Martinsburg Herald

TRAIN HITS BROKEN RAIL
Five Cars of the Pittsburg Express Leave the Track.

SEVEN HURT, NONE SERIOUSLY

Wreck Occurred Thirteen Miles from Washington Last Night. Another Train Misses Derailed Coaches.

The Pittsburg express No. 9, on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, leaving Washington at 9:15 o'clock Wednesday night struck a broken rail at the Rock Creek pumping station, near Garrett Park station, and was wrecked. Five cars were derailed and seven persons injured, none of them seriously. The injured:

Mrs. McCarthy, of Pittsburgh, two cuts on scalp, taken to Washington and continued on her journey.

Lewis Griffiths, baggagemaster on the train; bruised all over; went to his home in Baltimore.

Samuel Eastburn, ticket agent at the Baltimore & Ohio railroad station: two severe cuts on face; went home.

Four other passengers, whose names could not be learned.

The train left Washington Wednesday night on time. It was in charge of Engineer George Pamphrey and Conductor Ward. At the time the accident happened, which was about fifteen minutes after it left the city, the train was running at a speed of about 40 miles an hour.

The engine, tender, express, and postal cars passed over the rail, which was broken about eighteen inches from the joint, in safety, but the front wheels of the combination baggage and smoking car, which was next in the train struck the upturned end of the rail, and the car plunged high in air and fell partly on its side. The couplings were broken and the combination car rolled down a twenty foot embankment. Two day coaches and two sleeping cars comprised the balance of the train, and they tore up the track for almost 200 yards before they finally stopped.

Released of the weight of the rear end of the train, the engine and the light express and postal cars ran ahead at even a greater speed until Engineer Pumphrey shut off steam and put on brakes. With rare presence of mind the engineer, remembering that No. 14, due in Washington at 9:48, should pass in a few minutes on the opposite track, and not knowing how serious was the wreck behind him, jumped from his cab and, with red lantern swinging, ran ahead. Number 14 was stopped about six car lengths from the wreck.

In the meantime word of the accident had been telegraphed to Washington from the Rock Creek pumping station, and a special was made up at once and with the wrecking train dispatched to the scene. Many of the passengers from the ill-fated No. 9 were transferred to the inbound No. 14 and taken back to the city. Others were taken in on the special train. Nearly all of them went west on Nos. 11 and 3.

Four of the injured people, who suffered mostly from shock and from slight cuts from flying glass, were provided with quarters at a hotel and surgeons called to attend them.

The wreck was characterized by no worse injury to the cars than smashed windows in the two day coaches and the two sleepers, while the combination car, which rolled down the embankment, was but little more damaged. Traffic was delayed about two hours on the west-bound track, but trains were passing again soon after midnight.

Baggagemaster Griffiths, who was at his little desk in the forward end of the combination car when the accident happened, was at first believed to be fatally injured. He was pulled from beneath a pile of trunks in an unconscious condition. On the way to Washington he revived, and was able to go to his home in Baltimore.

Engine No. 1415, which pulled No. 9 and which escaped being derailed, went through this morning on train No. 47 in charge of Engineer Pamphrey.