| From the Charleston Mercury |
| |
| February 29, 1864 |
| |
| Distressing Railroad Accident |
| We learn from the Wilmington Journal, of
Friday, that the evening down drawn train on the Wilmington & Manchester
Railroad on Thursday last, having, at Sumter, attached the morning
train, due at Wilmington Thursday night, had proceeded some six miles to
a place known as Rocky Bluff, where there is some trestle work, where,
from the breaking of a rail, three cars which had constituted the
morning train, but which were then attached to the evening train, were
thrown from the track, and some fifteen passengers were injured, some
very seriously, perhaps mortally -- although no one was killed. One man
is said to have had a leg cut completely off about midway of the thigh;
two had legs broken; three had arms broken, and others were more or less
bruised. The passengers were so jammed up in the overturned cars that
many of them were not exoricated when the evening train, to which the
unfortunate morning train had been attached, left for Wilmington. But
for the fortunate circumstance that the coupling of the two trains gave
way, the destruction of cars and probable loss of life would no doubt
have been much greater. |
| The persons injured were soldiers
returning to Virginia, after having enjoyed their furloughs at home. As
usual, of late days, the cars were very much crowded with soldiers as
well as others, and, painful as the results of the accident are, there
is reason for thankfulness that they were not much more fatal. It is
mentioned to us as a remarkable incident, that although the Ladies' Car
is a complete wreck, not even a seat being left in its place, still no
one in that car received any injury beyond a slight scratch or bruise. |
| We are informed on the best authority that
the breaking of the rail was owing to some inherent and hidden
defect, and not to any cause which care or foresight could prevent. |
|