One
more victim of the wreck on the.
Southern
Railway died from his inju-
ries
yesterday. Fireman Joe Reddish
and
Engineer Tom Joiner of the pas-
senger
engine were put on a special
train
in charge of Dr. Howard Will-
iams
and sent down to Eastman. It
was
intended to take them on to Hele-
na,
and by the Sam road to the Geor-
gia
Southern, and then to Macon, as
it
was known that Mr. Reddish was
too
badly scalded to be handled and
moved
across the creek to be brought
to
Macon by the shorter route.
When the train reached Eastman
yesterday
Mr. Reddish was rap-
idly
sinking, and that he could not live.
His
car was stopped at Eastman, and
Trainmaster
Begg ordered a special
train
to take Mrs. Reddish to her hus-
band.
Dr. Williams returned to Macon.
yesterday
afternoon, and said he did
not
think Mr. Reddish could recognize.
his
wife when she reached him. He
was
too far gone. The flesh had been
cooked
from about the pit of the stom-
ach
to the feet, and on each arm. The
head
and bust were not burned.
Engineer Joiner, it is believed, will
recover.
He sat up yesterday and
called
for a cigar. He will be brought
to
Macon today.
At the time of the wreck, the passen-
ger
engine went at least seventy-five
yards
with the wheels on one side
bouncing
over the cross-ties, and then
plunged
forward into the mud under
the
trestle. It turned about half over.
Engineer
Joiner and Fireman Reddish
were
in their accustomed places on
the
engine when the plunge was made.
Mr.
Joiner was shaken and bruised,
but
Fireman Reddish was pinned down
by
the furnace door and the hot water
poured
over him.
CONDUCTOR
DONNELL
Of
those injured the greatest con-
cern,
after Mr. Reddish's death, was
felt
for the condition of Sleeping Car
Conductor
A. P. Donnell of Cincinnati,
who
is now at the city hospital in Ma-
con.
Mr. Donnell has serious body
bruises,
but the railroad’s physicians
offer
the assurance that his life is not
in
danger. He was brought in from
the
wreck last night at 4 o’clock, on
the
same train which brought the bod-
ies
of Messrs. Mercer and Wippler.
ENGINEER
GREEN.
Engineer Charlie Green was in
charge
of the freight engine on which-
Fireman
Robert Mercer was killed. The
engineer
suffered yesterday from gen-
eral
muscular soreness and contusions
of
the body. He is thought to be in no
danger
from the injuries. The passen-
ger
engine and train had passed en-
tirely
over the creek and the rear
coach,
which was a sleeper, rolled off
the
trestle just at the edge of the
water.
The freight engine plunged to
the
ground and drove its pilot into the
rear
of the sleeping car. In this plunge.
Fireman
Mercer met death and En-
gineer
Green was injrued [sic].
The two sleeping car porters were
only
slightly hurt, and the three pas-
sengers
in the sleeping car were shaken
up
but not seriously injured.
Twenty-four passengers were more or
less
hurt, but none seriously. They
were
all able to travel, and were sent
to
their destinations.
In trying to get out of the wreckage
by
walking over the side of the up-
turned
sleeping car, one of the passen-
gers
stepped through a window and
was
badly cut about the face and
head.
THE
FUNERALS.
Perhaps no man on the road had
more
devoted friends than had Mr.
Robert
L. Mercer, who lived on Fourth
street
in Macon. Not only did his death
crush
the hopes and ambitions and
tear
the hearts of a loving and confid-
ing
bride of three months and an aged
and
devoted mother, but it caused in-
tense
sorrow throughout his large cir-
cle
of acquaintances. His remains will
be
interred at Jones Chapel this morn-
ing.
Rev. Mr. Southern will officiate.
The
pall-bearers will be from among
Mr.
Mercer's fellow-employees on the-
Southern
railroad.
The remains of Baggagemaster F. W.
