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On Saturday morning last, between 6 and 7 o'clock a frightful accident occurred at Brady's Run bridge on the P. & L.E. Railroad, which resulted in the almost instantaneous death of six men, who but a short time before had left their homes and families in the fullness of health and joy, little dreaming that such a horrible fate, awaited them, and they would be carried back to those same homes in a few short hours, bleeding and mangled corpses. The first report of the accident that reached our town was that but one man, Jas. Robinson of Bridgewater had been killed and the others more or less injured. In regard to the accident and how it happened, Mr. M.D. Erwin of this place was one of the three men who escaped gives us the following particulars:
There were nine men in the crowd, James Robinson and William Graham of Bridgewater; James Baldwin of Phillipsburg; George Vankirk of Logstown, Stephen Foster and Elijah Carner of Homewood and Richard Brown, Jerome Peterson and M.D. Erwin of Beaver. They were all carpenters and were engaged in building a new station house at Fallston and rode to and from their work on a handcar. On the morning in question they were at the station waiting for the 6:15 train to pass and they generally followed after it. As it pulled up at the station, Mr. Erwin noticed it wasn't flagged; mentioned it to Robinson the boss and told him he had better inquire of the engineer as to what time the special train containing journalists and a portion of Knight Templars Commandery would be along. Robinson said he would do so and went back and spoke to the engineer who told him he had left Pittsburgh one hour ahead of the special, and as the engineer says, told him he had better not attempt to reach Fallston in advance of the special, as it was running very fast, making no stops, and he did not know how soon it would be along. However, this may be, Robinson came to where the men were, and told them to load up and they would start, remarking that if the train did overtake them it wouldn't hurt anything but the hand-car, as the men could jump and save themselves. They started and had gotten some 75 or 100 feet on the Bride across Brady's Run when the train overtook them. Mr. Erwin says that before they reached the bridge, he thought he heard a rumbling sound, as though a train was approaching, and he looked back but seeing no signs of a train concluded he was mistaken. The first indication that the men had that the train was coming was three short sharp whistles and glancing back they were horror struck on beholding the train within a few hundred feet of them and thundering along at the rate of 55 miles per hour. Robinson cried to the men to pull her down and they could reach the other end of the bridge, but Erwin shouted, "It's too late Jim, Jump boys for Gos Sake!". At the same instant he jumped and caught the guard rail of the bridge and hung there until the train had passed. Peterson did the same and it is thought that Graham jumped to the ground a distance of 35 or 40 feet. Just then the train crashed into the hand-car, with terrific force and its speed was so great that it ran for three or four hundred yards carrying the hand-car with it before it could be stopped. When finally it stopped and backed to the bridge a horrible sight was presented to the gaze of the train men and passengers.
Brown and Foster still lay on the bridge, Brown's body fearfully mangled and part of his head cut off, which feel through the bridge to the ground. Foster was still living and conscious when they picked him up, but he died before they got him off the bridge. Carner was killed instantly, Baldwin died in 20 or 30 minutes. Vankirk lingered about an hour and a half but never regained consciousness. Robinson died with a few minutes after being taken home. Erwin, as soon as he could, reached the ground and did all that he could for the unfortunate men who had been thrown from the bridge. With the assistance of the persons who had soon gathered at the scene, he put Robinson in a wagon and had him conveyed home. The bodies of Carner, Foster and Vankirk were taken to the residence of S.A. Dicky, who lives near the scene of the disaster and the bodies of Brown and Baldwin were put on the train and taken to Beaver Falls. The bodies were all sent to the Beaver Station later in the day and in the evening were put in coffins and taken to their respective homes, with the exception of Richard Brown's. None of the bodies were mangled or cut up much, but Mr. Erwin who helped handle them said it seemed as if every bone in the back part of their bodies from their head to their feet was broken and crushed and they felt to the touch just like a mass of pulp. Messrs. Erwin, Peterson & Graham. the men who escaped, were more or less bruised, but not seriously. The men were all buried on Sunday. The R.R. Company furnishing the coffins and paying all the funeral expenses. At this writing the Coroner's inquest is still in progress at the Court House at this place.
The inquest was concluded Tuesday evening the verdict being that both Robinson, the boss, of the carpenters and Haines theengineerof the train were to blame.