Two Hundred Killed

An exeur-ion train on the Toledo, Feoria & Western road wout through a bridge at Hper City, 111.', late on thomghtof August lOth, und nuarly 00 ]ei" -mis were killed and as many more ín ured. it wis an excursión train of i5 cars en route to Niágara Falla on the Toledo, l'oori i ie Western road. I The train left liloouiington lor 'iagara Falls on the Illinois Contral, tho intontion being to go by tliat road as far as Chatsworth and frora thenceby way of the Tole do,Feoria& Western. The chango was made at Chatswoith, in Livingston touuty, and soon afterward as the train ne.ired 1 por City, a small town in Kord eounty, tho bridge orossing the Vermillion river g:ive way, plunging the engineand several iars down a steep euibankmont iuto tuc Btream. The cars caught fire f rom the lamp and a fearful panic ensued. It wasfound that nearly 200 excursionista were ki!led and as many more injured. Tbe excursión train while on the bridgo carne into collision with anotuer train ing in the opposite direction. The cars of j the excursión train were piled upon enen otber in frightf ui confusión, nndïrora the shock of the coilision the bridge gave wiiy. The train consisted of 17 coaches and sleepers, erowded with passengers. The oulvert had been burned awa about two miles eat o Chatsworth, presuniably by a prairie Ure. 'Ihetwo enginea wei coinpletely wreeked, together with lu coaches and bagcage car. Engineer McC.mtock j was iustantly killed. Twofir men and tno other engineer escaped in jury. The 10 cars were jiiled on top f the two engines, l eing telesooped an'i piled a ross and on top oi each other. It is miraculoua how any escaped, as the coachen and engintsdo not oecnpy over two cor Icimtlis of track, and all on top of the roadbea. ia one coach not a person e-caped. n another only a laiy. iNo 8oimer had the wreek o curred lhan a scène oi robbery commenced. Sorae baiid of unspeakable miscreants heariless and with only crimina] instincts waa "ii hand, und plundered the dead of thi tirrible accident, takingeven theshoes whirh covered their feet. Who thee wretohea are is not now known. Whether they were a band o! pickpocketa wlio acconipanied the train or some robber gang who were lurking in the vicinity caunot be s i.l. The horrible suspicion, however, exists and there are many who give it credit, that the accident was a deliberal ely planned case of train wrecking% tLat the ! bridge was set on fire by miscreants who liojioil to s'ize the opportunity, and the tact the br-dge was su far consumed at 1 ,he time the train carne along, and the added fact that ihe train was an honr an 1 a half late, are pointed out as evidejnce of a careíul conspiracy. These ghouls went into the cai-.s when the firo was borning flercely underneath and, wben the poor wretches who were pluuged there begged ihem, "ForGod'g suke, " t'j help them out strippad tnem of thoir watehes and jewe ry and aearvhed tlieir poekets lor money. u'uen the dead bodies laid out ui tin; corn flelds, ti;ese 1ilmi;'s turned Uu-m over'in their soarch for valuahlcs, and that the plunder was done by an organized gang, was proven by tlie fact ÜUCt out in the corn tield sixteen purses. all empty, were found iu a heap. it was a gbastly plundering and bad tlie plunderen n cuught they would surely have huon lynched. 'I Eiere was one in ident of tho accident whlch stuuil out more horrible than all of tnosfi tiorriblo s: en s. In th ■ sucou-i coa "h was u man. his wife and little child. H i-t name could not be learned, but it is said he got on at Peoria. When tlie accident occurri'il the cntiro fainily oL three was caught and held down by broken woodwork. Finally, w ben relief ca me, the man turned to tho friendly aid and feebly said: 'Take nut my wife lirst; l'm afraid the child is dead." fo they carried out the mother, and as a broken seat was taken ott' her crushed breast, the blood which welN'd fioni her lips told how badly she was hurt. They carried tho child and iaid h r in the corn field, dead, alongside of her dyingniother. Then they went back for the fatlieraml broughthim out. Both hia less were broken. but he crawled through the corn to the sirte of his wife, and f eüni hur loved features in the darkuess prossed soino lirnndy to hr lips and as cil lier BDe fi'lt. A feeble groan was the mily answer and the next instant sbe died. The man feit the forms of his dead wife and child, cried out: "My (iod, there is nothing inore for me to live for dow," and tai inga pistol out of his pocket pulled the triRger. The bullet went surely through his lirain. Tho news ot the disaster was brought to Chatswortli by onu of the passenger about midnight, und tho inhabitants aroused. Buggies, luniber wagons and every kind Of vehicles w-re used to reach the fatal spot. Aa fastas the corpses wero taken (rom the wreek they were laid out on the side of the track. Before daylight the work of removing the dead and inoving thein to ( batswortfa was begun. As soon as the eorpses were received they were placed in a large empty building, hitoly oocupied as a store, also in the public school house and in the depot waiting room. The residente of the town ihrew open their houses for the reception of the dead and wounded, but the foruier were sent to improvised morgues, r'riends an I relativos of the dead came to Chatsworth with the remains, and the scènes in the different places where the lioilies luy was most heartrending and distressing. As the day passed, bodies were blng continually brought in from the scène of the wreek, the majority of them being nianglnd in the most trightful manner, many of them having their faces eutirely torn away, leaving their brains exposed, while their jaws, üngers and lega had bei n torn off. A LATER REPORT. Tlie Xumber of Dead Somewhat Ee(lUCCil. The latest returns of the Illinois railway horror place tho nuinber of killed at 1U0, but this will undoubtodly be increased, aa 8everal of the wounded are fatally injured As many of the injured as were able have been removed to their homes or to the ho-pital in Peoria, where they can hava better treatment than in the villages o' Chatsworth or Plper City.