Cahaba River Bridge Train Wreck

A special to the Commercial Appeal from Birmingham, Ala., says: Fiends in human form wrecked the Birmingham Mineral branch passenger train No. 40 at Cahaba river bridge twenty-seven miles from here, at 7:50 this morning and twenty lives were lost. That number of bodies have been recovered from the wreck and further search may swell the list of the dead. The wreck, it is regarded as almost certain, was accomplished by the removal of a rail in the middle span of the trestle. This derailed the train, which caused it to fall down the two spans and precipitated it into the river 110 feet below.

The wreck was the worst that has ever occurred in the state and the survivors are so few and so badyl [sic] hurt that they are unable to give any detailed description of how it all happened. It is not known and may never be ascertained just how many passengers were on the train. Most of them were miners and residents of mining towns in this district who had round-trip holiday tickets and were returning to their homes along the line of the Birmingham Mineral railroad.

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