FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT.

EXCURSION TRAIN HURLED OVER AN EMBANKMENT.

VETERANS RETURNING FROM A REUNION TERRIBLY MANGLED -- TWO PERSONS INSTANTLY KILLES, THREE FATALLY WOUNDED AND TWENTY-FIVE INJURED.

Freeport, Pa., Aug. 17. -- An excursion train on the Butler branch of the West Penn railroad, loaded with veterans returning from the reunion of the One Hundred and Second Regiment at Butler, was wrecked last evening at Sarvers, seven miles east of this city, two passengers being instantly killed; three or four others perhaps fatally and twenty-five more or less seriously injured. The wreck was caused by the rails spreading on the end of a small bridge that spans Buffalo creek. The timbers on which the rails were laid were so rotten that the spikes had been forced out from the side by the weight of the train passing over them. The train consisted of a smoker, day coach and combination coach. The engine stood about 100 yards from the wreck, uninjured and on the track. The smoker was smashed into splinters and fell fifteen feet down an embankment. The front track of the coach was also down over the embankment, the hind truck remaining of the track. The combination car also remained on the track. Of the twenty passengers in the smoker one was killed and nineteen injured, it being a miracle that all were not killed.
The most seriously injured are: CAPTAIN LOWRY, of Allegheny, hand hurt badly and injured internally.
Conductor J. S. GRAY, of Butler, hurt in head an internally; will probably die.
MRS. F. GROFF, of Pittsburgh, injured internally.
MRS. MANTZER, of Butler, seriously hurt.
CHARLES SEITZ, of Fairview, Pa., cut in head and breast.
JACKSON McCONNATHA, of Tarentum, large hole in leg, badly bruised and scratched.
CHARLES KARNS, brakeman, of Butler, bruises and severe nervous prostration; will probably die.
MRS. DENNIS DUFF, of Lawrenceville, seriously injured; may not recover.
GENERAL THOMAS A. ROWLEY, of Pittsburgh, injured internally.
JOHN DUFF, a boy of ten years, severely bruised and internal injuries.
On receiving intelligence of the accident here, superintendent KIRKLAND and four doctors at once left for the scene. On arriving at the wreck the sight was truly heartrending. On either side of the track for a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile injured veterans were lying on cushions and in some instances on the hard ground. Women and children, wounded and bespattered with blood, sat and lay around on pieces of wreckage. Doctors and passengers at once set to work to care for the injured. Broken limbs were set and heads and arms bandaged. Two were found dead, being killed outright, a MR. POWELL, of Pittsburgh, and a six-year-old girl named FARRELL, of Butler. Twenty-eight others were wounded, three of which will probably die. The twenty-five others were more or less seriously injured, but not fatally.
The railroad officials are severely censured by all the passengers for allowing such negligence. There being no telegraph office nearer than this point, several miles away, it was fully two hours before the alarm could be given and doctors procured, the wounded meantime lying where they fell after the wreck.

The Elyria Democrat Ohio 1889-08-22
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!