Missouri City, MO Train Plunges Through Trestle, June 1897

THE TRESTLE GAVE WAY.

FRIGHTFUL WABASH ACCIDENT AT MISSOURI CITY, MO.

TWENTY-FIVE KILLED.

ACCIDENT HAPPENED DURING A HEAVY RAINSTORM WHICH HAD SWOLLEN A SMALL STREAM AND WEAKENED THE BRIDGE -- EFFORTS TO FLAG THE TRAIN FAILED ON ACCOUNT OF THE STORM -- DEATH LIST MAY REACH FORTY -- NINE BODIES RECOVERED -- LIST OF THE DEAD.

Kansas City, Mo., June 26 -- The St. Louis express on the Wabash railway which left here at 6:20 this evening plunged through a trestle at Missouri City, Mo., five minutes after 7 o'clock, carrying down the entire train with the exception of the rear car, a Pullman. The gorge which a few hours previously was practically empty had become a raging torrent by the tremendous downpour of rain and the structure weakened. Seven persons are known to be dead and the list may reach twenty-five. There were twenty-five passengers in the chair car and only a few of these have been accounted for. In the intense confusion that ensued, it became impossible to extricate the dead or wounded.
The train known at No. 15, left the city at 6:20 p.m. and was composed of a mail car, baggage, express, smoker, chair, sleeper and two coaches for Excelsior Springs. The train made the run without incident until the bridge about two miles this side of Missouri City was reached. There is is [sic] a wooden trestle on a curve which was built several years ago to avoid using the tunnel formerly used. As the train struck the trestle it swung out of line, being weakened by the tremendous volume of water that was flowing beneath it. The engine passed over safely but the structure went down beneath the mail car and the tender broke loose from the engine, fell off the track on its side. The mail car went down into the water. The express car followed, both falling on their sides, the chair car slipped down into the chasm and as the rear end raised up from the end of the sleeper it went up and stood on end, the lower and grinding and crushing the mail and baggage cars beneath it. The front end of the sleeper was out over the chasm but was held in place by the coupling of two cars behind it. The accident happened during one of the heaviest rain storms ever seen in that country. It was accompanied by a tremendous roll of thunder and most vivid lightning. The elements and the horrible nature of the accident combined to make it one of the most terrifying sights imaginable. Before any one could realize what had happened cries of the injured filled the air. Shrieks, shouts for help came from all sides.
JOHN ENNIS, a travelling salesman, was in the rear car of the train, which was the only one which escaped injury. It also is the car in which none of the passengers were injured. ENNIS had an interview with a farmer who had come from Missouri City in the evening and waited at the scene of the wreck to flag the train. He clamied to have waved a flag on the track but owing to the terrific rain the engineer was unable to see the signal. ENNIS said the engine passed over the trestle which broke immediately afterward and the tender, together with the front car was thrown backward into the gorge. The farmer said at the time of the wreck the gorge was a raging torrent of ten feet or more in depth. The bridge was clearly unsafe which impelled him to stand in the storm in an attempt to flag the train.
On account of the death or injury of most of the trainmen the passengers were left to take independent action in rescuing victims. One of the most important things and one which secured the safety of the remaining passengers on the train was the flagging of the freight train which followed the passenger train about ten minutes. This train was flagged by the passengers 300 feet from the wreck. It is estimated that of at least forty passengers in the smoking car, not more than ten were rescued on this side of the gorge. Most of the smoker passengers, if they are saved will be found on the other side. The newsboy and conductor were both in front of the smoking car at the time of the wreck and both are believed to have been killed. Both the mail clerk and express messenger were undoubtedly killed.
