| From the Memphis Appeal |
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| May 23, 1861 |
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| Fatal Railroad Accident |
| At eight o'clock yesterday
morning, when the freight and accommodation train going south on the
Mississippi & Tennessee railroad was about one mile from the city, the
rear car ran off the track and upset. The number of passengers in the
car was not large, but all of them were injured more or less, and one of
them, the wife of Mr. John Grider, of this city, was instantly killed.
She was sitting on the side of the car that was uppermost when the
vehicle was overset. She was thrown violently to the opposite side, then
flying on the ground. She fell upon her head with an impetus that
dislocated the neck -- her death was of course immediate. She had been
married about six months. Her husband was hurt in the hip. His brother,
Mr. Wm. Grider, brickmaker, had a collar bone broken and a should
greatly injured. Mrs. Gillard, the only lady besides Mrs. Grider on the
train, was very seriously hurt; her face was badly cut and bruised. J.
G. Jeffries received severe injuries in the shoulder, and had a rib
broken. Mr. W. T. Cole was also wounded. These two gentlemen reside near
Senatoba, Miss., and were at the Worabam House, where every possible
attention is shown them. The other wounded persons were Lieut. Walsh and
Mr. Davidson, both of the Tennessee Rangers, R. H. Vance, and John
Barner, a brakesman -- a total of one killed and nine wounded. The
accident was caused by one of the wheels of the car becoming loose. The
whole car had been carefully examined the previous evening, and the
wheels greased, but nothing was then apparent indicative of approaching
disarrangement. The train was moving at a moderate pace on account of
being on a curve, and the unfortunate affair was the result of one of
those accidents that care -- and the carefulness of the Mississippi road
is shown by the almost utter freedom from previous misfortune -- and
watchfulness cannot always guard against. The car fell down an
embankment of twenty feet. |
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