Wylies Station, OH Train Wreck, Sept 1913

STEEL COACHES PROBABLY SAVE SCORE OF LIVES

PENNSYLVANIA FLYER, RETURNING AT TERRIFIC SPEED TO MAKE UP LOST TIME, DITCHED BY RAISED RAIL NEAR WYLIES STATION IN OHIO. THIRTY-FIVE PERSONS INJURED.

ENGINE FALLS HALF DOZEN FEET INTO CREEK BED – SIX PASSENGER CARS THROWN TO SIDE OF TRACK AND OVERTURNED IN FIELD. EIGHTEEN SENT TO THE HOSPITAL.

NEW MADISON, Ohio, Sept. 9. – An all-steel train probably saved a score of lives today when the Pennsylvania Flyer was ditched by a raised rail near Wylies station, four miles west of here, today, and 35 persons were injured. Three, it is believed, were fatally hurt, and 18 are in a hospital at Richmond, Ind. Those most seriously hurt are the engineer, fireman and a mail clerk.

Running at a terrific speed to make up time, the train struck the defective rail on the Columbus & Indianapolis division of the Pennsylvania railroad about 50 feet from the approach to a small steel bridge. The train ran along the cross ties until the engine hit one side of the bridge tore it from its foundation and fell with it half a dozen feet to the creek bed.

Six steel coaches were flung to the other side of the track and turned over in a field, the first car in the edge of the little stream. Two rear coaches, an observation diner and a Pullman remained on the track bed.

News of the wreck came in the form of a call for physicians.

UNDERSKIRTS FOR BANDAGES.

Relief trains were rushed from Richmond and Columbus, and a wreck train from Cincinnati. Physicians from surrounding towns were also hurried to the wreck. Women supplied underskirts to make temporary bandages and the Richmond relief train returned to that place with all whose injuries required medical attention.

The portion of the track where the wreck occurred was washed out during the floods in March. A particularly sharp curve leads to the bridge, and the new filling there never had settled. Heavy engines passing over this weak track, are said to have caused the raised rail.

None of the steel coaches was much damaged, and with comparatively little repair, they can be replaced in service. Injuries to passengers were caused almost exclusively by falling and being thrown about in the coaches, although some were cut by flying glass.

The Duluth News Tribune, Duluth, MN, 10 September 1913
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Transcribed by Tim Taugher. Thanks, Tim!