ELWIN ZES and C. W. HARBOLD of Kansas City, were the men who flagged the approaching train. Both agreed measureably with ENNIS in their accounts of the wreck and the estimates of the number killed. Both said they did not see a trainman after the wreck and were of the opinion that all except the engineer, fireman and Pullman conductor were killed.
The baggageman and mail agent were undoubtedly killed. The mail car, baggage car and smoker are down in the water on the other side of the gorge.
Some one shouted that the wreck was on fire, and another shouted that another train was following closely. One young man in the rear coach ran down the track and flagged the train that was close in the rear and the crew of that train hurried to render all the aid possible. As soon as the engineer realized what had happened he started as fast as his crippled engine could travel for Missouri City and reported the wreck. The wreck crew left Moberly shortly after. Twenty minutes after the wreck was reported a special train carrying officials of the line and a score of doctors left Moberly and made one of the quickest trips ever made over the line to the scene of the wreck. Word was sent to Kansas City for doctors and the Wabash surgeon, DR. J. H. JACKSON, with a dozen assistants were soon at the depot.
The work of rescuing passengers who were injured began with great promptness but was accomplished with the greatest difficulty. Not a train man was to be found. The crew were all in the wreck and only the conductor of the Pullman and his porter were there to help passengers. Occupants of the smoker who were in the rear end managed to scramble out of the car and escaped, although it is pretty certain that a number were unable to get out. The worst damage was done in the chair car. Conductor COPELAND had just entered the front door of that coach when it went down. The momentum of the sleeper behind and under it sent the occupants in a pile down at the front. Chairs went tumbling down along with the people.
An beneath the mass COPELAND met his death. A heavy chair struck him, crushing his head. The brakeman and news agent were in the smoker and went down with it.
"I was sitting in the middle of the chair car," said MRS. SALLIE MATHIAS, "when the car went down. We felt no fear until the coupling broke in the car ahead of us. Then the front sleeper caught in the rear car and threw us up in the air. We went tumbling pellmell in a promiscuous heap to the front end of the car. I never heard such shrieks in my life before. There were a dozen men and all tut three ran out as fast as they could and left a dozen women all alone. Three men stayed and helped us out. My friend, MISS DARCEY, was under a pile of seats in the front end of the car. Men took off the seats and helped her and others out. Some of them were dead, others dreadfully injured. We crawled out windows walked part of the way on the side of a baggage car and the rest of the way on top of a mail car and got back to land. Our walk was taken in the rain during a storm when we knew people were buried in the wreck beneath us and when it was at the risk of our lives -- something I shall never forget."
Number of dead is estimated at from nine to twenty-five. Known dead number nine. Their names are:
CHARLES C. COPELAND, of St. Louis, conductor of train.
EDWARD ORELDROD, of St. Louis, express and baggage master.
O. M. SMITH, of St. Louis, postal clerk.
FRANK W. BRICK, of St. Louis, postal clerk.
SAUL WINTER, of St. Louis, postal clerk.
W. S. MILLS, of St. Louis, postal clerk.
GUS SMITH, of St. Louis, postal clerk.
C. P. GREASLEY, of St. Louis, brakeman.
TRAIN BOY, name unknown.
The following is a complete list of the injured as can be obtained:
MRS. S. C. PRATHER, of Columbia, Mo., head, shoulders and neck very badly injured.
ARTELIA PRATHER, of Columbia, Mo., 8 years old, head and face cut.
W. H. WILKINSON, of Kasas[sic] City, shoulder injured, head and face covered with cuts.
MRS. W. H. WILKINSON, of Kansas City, right arm broken,head and face cut.
MISS ALICE DARCEY, Kansas City, head badly cut, both arms sprained and side injured.
MISS NELLIE MERRICK, Carrollson, back badly hurt.
MRS. SALLIE MATTHEWS, Kansas City, side hurt.
EDWARD DILLON, Holliday, Kansas, head bruised and cut and knee sprained.
DR. SOL GREY, Prairie Hill, Mo., right knee and both elbows injured.
J. W. HINNON, of Mexico, Mo., both legs badly bruised.

The Herald-Dispatch Decatur Illinois 1897-06-30
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!