Grayson County TXGenWeb

Denison Daily News
Sunday, December 21, 1879
pg. 8

RAILROAD DISASTER
Train Plunges Through a Burning Bridge on the M. K. & T .
The Fireman Killed and a Brakeman Seriously Injured
Eleven Carloads of Cotton and Four Empty Cars Destroyed.

Intelligence was received in the city Saturday evening, of the wreck of a freight train on the M., K. & T., 2 miles south of Durant station. The particulars of the accident are as follows, furnished by Charley Stout, the rear brakeman on the train:
"Saturday evening an "extra," Richard Harnest, conductor, left Denison for Muskogee. The engineer was Lawrence Nichols, and the fireman, Mike Keely [sic].   The train consisted of 22 cars, 22 of which were loaded with cotton. While approaching a pile bridge the fireman saw that it was on fire. The engineer shouting to his fireman, "don't jump." Mr. Nichols, with remarkable presence of mind, gave his engine a full head of steam, breaking loose from the train, and passing over the burning structure in safety.
The fireman, in the moment of excitement, jumped from the engine and was buried in the wreck. The cars immediately caught fire from the burning bridge, and the shades of night were so on illuminated with the conflagration. The head brakeman, Louis Abernethy, jumped from the top of the train and was bodily injured by the fall. The trainmen promptly went to the rescue of the fireman, but were unable to find any trace of the unfortunate man.
A tramp who was stealing a ride in a box car, was picked out of the ruins uninjured, but nearly scared to death. When the tramp yelled for help, it was supposed to be the fireman, but there is little or no hope, of poor Keely [sic] being found alive. A wrecking train was immediately dispatched from Denison to the scene of the accident. Supt. Harding, road-master Murphy, and Gen. R.M. Ridgeway, went out with the wrecking train with a large force of workmen and several car loads of lumber, to repair the break.
Abernathy, the injured brakeman, was brought into the city at 10 o'clock, and conveyed to the Nelson House, where he was attended to by Dr. Acheson, the company's surgeon. He was making his first trip over the road. His injuries are not fatal, and it is expected he will be all right in a day or two.   His relatives reside at Centralia, Illinois.
Mike Keely [sic], the fireman, was a married man, and has a wife and family living in this city.
All freight trains were laid up last night at the different stations and a train of stock which left Denison at 6 o'clock was brought back here and the cattle unloaded at the stock yards.
Passenger trains to-day will transfer at the burned bridge and the delay will not exceed one hour, but freight trains will probably not be able to cross the break before a late hour this evening.   The loss to the company will amount to $25,000 on the cotton without
estimating the burned cars which are valued at $800 each.
This is the most serious accident that has occurred on the M., K. & T. for a number of years, and it shows that the best managed roads are liable to be overtaken by unavoidable disasters. It is expected that trains will be running as usual early on Monday morning.
The tender of engine 54 was broken up by the falling cars and the escape of the engineer was one of the narrowest ones ever heard of in the history of railway accidents. The angel of Death seems to hover over the life of railway employees and they may well ask each other as they face their dangerous duties with undaunted courage, "whose term will come next?"