KENDALL & ELDRED RAILROAD NEWS ITEM
Oil Echo, Richburg, N.Y., Sat., Jan. 28, 1882
Railroad Accident
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A Kendall & Eldred Train Stops Short on a Trestle
Conductor Fragner’s train on the K. & E. R.R. met with a mishap on a trestle near Gridley’s Mills, about one o’clock yesterday afternoon, the passengers being shaken up and Baggage-master Sweetzer receiving some bruises. The train left Eldred as usual early in the morning and, arriving at a point near Tarport, where a trestle bridge spanning Kendall creek had been washed away, turned back towards another train and carried into Bradford.
Near Gridley’s Mills, while Fragner’s train was moving slowly over a low trestle that crosses Knapp’s Creek, the two passenger coaches were thrown from the track by a broken rail. The locomotive at the time had just crossed the bridge and the baggage car, immediately behind it, kept its position on the track. Fortunately for the passengers, the two derailed cars remained on the bridge, leaning over towards one side and presenting an alarming situation to the passengers within.
The couplings held the whole train together, but this fortunate circumstance might not have happened had the train been going at its usual speed. The thirty passengers, including four ladies, escaped from the cars in short order and walked back to Duke Center, whence stage transportation, provided by the railroad company, carried them to their intended destinations. The baggage master, Mr. Sweetzer, was injured some by being thrown violently against the end of his car. The railroad company cleared the bridge and had trains running as usual soon after.