Loading ...Train Breaks In Tunnel.
A dispatch received from Port Huron last night told of the accident, as follows:
A coal train broke in two while passing through the tunnel and three of the train crew were suffocated while part of the train lay stalled in the tunnel; the engineer lost his life when he returned and endeavored to push the stalled cars back to safety, and two other rescuers perished in vain attempts to penetrate the gascous[sic] atmosphere of the great tube.
The dead are: A. S. BEGG, Port Huron, superintendent of terminals; Engineer JOHN COLEMAN, Port Huron; Conductor J. B. SIMPSON; Conductor D. T. TINSLEY; Brakeman THOMAS McGRATH; Brakeman D. A. GILLIS, all four of Sarnia.
The train, which entered from the American end of the tunnel, was made up of seventeen coal cars. When it broke, Engineer COLEMAN realized that the accident had happened, and with the three cars that were still attached to the engine, steamed out of the tunnel into the Sarnia yards. He hastily detached his engine and went back into the tube for the stalled cars. When his engine reached them he attempted to push them back through the tunnel and out of the American portal. The grade proved too steep, however, and the engine and cars rolled back into the gas-laden tunnel. The engineer was suffocated at his post in the engine cab. His fireman, FRED FORESTER with great presence of mind, jumped into the partly filled water tank of the engine, where there was enough air to preserve his life, although he is in a serious condition to-night.
When news of the broken train reached the American side of the tunnel, Superintendent BEGG, accompanied by two other employes, started in on foot, hoping that the train was near enough to the entrance so that they might rescue and carry out some of the crew. They had gone but a short distance when the coal gas became stifling and BEGG succumbed. The other two rescuers succeeded in crawling to the portal of the tunnel on their hands and knees.
Meanwhile preparations were being made at the Sarnia end of the tunnel to rescue the imprisoned train crew. An engine with a party of rescuers entered the tube and had proceeded but a short distance when they found JOHN HALEY, a track walker, lying unconscious on the track. He as taken out and again the engine plunged into the gaseous atmosphere. The rescuers were overcome, however, by the gas before the train was reached, and Brakeman McGRATH died. Switchman BLAKE, who was a member of the party, after a time made another attempt to penetrate the gas, and by this time succeeded in making the stalled engine, coupled it to the cars and ran the train out into the daylight. SIMPSON, TINSLEY and GILLIS were found dead in the caboose. Fireman FORESTER was in the water tank of the engine nearly two hours before he was rescued and his escape is little short of miraculous.
Here is the story of the tunnel tragedy (in 1905)
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