Randolph, MO Train Wreck, May 1888 - Wreck Upon Wreck

WRECK UPON WRECK

Two Trains Wrecked in Quick Succession Near Randolph Point Just Before Daybreak.

High Water Weakens the Bridge Over a Creek and It Falls Under a Train.

The Flagman Sent Back to Warn Another Train Crushed On the Track.

Four Men Instantly Killed in the Successive Catastrophes and Several Others Badly Hurt.

Two of Them Supposed to Be Tramps Who Were Stealing Rides on the Cars.

The Scene of the Disaster a Ravine Flooded by the Recent Rains.

Killed
E. C. Armstrong, brakeman, Belleville, O.
Y. Royster, brakeman, Edgerton Junction, Kas.

Injured
Benjamin Norris, (severely) Chillicothe, Mo.
Ben McClellan, Rock Island engineer
John Snyder, Rock Island fireman

A double wreck occurred this morning at a small creek one mile east of the Milwaukee bridge at Randolph and five miles from this city. The accident was caused by the giving away of the bridge spanning the creek. Many car and two engines were precipitated into the water.

A little before 3 o'clock this morning an east bound freight train on the Rock Island approached the creek at a high rate of speed in order to clear the way for the east bound freight on the Hannibal railroad. The Rock Island uses the Hannibal track between Kansas City and Cameron. Just before the engine reached the bridge, Engineer Pete Weltzer noticed the structure sagging nearly to the water, which was running like a torrent underneath. He shouted to Fireman Snyder to jump. Before they had time to do so the train dashed onto the bridge and both Weltzer and Snyder were thrown into the creek. They escaped with slight injuries. Five freight cars loaded to their utmost capacity then piled into the creek in an indiscriminate mass, splintering and smashing the cars and throwing their contents into the water and on the banks.

The engine, No. 533, got over the bridge safely, but was pulled back by the tender and stands up on end far above the debris. Y. Royston, a brakeman, was on top of one of the freight cars which went into the creek, and was instantly killed, being mashed beyond recognition. Royston was a married man and lived at Edgerton Junction, Kas.

Brakeman Edward C. Armstrong was sent ahead to flag the Hannibal freight. He mistook the tracks, and walked along on the Wabash tracks in the direction of the Milwaukee Bridge. Armstrong did not carry a lantern, and as the moon was shining brightly, he relied upon being able to stop the train before it got to the bridge. Just below the Milwaukee bridge both the Hannibal and Wabash tracks make a sudden curve to the right so that a coming train cannot be seen until it is well out from under the bridge. Both sides of the track are heavily wooded so that it would be impossible for any one to see a headlight until it had passed the curve. Armstrong, it is supposed, walked down the track near the bridge and turned to retrace his steps when he was struck by a westbound freight train on the Wabash railroad. The Rock Island men claim that the Wabash train had no headlight and that Armstrong was run over and killed before he had time to get off the track. Armstrong's body was horribly mangled, and was only identified by means of his apparel. Armstrong is a single man, his home being in Belleville, O. He was a prominent member of the Brakeman's union and was well known in this city. Neither the engineer nor the fireman on the Wabash was aware of Armstrong's death until this morning.

It was just ten minutes after the wrecking of the Rock Island train when the Wabash freight, composed of an engine and twelve box cars, heavily laden, came thundering along. The wreck was not discovered by the engineer, Benjamin McClellan, until it was too late to stop his train. He sounded the whistle and the engineer, fireman, and brakeman jumped from the train. In jumping, Engineer McClellan was thrown against a pile of ties. His scalp was torn in several places and one of his legs broken.

At this time the men about the wreck heard heartrending shrieks and saw two men standing on top of the approaching train. They were gesticulating and shouting for help. Their cries were drowned by the horrible crash which followed. The Wabash bridge was parallel to that of the Hannibal and distant from it only about two feet. They were braced together, and the breaking of the former destroyed the braces. Instead of this bridge breaking it turned to one side, throwing the engine into the creek and piling eleven cars on top of it. The engine is completely demolished and the cars are broken into splinters.

The wreck of the Wabash train was more disastrous than that of the Rock Island. The bodies of two men were found, terribly cut and mangled. From their dress, it is supposed that they were tramps who were stealing their last ride on the top of the train. The noise of the escaping steam from both engines, and the possibility of an explosion, prevented the train hands from attempting to rescue any one who might be in the wreck. After the turmoil had ceased, faint groans were heard from the Wabash wreck. Willing hands at once set to work to find the unfortunate. After working half an hour the men pulled out Ben Norris, a colored youth, who was pinned down by the heavy beams with his face and head nearly submerged in the water which had been dammed up by the wreck and now was beginning to run over it. Norris was a roustabout and was in a box car when the wreck occurred. Nearly every bone in his body was broken and he is not expected to live.

Brakeman John H. Leydon of the Wabash train sustained internal injuries.

About two hours after the wreck a wrecking train of the Rock Island railroad arrived from Cameron with a large force of men and two doctors, and shortly afterwards a wrecking train of the Wabash followed from Randolph. The men immediately set to work clearing the wreck, but from the character of the wreck and the fierce current of the stream, it is not expected that the debris will be removed today in time to begin work upon the bridges.

The spot where the accident occurred is low ground, lying between the foot of the bluffs and about 100 yards from the Missouri river. The bridge spanned a ravine which is forty feet wide and twenty feet deep. They were the common wooden trestle bridges usually constructed by railroads to cross ravines and small streams. The heavy rains of last night washed away the piers and left nothing to support the bridge but the soft clayey earth on either side, which was being continually washed away by the increasing volume of water.

A curious sight presented itself this morning. Piled high above the tracks and completely filling the ravine for a distance of 200 feet were fragments of car timber, boxes, barrels and all sorts of freight in indiscriminate confusion. The engine of the Rock Island train looms up above the wreck and appears like a warning danger sign to approaching trains. On a little green knoll on one side of the tracks were four rough wooden boxes containing the bodies of the dead brakemen and tramps. As the passengers of later trains were transferred from one side of the wreck to the other they were compelled to pass these boxes and they shuddered as they walked hastily by them.

The following telegram was sent by Superintendent Pickering to the officers in charge:

"Wreck at bridge 533, caused by the washing away of the bridge by a water spout at 2:[illegible]8 o'clock this morning."

A dispatch was also sent to the Hannibal officers at Chicago. The outward bound trains on the Wabash railroad, for Chicago and the east, will go by way of the Santa Fe extension and switch to their own line at Sibley. The Rock Island trains will come over the Kansas City , Council Bluffs & St. Joseph railroad.

The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, MO 23 May 1888