The Weekly Inter Ocean
Chicago – Thursday April 5, 1883

A TERRIBLE WRECK.

Terrible Railway Accident In Ohio, More Than Fifty People Being Wounded.

Eleven Persons Supposed to Be Fatally Injured—Scenes at the Wreck.

SOME MARVELOUS ESCAPES.
Cincinnati, Ohio, March 30,—In the woods. a mile south of Mason, Ky., forty miles from Cincinnati, at 5:30 this morning, the northbound express passenger train met with a disastrous accident and its passengers suffered a rude and painful awakening. The train consisted of an engine, baggage, smoker, ladies’ car and two sleepers, one from Vicksburg and the other from Jacksonville. There is a sharp curve at this point and an embankment forty feet high. The train was going at full speed when the engineer felt a rail yield. He instantly applied the brakes and in an instant heard a frightful crash and saw his train, except the baggage car, hurled right and left down the embankment For a moment all was still; then came
SHRIEKS AND SCREAMS
from the wounded and imprisoned passengers. It was just daylight and the scenes at the wreck were indeed shocking. Of the 120 or more passengers aboard, while not one was killed outright, fully one-half were more or less injured, and others, not hurt, were imprisoned in the car.The smoking car had gone over and over, and stopped fully 100 feet from the track. Very few were in the car, and nearly all escaped unhurt. The ladies’ car, the most crowded in the train rolled over and over on opposite sides of the road and stopped with the floor upward. A passenger who was near the rear of the car when the shock came, says not a sound was heard from the forty passengers in the coach during the frightful descent, and when the car finally alighted bottom upward he found himself in some inexplicable manner near the front door. Every seat but one in the car had been broken loose and fallen down, yet this passenger
HAD NOT A SCRATCH OR BRUISE.
Kicking tile glass out of the door he got out, and immediately set to work helping the others out. By this time the passengers had found their voices and the screams of terror and cries of pain were heartrending. The dread of being cremated was added to the terrors of the passengers unable to get free. Neighboring people soon gathered, and were prompt and zealous in their efforts to afford relief. When the passengers were all rescued from the car it took fire. Two heroic men volunteered to make final search for the bodies and, at the risk of their lives, entered the burning car and threw out the broken seats and cushions to be sure that nobody was left to burn. This they accomplished, and the car was burned.
THE SLEEPING CARS WERE WRECKED
beyond repair, yet there, were fewer severely hurt people in them than in the ladies’ car. They were almost hopelessly wedged into the berths, and were extricated with great difficulty. Residents of the neighborhood came with all sorts of conveyances, and gave, invaluable help in removing those seriously hurt. Rain began to fall soon after the accident, making the work of removing the wounded one of great difficulty. Two physicians who were on board were assisted by others from the nearest town in dressing wounds. The most seriously injured were taken to Williamstown, and the others came to this city, where they were cared for in the hospital and at hotels, as they chose.

THE WOUNDED.

Mr. J. N. Brown, who was on the train, furnishes the following list of the wounded:
C. H. Healy and wife, excursion agent of the Lee line, London, Ohio; both bruised, not seriously.
Wm. Orr, Thomas Orr, and Alf Harris. Harmony, Ind.; slightly cut in the face and hands.
J. C. Roberts, Cherry Lane, N. C.: badly hurt internally and both legs broken.
J. Tragin, Cincinnati; hands cut and back bruised.
James Spalding, Port Clinton, Ohio; badly bruised.
Jeff Folger (colored), Montgomery, Ala.; cut in the side and bruised in the face and arms.
S Alspaugh, Cincinnati - hurt in the leg.
J. E. Mason, Brazil, Ind.; cut in the face and hands.
J. C. Bargis, Richmond, Ind.; cut in the face and hands.
CAPTAIN A. M M’DOWELL,
Xenia, Ohio; cut in the head and shoulders.
James Kilton, Sparta, N. C.; slightly cut
James Edwards, North Carolina. slightly cut.
J. A. Sharp, Harmony, Ind.. scratched.
Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Welsh; Mr. W., head and breast crushed, and Mrs. W. internally injured.
Mrs. M. Costello, Whiteley County, Kentucky, cut in the head and neck, not seriously.
J. H. Carrich. Pratt, Mo., head crushed and badly hurt
S. Iddings, Lafayette, Ind., bruised in the face, head, and arms.
Sam Lynch, Brazil, Ind., painfully hurt about the face and head.
D. E. Emory Athens, Ga., leg broken.
J. C. Martin, Chicago, Scratched Slightly.
Thomas Allen, Augusta, Ky., leg and shoulder broken; his wife not hurt.
J. W. Leaver, Boston, Mass., wife and sons. bruised but not seriously.
Mrs. E. Bellumy,. Macon, Ga., scratched and bruised.
.J. G. Cather, St., Louis, face bruised and cut, not serious.
James Tripe, scratched and bruised.
Colonel A. Baritz, Wife, and three children; Mrs. B, cut in the head;
Mrs. M. E. Platt, Cleveland, Ohio, hurt in the head and back.
Mrs. L. H. Thompson and mother, Saratoga, N. Y.; Mrs. T. prostrated from the shock; mother not seriously hurt.
Mrs. E. Lovelace, Watauga, Tenn., and three children; one child cut and bruised in the face; two cut and bruised;
Mrs. L bruised in the breast.
Marshall Caserly, Ulby, Mich.. slightly cut in the face and hands; side bruised.
Judge J. H. Millett, Newcastle, Ind., badly cut and bruised in the face; wife slightly scratched.
Mrs. D. Evans and two children, all bruised, not seriously
Dan Halloo, St. Paris, Ohio, bruised in the head and back.

CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT.

Superintendent Carroll returned to-night from the wreck, bringing all the wounded from Williamstown except Mr. and Mrs. Welsh. He says the accident is not due to a broken rail, but to a slipping of the track caused by the heavy rain of last night. There had been a fill at this point a short time ago which the rain had softened. The rails were stripped from the ties for a distance of forty feet.

THE FATALLY INJURED.

It could not be definitely ascertained where Mr. and Mrs. Welsh lived. They were newly married, and are supposed
to have been in Florida and returning to Cleveland. Mrs. Welsh could only speak incoherently.
The others supposed to be fatally injured are:

Thos. Allen, Augusta Ky.
Mrs. E. Lovell and three children, Watauga, Tenn.
Judge J. H. Mellett, Newcastle, Ind.
Mrs. W. Seever, Boston.
J. I. Mason, Brazil, Ind.
J. H. Carrick, Pratt, Mo.