Volume 16 , Issue 31

1914 South-bound Frisco Train No. 5 Wrecks

Have you read or heard about the South-bound Frisco Train No. 5, known as the Texas Limited, that plunged down into the river while running at high speed to make up lost time, due to floods, and plunged through trestle near Lebanon, Missouri in September, 1914?

The locomotive, baggage car and chair car submerged. Most of the dead being women and children in the chair car, with few details available, owing to wires being down. The accident was due to a washout, and the relief train was forced to move slowly. The Daily Ardmoreite, Ardmore, OK, Tuesday, 15 September 1914, front page headline read: Forty Killed When Frisco Train Plunged Down Into River.

Springfield, MO, Sept. 15 (1914) -- Probably forty persons were killed or drowned and a score injured early this evening when Frisco train No. 5 plunged through a trestle near Lebanon, Missouri.

The Locomotive, baggage car and chair car were submerged in the swollen stream. Most of the dead were in the chair car. The greater portion of them were women and children.

Those who escaped fought their way out by smashing windows and swimming. None of the sleepers left the track. Owing to the destroyed communication, few details were available.

One man was thrown clear and swam to shore, where he was forced to stand helpless while his wife and five children drowned in a car. The train was called the Texas Limited, and was bound from St. Louis to Galveston.

The train was reported to have increased its speed at Lebanon, to make up for lost time, due to the floods.

St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 15 (1914) -- Frisco passenger train No. 5 to Texas points pointed into Goodwin Hollow, near Lebanon, Missouri, early that morning, as a result of a trestle being washed out, due to a cloudburst the night before.

Twenty-six dead bodies had been recovered up to noon. Thirteen injured were taken to Lebanon hospitals. Many bodies were washed away. At least 45 were believed to have been drowned. The Pullmans did not leave the tracks, and their passengers were uninjured.

Receiver W. C. Nixon of the Frisco said that there was no trestle, but that a washout had removed the earth for city feet and that the hollow contained twelve feet of water, into which the combination baggage car and smoker and the chair car plunged. A relief train was moving slowly to the scene on account of the washouts.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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