Columbiana, Ohio Train Wreck
March 29, 1884
A Train Wreck and Explosion.
PITTSBURG, Pennsylvania, March 20. -- The
Chicago limited express, coming East, ran into a
landslide near Columbiana, Ohio, this morning at
4 o'clock, and was wrecked.
The train consisted of an engine, three
passenger coaches, a baggage and mail car, and a
sleeper. Upon reaching Franklin hill the engine
left the track, plunging down the embankment
thirty feet below. The baggage car and smoker
followed, and were badly wrecked.
To add to the horror, almost before the
passengers could realize what had happened, the
boiler of the engine burst with a report that
was heard for miles. The baggage car which was
lying near the engine, was blown to pieces, and
the dead and mangled bodies of the engineer and
fireman were found four hundred yards away.
The official reports to the Pennsylvania
Company say the limited express was coming down
Franklin grade, three miles east of Salem, Ohio,
at the rate of forty miles an hour, when the
engine struck an obstruction and went over the
embankment.
The entire train left the rails, but only the
baggage car and smoker were upset. When the
engine overturned and the boiler exploded,
JAMES RICHARDS,
the engineer, and
CHARLES RHODES, fireman, were blown
several hundred yards and instantly killed. The
baggage master, named
BEISEL, and a brakeman named
LANDIS, were slightly injured. Six
passengers were painfully hurt, but none
dangerously. The other passengers were badly
shaken up, but they were uninjured. A train was
sent out from here immediately, and the
passengers were transferred. The following is a
list of those killed and injured in the
accident: Engineer
JAMES RICHARDS and
Fireman CHARLES RHODES,
killed; J.
H. McKNIGHT, of Fort Shaw, Montana,
scalp wound; J. B.
VIETS, New York, hand cut;
WILLIAM FULLER, Chicago, nose and
face cut; H. J.
DOUGLASS, Fort Yates, Dakota, scalp
wound; RICHARD ARTER,
porter, scalp wound;
R. BRUNSWICK,
eye and hand cut;
C. N. BEISEL, nose and left leg
broken.
No cause can be assigned for the accident, but
the opinion expressed that an obstruction was
maliciously placed on the tracks.
The is the first serious accident that has
happened to the New York & Chicago limited
express since it commenced, nearly three years
ago.
Aspen Weekly Times Colorado 1884-03-29
Submitted & transcribed by Stu
Beitler Thank you,
Stu!
Search for more information on the Columbiana
Train Wreck and other disasters in the Historical Newspapers on line at genealogybank.com.
Search over 1300 different newspapers.
Search
for your ancestors from Columbiana, OH among the billions of
names at ancestry.com Find birth records, census images, immigration
lists and genealogy other databases for your
surnames. Use
this Free Trial
 to search for your ancestors.
Ohio Deaths, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2002
Searchable database at ancestry.com.
Use this Free Trial
to search for your ancestors.
|
