 THE CHATSWORTH PLAINDEALER AUGUST 12, 1887 These are additional articles taken from the Plaindealer concerning the wreck. ****** From the back page ******* THE BODIES ROBBED That a number of the dead bodies were robbed is doubtless true, but that this heinous crime was perpetrated by people of Chatsworth we emphatically deny. That our people are capable of such acts, or of such being imputed to them by implication after the noble work, of all classes, in rescuing the wounded, dead, and dying, and their noble and generous hospitality, as shown by the care and attention given the wounded since the catastrophy, should give the lie to such insinuations louder and plainer than any words we possess. The strong presumption, is, that the fiends icarnate, who perpetrated these most henious acts were aboard the train when it left Peoria, as the large cities are known to be the rendezvous of this class of brutes, and not the small villages, as the opportunity for practicing crime and perpetrating crimminal acts in large cities are many;; whereas they are but few in the small cities and villages. Note: This is exactly how it was written then, it was later determined that they were persons retreiving items from the bodies of their family and friends. ****** THOUSANDS OF VISITORS Very many of our friends from the neighboring villages of Piper City, Forrest, Strawn, Charlotte and Cullom have visited the scene of the wreck, while many hundreds from miles distant have been here, looking upon the demolished cars, and viewing the dead and wounded. Almost every one who comes, carries home some memento of the sad affair, stick of wood, a brass ornament, or anything that was a part of the wreck. Among the distinguished visitors, who arrived on Friday, were HON.JASON ROGERS; COL.B.F. MARSH; GEN.JOHN RINAKER, of the State Board of Railroad and Warehouse Commissions; HON.JOHN R. TANNER, State Treasurer; R.G. OGELSBY, son of Governor; JOHN W. BUNN, ESQ.; F.K. WHITMORE,ESQ. of Springfield; and J.R. MOSSER,ESQ. of Decatur. After returning from viewing the ruins the honored gentlemen were put in charge of MR.J.A. SMITH, President of the Board, who showed them through the improvised hospital. ****** CORONER'S JURY Coroner CHAS.H. LONG arrived Thursday noon from Pontiac and proceded at once to impanel a jury, which is composed of the following well known Chatsworth gentlemen: W.W. SEARS,ESQ, foreman; JOHN R. BIGHAM; FRANK OSBORN; CAPT.H.P. TURNER; MAJOR D.E. SHAW, and P.L. COOK . They, after being sworn, proceeded at once to viewing the remains and listening to the identification of the dead. After this was completed the jury proceeded to take the testimony of various witnesses, which work is still being persued. Much of the testimony is unimportant and a repetition; hence, is not given in detail. Enough is in to show that Superintendent ARMSTRONG took every precaution, by instructing a close inspection of the road by divisions, and sections orders having been given to all employes to examine minutely all parts of the road-bed, rails, swithces, etc., etcl, that this was done by his subordinates, at least those having charge of the part of the road where the accident happened. That fire was seen in the vicinity of the accident at least one hour before the train left Chatsworth by MR.?MRS. WM. HALLAM and the party who took the excursion train from here, and their respective friends, who were at the depot to see them off. The jury vave but fairly commenced their work; hence it is impossible to give the result of the jury's deliberations. ****** RECAPULATION Under this heading, without a disposition to be egotistical, we will say that all information contained in the PLAINDEALER was obtained after the most careful pains-taking research and investigation. Its columns can be relied upon as being the most reliable and trustworthy report yet published. All information obtainable from official sources has been gathered and placed under proper sub-headings. All other matter is from those best informed upon the various subjects treated, and the lists of dead and seriously wounded can be relied upon as being as perfect as can be made at the writing, 1 a.m., Saturday. With this is a prefix, the following summary will close, for this issuse, our record of the most heart-rendering and horrible railroad accident that has ever occurred in this or any other county, save one, which occurred in Mexico in 1881. ****** LATEST---9:30 A.M. SATURDAY DEAD.--- MISS JULIA VALDEJO, of Peoria, died at 9 a.m. this (Saturday) morning. All other patients are doing nicely. MRS. HAZEN and MISS ALTER will certainly recover. MRS. CLARK is certainly much stronger, although badly wounded. MR.BOND is very sore, but no worse. SHAMBURGER is in a critical condition. ETON WATTERS is in the exact condition he was last night. DR. HAZEN is about, with his arm in a sling, and as bright as dollar this morning. ****** |