Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1896 — FIENDS WRECK A TRAIN. [ARTICLE]

FIENDS WRECK A TRAIN.

Twenty*Eight Lives Sacrificed on an Alabars.a Road. The worst railroad wreck in the history of Alabama occurred Sunday morning at the Cahaba River bridge, twenty*: so yon niiles out from Birmingham,, oil the Brferfield, Blooton and Birmingham branch of the Southerly Railway-., Twon-ty-eight persons are known to have per-, ished, that number of- bodies having been recovered from the wreck. Eleven escaped alive, but of these several will die. All of tlje train Crew .were killed except the fireman, whose ese&pe seems almost miraculous. Six miles south of -Gurnee the railroad crosses the Cahaba River on a trestle 900 feet long. The river "span \Vas of iron, 200 feet long and’ 110- feet high. The river is a mountain stream. The span over It gave way as the train was crossing it. .‘4yl and ail of the cars went to the bottom of the, river below. ’ Victims Burned in the Wreck. The first news of the wreck was brought to Hargrove by a farmer who happened, to be passing. He noticed that the middle span qf the bridge was mussing. Approaching.’.closer, he observe* the train burning in the river below, and could hear the cries of the wounded and dying mingled with the hissing of the steam coming up front tire wreck. He gave out the word to farmers residing near by. and hastened to Hargrove to telegraph to Birmingham for relief. Three relief trains with doctors were sent front Birmingham city and a fourth from BJocton. Meanwhile the country people had gathered to render what as-sistance-they could. It was soon found that almost every person on the train had been killed, and the bodies in most eases burned. The rescuers arrived too lute to be of much service, except in earing for the nine wounded persons who managed to get out of thq, wreck alive. -< Work of Wreckers. The fact that the bridge was only four years old and was regarded as one of the strongest and best in the Stated makes the theory that the bridge gave way under the weight of the train absurd. Surviving passengers say they felt the wheels bumping on the cross ties the crash came. The fact that a bold attempt was made only five days before to wreck a Southern Railway passenger train at McUomb’s trestle by the removal of a rail on .a trestle ninety feet high adds to the belief that this horror was the result of the work of trahiwreekers. « . .