Lima, Ohio Train Wreck

December 1891

WRECKED BY A BROKEN RAIL.

Fatal Accident to an Express Train in Ohio.

A Dining Car and a Locomotive Telescoped.

A fatal accident occurred on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad near Lima, Ohio, a few mornings ago. About 9:30 A. M. the dining car in passenger train No. 25 (the Columbian express) left the track 200 feet east of the east end of the passing siding at that place, and the two following sleeping cars went with it.
The dining car was wrecked and the two sleepers were badly damaged by being thrown against the engine of east-bound train second 72, which was waiting on the siding for No. 25 to pass. The following is a correct list of the killed:
J. H. CURTIS, of Chicago, cook in the dining car.
H. J. MANUEL, of Chicago, cook in the dining car.
J. WULF, of Fort Wayne, Ind., fireman on the freight train.
Unknown Man, found in the wreck of the dining car.

Seventeen persons were badly injured. The train was running at the rate of sixty miles an hour. The engine, baggage car and day coach passed over in safety, but the train parted in the rear of the day coach, and the dining car and two sleepers were thrown over to the north track with terrific force. The accident happened at the east end of the long siding which is north of the main track. The broken rail was found about forty rods east of the switch used by the freights east bound. The freight train was standing on the siding with the engine almost up to the switch. The dining car of the wrecked train jumped to the side track and ran into the freight engine, which telescoped the car half a length. Little was visible of the engine besides the cab and tender.

The scene at the wreck was frightful. The sleeping-car Arden lay on its side in a ditch. The Delphos sleeper was upright but badly wrecked, and the Parisian dining-car was in a similar condition, just as the freight engine had telescoped it. In the front end of this car the cooks were busy getting breakfast, and when the crash came H. J. MANUEL and J. H. CURTIS were in the kitchen at work. MANUEL was caught by the locomotive and the boiler and some timbers and was literally roasted alive. His cries for help were piteous. He lived about half an hour. CURTIS was also buried in the wreck. He was not rescued for over an hour and was horribly bruised and scalded. He died shortly after being taken out. Both men lived in Chicago.

The fireman on the freight train was caught between the tender and boiler and killed. His name is J. WULF, and his home is in Fort Wayne, Ind.

The body of a man crushed beyond recognition was found under the dining car. In all about thirty-five or forty persons were injured.

Everything possible was done by the railroad officials to alleviate the suffering of the wounded, and they had a full corps of physicians on the ground in a short time after the accident. The track was torn up for a distance of thirty rods east of the switch, and traffic was blocked until 2 o'clock that afternoon.

The Cranbury Press New Jersey 1891-12-25

Submitted & transcribed by Stu Beitler  Thank you, Stu!

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