A bad wreck occurred at Tyner Friday morning on the L.E.
& W. when the south-bound passenger train No.21, due in Tyner at 5:43
a.m. left the track, piling the engine and two cars up the embankment on
both sides and fatally injuring the fireman, who died a few hours later
and less seriously injuring the engineer and a mail clerk.
The wreck occurred at what is known as the Bradley or Tyner crossing, about one quarter mile north of Tyner. The railroad at this place passes through a cut with ten foot embankments on each side. The heavy rains of Thursday night washed 6 inches of dirt onto the crossing. the passenger train was about 5 minutes late and was running at high speed, which Engineer Harvey Williams of Peru estimated to be about 25 miles per hour. The accumulated sand on the crossing was not noticed until the train was upon it. As soon as the sand was struck, the engine left the track and dragging the train after it, plowed along until it struck the high bank when the engine and two cars piled up on both sides on the track. The engine was thrown completely upside down on the west side of the track and the engine and tender extended across the track. The baggage car which followed the engine was piled on the east embankment. Both trucks were dislodged from this car and the rails and ties beneath were twisted and broken into a tangled mass. the third car which was a combination of mail and passenger, was also ditched and the wheels buried into the earth almost completely hiding themselves. The cab of the engine was smashed off and the seats occupied by the engineer and fireman were crushed under the cab.
When the engine struck the embankment both men were hurled from the cab and thrown beneath the wreck. A.Fink of Tyner was the first man on the scene and he described the wreck as being almost totally hidden by escaping steam and smoke. He found the engineer and fireman lying side by side near the engine. The fireman was scalded from head to foot by water and steam from the boiler. He was crying and praying piteously. Besides the terrible burns his head and body were bruised in several places and the throat was gashed. When the engineer sought to pull him from beneath the wreckage he seized the fireman by an arm. Upon pulling the scalded skin came off laying bare the flesh. The suffering man raised his hand to his brow as if to mope it when the skin of his forehead and scalp were rolled back on top of his head. His condition was piteous indeed. The man was attended by Dr. A.A.Thompson of Tyner and a railroad physician who was on the train. Both predicted his end as being near. He died just before reaching Peru at about twelve o'clock whither he and the rest of the crew were dispatched.
The fireman was Perry Johnson, aged 28 years, was unmarried, well known and well thought of through-out railroad circles. The engineer was badly scalded on both arms from the elbows down. His condition is not serious. Seth Ax, a baggage man received a sprained back and was badly shaken up. The conductor in charge of the train was C. Smith of Peru and is well known in Plymouth.
Two wreck crews were working on the wreck but the track was not cleared until Saturday. The ties and rails were destroyed for 300 feet . the Lake Erie trains went around the B & O and Vandalia via Walkerton and Plymouth.
The wreck occurred at what is known as the Bradley or Tyner crossing, about one quarter mile north of Tyner. The railroad at this place passes through a cut with ten foot embankments on each side. The heavy rains of Thursday night washed 6 inches of dirt onto the crossing. the passenger train was about 5 minutes late and was running at high speed, which Engineer Harvey Williams of Peru estimated to be about 25 miles per hour. The accumulated sand on the crossing was not noticed until the train was upon it. As soon as the sand was struck, the engine left the track and dragging the train after it, plowed along until it struck the high bank when the engine and two cars piled up on both sides on the track. The engine was thrown completely upside down on the west side of the track and the engine and tender extended across the track. The baggage car which followed the engine was piled on the east embankment. Both trucks were dislodged from this car and the rails and ties beneath were twisted and broken into a tangled mass. the third car which was a combination of mail and passenger, was also ditched and the wheels buried into the earth almost completely hiding themselves. The cab of the engine was smashed off and the seats occupied by the engineer and fireman were crushed under the cab.
When the engine struck the embankment both men were hurled from the cab and thrown beneath the wreck. A.Fink of Tyner was the first man on the scene and he described the wreck as being almost totally hidden by escaping steam and smoke. He found the engineer and fireman lying side by side near the engine. The fireman was scalded from head to foot by water and steam from the boiler. He was crying and praying piteously. Besides the terrible burns his head and body were bruised in several places and the throat was gashed. When the engineer sought to pull him from beneath the wreckage he seized the fireman by an arm. Upon pulling the scalded skin came off laying bare the flesh. The suffering man raised his hand to his brow as if to mope it when the skin of his forehead and scalp were rolled back on top of his head. His condition was piteous indeed. The man was attended by Dr. A.A.Thompson of Tyner and a railroad physician who was on the train. Both predicted his end as being near. He died just before reaching Peru at about twelve o'clock whither he and the rest of the crew were dispatched.
The fireman was Perry Johnson, aged 28 years, was unmarried, well known and well thought of through-out railroad circles. The engineer was badly scalded on both arms from the elbows down. His condition is not serious. Seth Ax, a baggage man received a sprained back and was badly shaken up. The conductor in charge of the train was C. Smith of Peru and is well known in Plymouth.
Two wreck crews were working on the wreck but the track was not cleared until Saturday. The ties and rails were destroyed for 300 feet . the Lake Erie trains went around the B & O and Vandalia via Walkerton and Plymouth.