Attica, Indiana
Wabash Train Wreck
April 6, 1914
3 KILLED AS TRAIN PLUNGES IN RIVER
EASTBOUND WABASH LIMITED GOES THROUGH BRIDGE
NEAR ATTICA, IND.
FORTY PERSONS ARE INJURED
Railroad Men Killed After Instructions to Cross
Structure Weakened by a Former Accident – Scores
Were Rescued.
Aticca, Ind., April 6. – Three persons were
killed and about 40 others injured, some
seriously, when the eastbound Wabash passenger
train No. 4, known as the Continental Limited,
 was
wrecked when the bridge over the Wabash river,
just west of here, gave way. The engine, a
baggage car and the day coach dropped into the
water.
When the cars left the bridge the day coach,
which was crowded, fell with the rear end out of
the water and, though the majority of the
injured were in this car, none of them was
killed. The car partly had settled in the water
before the work of rescuing the passengers was
commenced and in a few minutes all had been
taken out. They were taken to a hospital at
Lafayette on a special train.
Dead and Injured.
The dead:
J.L. MILLER, Peru, Ind., fireman; scalded.
TIMOTHY P. HULL, Peru, Ind., engineer; crushed
beneath engine.
HARRY THOMAS, Huntington, Ind., expressman;
crushed by trunks.
A partial list of injured follows:
WILLIAM MOSS, St. Louis,
J.E.
PRICE, St. Louis;
S.
PALMER, St. Louis;
A.O.
ADAMS, Lagro, Ind.;
S.H.
WINTERS, Liberty Center, O.;
F.
JOHNSON, Williamsport, Ind.;
CHARLES SCHISHER, Catlin, Ill.;
T.W.
CUNINGHAM, Tulsa, Ok.;
CHARLES SIUSSON, Cataline, Ill.;
WALTER KRUSCH, Georgetown, Ill.;
FRANK
KRAUSE, Wheeling, W. Va.;
CHARLES GRACE, Delphos, O.;
HERMAN BAUMGART, Danville, Ill,;
MRS.
GEORGE TAYLOR, Clinton;
SAMUEL WHEELER, Indianapolis;
H.G.
ENGLISH, Danville, Ill.;
MRS.
FRED L. GEMMER, Indianapolis;
LORENZE GEMMER, Indianapolis;
MISS
MARIE KRAMER, West Lafayette, Ind.;
WARREN C. SCOTT, Attica, Ind.;
REV.
A. WOOD, Lafayette, Ind.;
W.E.
SQUIER, Quincy, Ill.;
WALTER MATHIS, Williamsport, Ind.;
VANCE
POLEN, Keewana, Ind.;
J.E.
WEBB, Peru; J.W. SHAW, Lima, O.;
C.D.
DUMOND, Maywood, Ill.;
FRANK
WARTEN, Detroit, Mich.;
RAY
WRITGHT, Lafayette, Ind.;
EARL
LINCICUM, Homer, Ill,;
ED
RIGGLE, Peru, Ind.;
FRANK
BLISS, Detroit, Mich.;
LEONARD C. GORTON, Jerry City, Ill.;
H.O.
BLACK, Danville;
J.W.
BOSTON, Decatur, Ill.;
JACOB
ANDERES, Farmingdale, Ind.,
EDWARD SUSANKA, Detroit;
JOHN
YERION, ______;
EARL
MAHAFF, Williamsport, Ind.;
GEORGE P. BLAIR, Peru, Ind.;
O.S.
WEAVER, New London, Ind.;
LEIMOND GARDNER, Toledo, O.;
ALBERT SCHUSS, Attica, Ind.
Bridge Tested Before Wreck.
The railroad’s bridge over the Wabash river was
weakened earlier in the day when a freight train
was wrecked upon the structure, and the
Continental Limited was stopped on the west side
when it reached the place. A switch engine was
sent across the bridge to determine whether the
structure would hold the fast passenger train.
Railroad officials believed it safe and the
limited was ordered to proceed.
The train crept out on the bridge slowly and
when about a hundred feet out upon the structure
the bridge gave way beneath the weight of the
train. The engineer was caught under his engine
and crushed to death. The fireman, who jumped,
was scalded to death.
Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville,
IL 6 Apr 1914
Transcribed by
Loraine Jordan. Thank you, Loraine!
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