The Great Wreck - Sligo Branch, 1919
From the CCHS ARCHIVES:
Clarion Democrat January 9, 1919:
Last Saturday night as William Callen, engineer, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. T.J. Callen, was bringing a freight train down the Sligo Branch and was on a heavy down grade near Lawsonham, where the Branch intersects with the Low Grade division, he lost control of the train by reason of the fact that the air brakes would not work, and it run off.
He sent his fireman back along the train to help set the brakes on the cars, but it seems the run-away train attained such speed that nothing could be done to stop it. At a sharp curve the engine swung over off the track and nineteen cars followed and all piled up in an awful wreck.
The engine after running along on the roadbed and tearing up the track for about forty feet or more, ran off of the bed and turned almost upside down, pinning Mr. Callen under it, and the escaping steam scalded him in a frightful manner. His legs were crushed and his head was badly injured and crushed, while the steam had burned out his eyes and boiled parts of his flesh from his face and head and body. It took from the time of the accident, shortly after midnight, to 8 o'clock the next morning to release his body from the wreck.
The train, of course, was a complete wreck, and the fireman and other men on the train were injured, but we are informed, only slightly.
Mr. Callen was about 36 years of age and was married, his wife having been a Miss Henry, and leaves her with four small children, Helen, Darl, Sarah and William.
The surviving brothers and sisters are: Mrs. Jennie E. Bashline, Hugh S. Callen, Mrs. Zula Over and Harry Callen, of Sligo; Mrs. Verda Seifert, Curllsville, and Curtis E. Callen, Kittanning. His parents and one sister preceded him in death.
Deceased was a member of the Brotherhood of Firemen and Engineers and the Knights of Malta.
The funeral of the deceased took place last Tuesday, Rev. S.L. Richards conducting the service.
Last Saturday night as William Callen, engineer, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. T.J. Callen, was bringing a freight train down the Sligo Branch and was on a heavy down grade near Lawsonham, where the Branch intersects with the Low Grade division, he lost control of the train by reason of the fact that the air brakes would not work, and it run off.
He sent his fireman back along the train to help set the brakes on the cars, but it seems the run-away train attained such speed that nothing could be done to stop it. At a sharp curve the engine swung over off the track and nineteen cars followed and all piled up in an awful wreck.
The engine after running along on the roadbed and tearing up the track for about forty feet or more, ran off of the bed and turned almost upside down, pinning Mr. Callen under it, and the escaping steam scalded him in a frightful manner. His legs were crushed and his head was badly injured and crushed, while the steam had burned out his eyes and boiled parts of his flesh from his face and head and body. It took from the time of the accident, shortly after midnight, to 8 o'clock the next morning to release his body from the wreck.
The train, of course, was a complete wreck, and the fireman and other men on the train were injured, but we are informed, only slightly.
Mr. Callen was about 36 years of age and was married, his wife having been a Miss Henry, and leaves her with four small children, Helen, Darl, Sarah and William.
The surviving brothers and sisters are: Mrs. Jennie E. Bashline, Hugh S. Callen, Mrs. Zula Over and Harry Callen, of Sligo; Mrs. Verda Seifert, Curllsville, and Curtis E. Callen, Kittanning. His parents and one sister preceded him in death.
Deceased was a member of the Brotherhood of Firemen and Engineers and the Knights of Malta.
The funeral of the deceased took place last Tuesday, Rev. S.L. Richards conducting the service.