Wippler
will not be interred until Tues-
day,
in order to give one of his daugh-
ters,
Mrs. James Mason, time to reach
here
from Virginia. Mr. Wippler's
death
is peculiarly sad. He was a de-
voted
father and a highly esteemed
citizen.
In the wreck, he was buried
under
the piles of baggage and trunks
that
fell over him, and was pinned
to
the floor under the water, his coach
having
fallen into a big lagoon near
the
edge of the creek. It
was
thought he died from drowning,
but
a deep gash in the back of his
head
indicates that a blow from the
edge
of a trunk probably caused death.
A request was sent to the railroad.
authorities
last night for the remains.
of
Fireman Joe Reddish to be sent for
interment
to Odum, Ga., a station
down
the road.
CONDUCTOR
LOWERY’S COOLNESS
The passenger train ran for a consid-
erable
distance on the crossties of the-
trestle
before it took its deadly plunge,
and
as soon as the first bumping,
cracking
noises were heard the pas-
sengers
realized that something was
wrong.
Mothers grasped their babes
to
their bosoms and screamed in terror.
Men
started wildly from their seats.
Conductor
J. I. Lowery arose in the
end
of the first-class passenger coach
and
in tones meant to reassure, said:
“Be
quiet people, it’s all over.”
His lips had hardly closed after the
words,
before the crash came. As the
report
echoed and reoched [sic] through
the
dense swamps of the Ocmulgee
river,
a few moans and a few sobs,
mingled
with the steam escaping from
the
wrecked engine made a noise that
sent
a thrill of horror through those
who
could understand what had taken
place.
Every light was out. The water
pouring
into the engine furnace made
a
volume of smoke and steam which
obscured
everything for a few awful
moments,
and then the huge locomo-
tive
and its train of cars lay helpless
at
the bottom of the trestle.
Without stopping to find the extent
of
his own injuries, Conductor Low-
ery’s
thoughts were for the crew of
the
big freight that came lumbering
along
only a few minutes behind. He
himself
had been thrown across the
car
and, half-dazed. he began to
scramble
out of the mass of cushions
and
prostrate forms of human beings
that
had been thrown against him, and
breaking
through a window on the up-
per
side of the coach, crawled up on
the
scattered timbers of the fallen
trestle
and made his way back across
the
creek to signal the engineer of the
freight.
He had no matches and could
make
no light. He had hardly crossed
the
demolished trestle work before he
saw
the headlight of the freight engine.
His
voice could not be heard above
the
rumbling of the heavy freight
train,
so he waved his handkerchief,
and
attracted the eye of the engineer.
But
it was too late. Brakes were ap-
plied
and the engine reversed but the
motion
of the heavy cars lifted the
engine
and shoved it right along to de-
struction.
ANOTHER
HERO.
Flagman Fred Solomon of Atlanta
was
passing through the first-class
coach
when the crash came. He also
remembered
the approaching freight.
Breaking
the glass in the end of the
car,
he got the axe, and cutting the
door
of the coach, he made his way
to
the top of the sleeping car. He had
a
few matches, but his lantern was
lost.
He stuck a match to his time card
when
he thought the engineer was
close
enough to see him, and this he
waved
at the approaching engine until
the
monster machine rolled off the
broken
trestle and struck the sleeping
car
at the end only a few feet from
him.
He couldn’t tell whether or not
his
efforts were accomplishing any-
thing
but his one thought had been
for
the men who were rolling through
darkness
to death. The burning paper
in
one hand, he had raised the other
toward
heaven and was briefly pray-
ing:
"O God, save us.”
The crash hushed his simple prayer.
He
had done all that was in his power.
A
JUMP FOR LIFE
Lige, the negro brakeman on top of
the
freight, jumped as soon as he saw
the
impending fate of his train. He
couldn’t
see the ground at the foot of
the
high embankment, but, shutting
his
eyes, he sprang from the top of
the
car into the black chasm beneath.
Luckily
he landed on the edge of the
embankment
and rolled to the bottom
without
a scratch.
