Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1893 — A CHAIN Of HORRORS. [ARTICLE]

A CHAIN Of HORRORS.

Series of Fatal Accidents a 1 Alton functionSeventeen Limn tserifleed—Property Low of BISO,OOO—AII Because <>rtT — Opr n Switch. Nine persons killtti outright, nearly » score probably.fatally injured, and ovdl half a hundred more or iesj seriously hurt, is the appalling result of a series of accidents at Alton Janciioii. Sunday. An open switch on the Big Four main track was the prime cause of the disasters. The Southwestern Limited fail through the switch into a freight train standing on the -siding, and engineer Webb Boss, of the limited, was instantly killed. The week took lire, and while a - great crowds was watching the spectacle an oil-tank car exploded with terrific force, enveloping the spectators in a sheet of bunting oil. Eight of them were instantly killed and scores wore frightfully burned. The fast tit rough train known as the “Southwestern Limited” was coming out front St. Louis at 9 o’clock Sunday morning, thirteen minutes late and making up lost time at a forty-seven mile per hour, speed, when it ran into a freight and collided with a long freighttrain consisting mostly of loaded tankcars, .Engineer Webb Boss, of Mattoon, saw the danger too late, but lie threw on the air brakes and staid with his machine, being buried in the wreck and burned to a crisp. Fireman White jumped and escaped uninjured. The passengers were fearfully shaken up, but none was seriously liurt. An eye-witnees says that the shock of the collision was Such as to split two loaded tanks wide open and the oil immediately caught lire, the ilames shooting fifty feet into the air. The locomotive and baggage cars were wrecked, but the remainder of the passenger train was removed beyond the reach of the flames. In an incrodibly short time the freight train was a mass of ilames. Fear of an explosion prevented any attempt to save it. Hcaring.of the wreck hundreds of people were attracted by coriosity to the sceno. And then occurred one of the worst disasters on record. - A few minutes past 12 o’clock there was a light explosion of one tank, which scattered the debris on ail sides, setting fire to the stockyards inclosure. This produced the impression that the danger of explosions was passed and the throng of bystanders rushed in to save the stockyards from destruction. A minute later there was a deafening report that shook the earth for half a minute. For those within the circle of one hundred yards there was no escape. In a moment those who were not disabled began running hither and thither, moving their hands and screaming for help. Some went for the nearest water, and others ran into the fields, and are missing yet Panic reigned for a short time until the uninjured recovered the presence of mind to care for the afflicted. Every house in the little village was turned into a temporary hospital and every doctor in Alton and its vicinity was summoned. The wonder Is that so many escaped. Seventeen fatalities have resulted and the Injured are as yet unknown. The scenes at the improvised hospitals are heartrending and indescribable. Wrecking trains and hundreds of bystanders were hastily called into service, but little could be done to stop the flames or relieve the sufferings of the injured whoso appalling screams rent the air. It was the most terrible casuality of the year.