Grayson County TXGenWeb

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Railroad

The Houston Daily Post
Friday morning, February 9, 1894
pg. 1

THE WORK OF DEMONS
The Katy Passenger Train Wrecked Last Night
Investigation Shows the Accident to Have Been Caused by the Removal of a Rail
A Cowardly Murder was Also Attempted
Three Men Badly Injured in the Wreck and One Seriously Shot by Parties in Ambush. A Special Train Sent Out.

A wreck on the Katy's passenger train No. 3 about 10:30 o'clock last night was caused by one of the most dastardly deeds ever recorded in this State.
The wreck happened four miles north of Houston, near the Consumer's Oil mill, the train being the regular passenger train from the north.
The immediate vicinity of the accident was on the Katy's bridge no. 2180. The mail car and the baggage car were thrown into the creek, being turned upside down, and badly smashed up. The smoking car was left toppling over the embankment, falling on the end of the baggage car.
In the mail car, the clerk Lon Morris was discovered in the midst of the debris, all bruised and cut around the head and body. He was taken out and made as comfortable as possible until medical assistance arrived.
The express messenger, H. Hatton, was likewise mangled and bruised by the terrible fall and the contact with the contents of the car. His injuries, however, are not serious.
J.W. Carter was in the baggage car and his escape without losing his life seems a miracle. The car was turned upside down and trunks thrown here and there. He was found in the midst of all the baggage, and though badly injured, his condition is not considered serious.
The horrors of the accident were added to a few minutes after the wreck occurred by the attempt to murder Joe Eliott, the flagman. As soon as he could leave the train Eliot hastened to the front in order to flag any incoming train so as to warn them of danger ahead. He had hardly advanced a hundred yards before gun shots rang out in the air. The train crew rushed out to meet him and discovered the brakeman limping towards the train with blood streaming from five wounds.
This terrible deed aroused the immediate suspicions of the passengers and the train men, and they made a hurried examination of the tracks near the place of the wreck.
Here was revealed one of the basest acts that could be committed by a human being. A rail had been removed just north of the bridge, thus cuasing the wreck, which might have been a hundred times worse if some miraculous intervention of providence had not caused the engine to pass over safely.
As proof positive of the deed of the villain or villains a careful search showed that the fish plate had been removed, bolts unscrewed, and spikes drawn out. Several bolts and spikes were found in a pile alongside the track.
None of the passenger or sleeping cars left the track, and not a single passenger was hurt.
Fireman C.M. Hoes, who was coming from Taylor on the Katy, and Conductor Turney, who had charge of the wrecked train, walk to town and notified Roadmaster Benson of the occurrence. The latter immediately made up a special train, telephoned for physicians and surgeons and hastened to the relief of the injured men and the delayed passengers.
Cots were rigged up and a baggage car fixed into an ambulance room. A number of the section hands were gathered from here and there, and a quick run made to the scene of the wreck.
A Post reporter had managed to catch the special just as it was pulling out. When the train reached the bridge the sight presented was indeed terrible. Cars hanging over the bridge, down in the gully mashed up, turned upside down and generally thrown together. How the messenger, mail clerk or baggage man either managed to escape with his life was the wonder of every one who viewed the scene.
On the other side of the bridge the track was torn up for several yards, rails and ties being completely knocked apart. A little further was the spot where the brakeman received his bullet wounds, the scene all around being engulfed in darkness, a safe cover for the party or parties lying in ambush.
Dr. Robert F. Miller of Stuart & Boyles' Infirmary was the only surgeon who reached the special in time to go out to the wreck. He went to work with a will, and applied opiates to temporarily relieve the suffering men and dressed their wounds as best possible. Dr. Stuart also came out in a short while, having caught the Houston and Texas Central train, which passed near the place where the Katy's train was derailed.
As it was impossible to transfer the passengers or the wounded men from the other side of the bridge, the special was compelled to return to town and come back out on the Cenral's track in order to get behind the wreck. Lon Morris, the mail clerk, was already on the south side of the bridge, however, having been taken out of the mail car in that direction, and was taken back with the special and immediately carried to Stuart & Boyles' Infirmary.
Roadmaster Tibbitts was on board the Katy's passenger train when the accident happened, and with the assistance of E. Lamb, the Wagner conductor, rendered all the aid possible in extricating the men who were caught in the wreck. They state that the shock in the passenger cars was a heavy one, though none of the passengers received even a scratch. There were about twenty passengers aboard.
When the baggage car was turned over, the fire in the stove fell out, setting one of the trunks on fire, and it seemed for a few moments that the wreck would be turned into a holocaust. The men carried water from the creek in their hats, though, and soon had the flames under control.
The faithfulness to duty of Express Messenger Hatton was evidenced by the fact that though his car was turned upside down, and the injuried he had received must have caused him terrible agony, he refused for a long time to allow the men to take him out of the car. He wished to stay by the safe of the American Express company until some of the officials from Houston could take charge of it, but was finally persuaded to come out and allow his wounds to be dressed.
Lon Morris, the mail clerk, had his duty to the government uppermost in his mind also during all his suffering and was constantly calling upon some one to hasten to town to notify the postoffice authorities of the accident. The cause of his anxiety was explained by the fact the the mail pouches contained an extra large number of registered packages of money. The mail car was partly under water, though most of the pouches were taken out without the mail being materially damanged.
As is usually the case, there were several humorous incidents mixed in with the sad scenes of the catastrophe. The passengers generally took the matter very calmly, but one lady on board was constantly inquiring for her trunk. She had heard that the baggage car was in the stream and seemed very much distressed for fear some of her clothes would be injured.
The men in charge of the wrecked train were Conductor Turney, Engineer Ed Meyer and Fireman Will Germany.
The deed that caused this wreck and the further terrible incident of the accident in the shooting of Joe Elliott, the brakeman, was one of the blackest crimes ever committed in Texas, and will be read with horror all over the country.
There is much speculation as to the motive of the villains in causing the wreck last night. Many seem to think it was robbery, as the spot chosen was in a desolate and dark neighborhood. It is also thought that the men interested in this deed also had a hand in the shooting of the street car conductor in Houston last Saturday night. The accidents are quite similar, as the wreck was the object in both cases, and a shooting also followed in each event.

The Houston Daily Post
Thursday, February 22, 1894
pg. 8

THE NORTH SIDE
What Happened on the North Side of the Bayou Yesterday
Henry Hatten, the express messenger who was injured in the Katy wreck at White Oak bayou about two weeks ago, left the Houston Infirmary Tuesday night for his home in Denison. The other three who were injured are getting along nicely.