WRECK AND FIRE

Create Frightful Havoc on the Big Four Road at Cold Springs, O. --- Thirteen Freight Cars Piled Up in a Wreck, and the Debris Burned by a Fire which Succeeded -- A Number of Persons Badly Burned while Looking On.

SPRINGFIELD, O., Aug. 2. --- While west-bound freight No. 65 on the Big Four road, was running at a rate of twenty-five miles an hour at Cold Springs, near here, shortly after noon yesterday, a truck or some part of the running gear of one of the cars broke. In an instant thirteen cars, all loaded, were piled in indescribable confusion, completely blocking the track. Four of the cars were loaded with naptha[sic], which caught fire, and the entire wreck was destroyed. The financial loss is estimated at $73,000 or over. Four persons were burned fatally. They are:
TOM HARRIS, quarryman, blistered from head to foot.
WM. CRANE, burned on head and neck.
JOHN HAYNES, burned on neck and face.
WM. KENNEDY, burned all over the body.

Those badly burned are:
FRANK LIEBOLT, FRANK DENNIS, A. ZIMMER, J. H. BERRY, JACK TOBIN, JAMES FORD, WILLIAM MILLER, T. BRATNER, FRANK SNYDER, JOHN MOWER, F. M. EVANS, L. S. WELLS, S. W. SIEBOLD, ERNEST WILSON, SAMUEL COLLINS, WILLIAM KURTZ, CLARK BAKER, DENNIS WRIGHT, PETER MOWER.

At 7 o'clock last night, while about 800 men were standing around and working upon the wreck some man smoking a pipe emptied the burning contents of the bowl into the debris, which had became saturated with naphtha from on of the wrecked cars. Instantly there was a flash and a tongue of fire ran along the ground for a distance of about fifty feet.

The men went to work at once to extinguish the blaze which slowly worked its way to the tank from which the naptha had leaked. The men were repeatedly cautioned to be careful, but as time passed they became indifferent. About half an hour elapsed when there was a terrific explosion of the naptha tank. A small stream of oil, not larger than a wheat straw, had reached the blaze. The flame ran up the side of the iron tank and then with the thunder of the explosion there was a flash of light that illuminated the whole heavens for an instant. One man, a few hundred feet away, said the blaze of light extended upward about 400 feet. The burning oil was thrown in every direction with fearful results.
Nine of the men were quarrymen. The others were members of the train wrecking crew. The relief train, with DRS. RUSSELL and NOAH and J. MYERS and assistants aboard, went to the scene of the explosion at once from here.

The Rolla New Era Missouri 1892-08-06
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!