Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1890 — A TERRIBLE DISASTER. [ARTICLE]

A TERRIBLE DISASTER.

Six Persons Killed and Thirty-One Injured. One of the worst railroad wrecks occurring in Indiana for years, happened on the Monon, Monday mornings The night, “slow train” which left Chicago at 11:55 p. m, Sunday night and which passed Rensselaer at 3:33 a. >l. Monday morning was the unfortunate train. The accident occurred near Carmel, a small station about 15 miles north of Indianapolis, at 7:30 o’clock. It seems to have been caused by the tender of the engine jumping the track, and that caused the rest of the train, all but the engine, to leave the track and roll over. There were four cars, and two went over on the west side of the track and two on the east side. The accident occurred on a trestle over a small stream. Five persons were killed outright, one died in a short time, while 31 are injured, many of them severely and two or three perhaps fatally. One of the cars wa§ burned to a shell, immedially after the wreck. The names and resiliences of the killed are n follatra:

Mas. Nellie Eubaxx, Broad Ripple. Charles O. Demit,a;,.Frankfort. Miss Hattie Hensley, Cyclone. Miss Mary E. Hoover, Hortonville. Mattie Oldham, Sheridan. Lolo Oldham, Sheridan. The two last were children, 8 and 6 * years old. respectively. Miss Ella Douglas, of Frankfort, is among the most dangerously injured. The accommodation train which should have passed Rensselaer, going north at 11.42 a. m. Monday, reached the icenc of the wreck a few minutes after it occurred, and was transformed into a relief train, and took the injured hack to Indianapolis. A remarkable circumstance is that this relief train, on its way back to Indianapolis, ran over and killed an old man nan named Henry Murton, who was trying to Itoard the train, while it was in motion. Still more remarkable co-inciden-ces are found in the fact that the jS't'iw* .ij lls l 1 ,i*v fal y Ilij^*le wu vk, I wlik-h oc<-u;-f«*d six years liefofe. lack-

ing only four days, is only 6 or 7 miles from where this last wreck was, also that the same number of persons lost their lives at each accident, and further that both wrecks occured from the same cause, namely the tender jumping the track and tearing a bridge to pieces, and further that it was the very same engine in both cases, and still further that a similar accident, only without serious results, happened to the same engine two months ago. And still another strange fact is that the wrecked train struck a deaf and dumb man, 12 miles north of Frankfort, And lost considerable timu in stopping to see how badly he was hurt, and when the accident occured was thought to have been running faster than schedule time, to make up fdr the loss.

Prosecuting Attorney Marshall, came home from Fowler yesterday, and took the next train for LaPorte. From there he will go to Chicago on important legal matters. Miss Elmira Monnett desires us to state that she is now located with the Misses Smith, in Weston’s grove, and not at the Makeever house, as was erroniously stated. There were a few days of passably good roads last week, and wood, hay and grain began to come itto town, at an encouraging rate, but soon Muddy-kewis, the south wind, (videLongfellow,) recovered his grip, or from his grip, and soon had the bottoms knocked out of the roads, again. W. S. Lawman, formerly of the vicinity of Rensselaer, now living near Francesviile, in Pulaski county, was in town Saturday and reported that on the night previous some thief sneaked into his house and stole from his bureau drawer some SBO in money and a check for $35.

Surveyor Thrawls, assisted by exSurveyor Rankin, of Porter county, was up in Wheatfield tp„ last week, surveying the line of a proposed big ditch. It is to follow the line of “Campnell’s Survey” and starts from a bridge on the approach to Baum’s bridge, about a mile south of that bridge, and runs southwest about 8 or It miles, and empties into the Kankakee river. Its average width will be 20 feet and its depth 7 feet. It is supposed that ultimately the main channel of the river will be through the channel of this ditch. The work of surveying was interrupted by the warm weather weakening the ice. It will be continued in boats. „• ......., _ .

X. W. Reeve has just received from his son, Emerson, the telegraph operator, an account of an accident which befell the latter, one day last week. The young man is- now working at a small station on the M. K. T. Ry., d own in the Indian Territory. On the day mentioned he had severa l hours to wait for a belated train, to go to his boarding place, several miles from where he works. To pass the time he went out some little distance where the construction train j j was standiug on a side track, and as- j ter a little went into its caboose and went to sleep. While asleep a loco- j motive ran into the caboose and re-j duced the whole of it to kindling! wood, except the small corner young j Reeve happened to be in. lie awoke ! to find hiifisclf buried in the debris of the wreck, and to feel the hot breath of the engine, which hail poked its nose clear through the car. There happened to be a small window just above where he was, and by breaking that with his hand, he managed to crawl out, just as the wreck took fire from the engine. He was considerably cut and bruised, but not seriously hurt. As he says, if he had' happened to have been in any other part of the car, or to liave lain in any other position “his name would have been Dennis.” It was a wonderfully narrow escape. To the farmers’ wives of Jasper County: Do you want the highest market price for your poultry? If so. bring it to Faraeman A Co., on ■n A n» i i*. mla ■ tr - .I- . .*G MA^ailvLk rrom vpjwwup Msumey b wirw shop.