SLIGHT
PROPERTY DAMAGE.
It is estimated that the damage to
Property
will not be much more than
two
thousand dollars. This is due in
a
large measure to the fact that the
passenger
coaches did not go to pieces.
They
rolled over on the side and sus-
tained
little damage beyond breaking
the
window frames and panes.
The engines can each be put together
and
repaired for a few hundred dollars.
A
few freight cars loaded with coal
Had
to be dumped into the creek, but
This
was not a heavy loss. The trestle
work
is almost completely demolished,
but
a great many of the timbers are
yet
in perfect condition.
TRAILED
WITH BLOODHOUNDS
As soon as Superintendent Beau-
prie
received information of the wreck
Saturday
night he hurriedly left At-
lanta
on a wrecker, and came to Ma-
con
to see what was necessary to be
done.
Trainmaster Begg was already
at
the scene with Drs. McHatton and
Williams
and a crew of the relief train.
When
a search was made for the cause
of
the wreck, it was found as described
in
the Telegraph yesterday morning.
A
long rail had been removed from
the
left-hand side of the track leading
from
Macon. This rail was placed
across
to the opposite side of the track
near
the opposite rail. Not a spike,
bolt,
angle bar or fish plate could be
found.
The imprint of a pull bar was
plainly
seen on the cross ties at each
place
where a spike had been drawn.
It
was supposed that the spikes, bolts,
Etc.,
had ben thrown into the creek
Below.
It was known that on Thursday
night
Sectionmaster Melton's toolcar at
Reid's
station, a mile below Stony
Creek,
or the scene of the wreck, had
been
broken open and a pull bar and
a
wrench stolen.
When this information was tele-
graphed
Superintendent Beauprie at
Macon,
he telegraphed to Marshal John
Rogers
of Cochran, asking that the
marshal’s
famous English bloodhounds
be
taken to the scene of the wreck.
Marshal Rogers and Deputy Mar-
shal
Willis immediately left with the
dogs
and reached the wreck at about
7
o'clock.
As soon as the dogs were given the
scent
of the removed rail, they circled
around
a few seconds and took up a
trail
through the swamp on the left-
hand
side of the trestle. A party fol-
lowed
the dogs and through two dead
paths
out of the swamp two sets of
tracks
were plainly seen. The tracks
were
of persons wearing about No. 8
shoes,
both tracks being about the
same
size. The swamp is very dense
and
muddy, and the tracks occasional-
ly
left the paths. The dogs followed
the
tracks eagerly and it was found
that
the two men met in the edge of
the
swamp and crossed the open field
of
plowed ground together, going
around
in a semi-circle toward the rail-
road
track. At one place in the edge
of
the field the tracks indicated that
the
parties had stood for some time.
The
rain of only a day or two before
made
the ground very susceptible to
the
imprint of footsteps, and it was
found
that the left-hand shoe of one
of
the parties had no heel. The shoes
of
the other party were probably in
good
condition, as the tracks were al-
ways
plainly made.
The dogs became confused at the
railroad,
and could follow the track no
further.
So many people had passed along
that
way the dogs finally gave up and
continued
to bark over the track in
the
field.
A measurement of the tracks was
taken.
DAN
GLOVER ARRESTED.
Sectionmaster
Melton stated that he
believed
the tracks to correspond with
those
of Dan Glover, who had recently
been
discharged from the service of the
company
on that section of the road.
Glover
was at the scene of the wreck
on
the night before, and it was be-
lieved
that if he had any knowledge of
it,
he might have gone through the
swamp
toward his home, waited with
his
partner at the edge of the swamp
until
he heard the crash, and then
going
from the direction of his house,
joined
the crowd who would naturally
rush
to the scene.
Glover was arrested, but his manner
soon
convinced the officers that he was
not
the guilty party, and he was al-
lowed
to go when it was found that
his
foot made a larger track than
either
of those in the field."
The Southern Railway offered a Thousand Dollar reward:
