or 20 rods before it was brought to a stand still. The cars all lay upon their sides and are not badly wrecked. The facts that the accident occured at a place where the road bed was elevated but a few feet above the ditches alongsides, and. that the deep banks of snow into which the cars fell greatly diminished the shock, account for the slight damage to the cars, and for the fortunate escape of the .passengers from very serious injury.