| From the New Orleans Daily Crescent |
| |
| February 15, 1861 |
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| A Texas Railroad Accident |
| From the Galveston News of
Saturday last we extract the following: |
| Mr. Marschalk, of the
Hempstead Courier, was on the {Houston &
Texas} Central Railroad train of a locomotive, seven freight,
one baggage and two passenger cars, that met with the accident at
Clear Creek on the 1st inst. There were not less than 120 souls
aboard; and that but one life was lost was a miracle. The locomotive,
tender and seven freight cars were precipitated twenty-three feet, to
the bed of the stream, by the giving way of the bridge. The baggage
and passenger cars would have followed, but for the promptness of Mr.
Jas. Terry, the baggage master. As soon as he saw what was happening,
he sprang forward, forgetful of his own danger, pulled out the pin in
the link connecting the baggage cars to the freight train, calling out
to F. Whitney, who stood near, to "put on the brakes." A
number of the passengers proffered him remuneration, but he refused to
receive anything, saying "he did not wish to be paid for doing
his duty." The Courier aptly suggests that a testimonial,
expressive of the sense of the immediate community interested, should
be presented to this brave and generous man. |
| The train had been compelled
to stop at the Clear Creek tank to take in a supply of water; this
checked the headway of the train on the inclined plane above;
otherwise, the great impetus usually given to the trains there would
have sent all the cars into the Creek. |
| The Courier says the bridge
over Clear Creek is rotten almost throughout. The heavy rains that had
fallen for two days washed away a great deal of the dirt that was
thrown in around the rotten frame of the bridge; and it gave way at
once when the heavy locomotive came upon the almost unsupported
timbers. The Courier thinks the company will have to pay a heavy bill
to put matters back as they were; and suggests that the company would
have done better last season by putting a culvert over the stream than
to have expended money in throwing in the dirt under the bridge. |
| The only life lost was that of
the fireman, Chas. Houston, an industrious, clever young man. He was
last seen running back over the wood on the tender, apparently trying
to get back on the train, or the water-tank. His body was found next
day about 150 years below the scene of the disaster, and exhibited a
serious wound on the left temple, as if made by a sharp stick or nail,
with a little blood on the left wrist. He was lying under some of the
heavy timbers of the bridge, which had rolled off. He was taken out
and an inquest held upon the body. Mr. Reub. Snyder, the engineer,
stuck to his post until his engine struck ground, when he sprang
through the window into the water and swam ashore. |
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