FRIGHTFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 135, 9 February 1877, Page 7

FRIGHTFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

A terrible accident occurred at Ashtabula, Ohio, on Decembar 29, when a train west went through an iron bridge across the river. The bridge spat;s the Ashtabula Creek, 75 ft. above tbe water, •on both sides of which are high banks. Snow had been falling almost constantly for forty-eight hours, and now drivin<r storms are raging. It seems that the falling trains and bridge smashed too-ether in the creek, and those not killed by the fall, or burned up in the hurnino* cars, were held down by the wreck and drowned before they could be extricated. -dany, too, will be or have been frozen. The train was drawn by two engines. One of the engines Temains on the brink, but everything else went down. This terrible railway accident has thrown a pall over the entire community. All the witnesses so far a°Tee as to the main facts of the accident. About eight o'clock the train was running along at a moderate pace when suddenly, and without warning, it plunged into an abyss forward, the locomotive alone getting across in safety. Almost instantly the lamps burst and the stoves set fire to the cars. The haa'gard dawn which drove the darkness out of this valley of the shadow of death seldom had seen a more ghastly :sight than was revealed with the coming of the morning. On either side of the •ravine frowned the dark and bare arches "from which the treacherous timbers had fallen, while at their base great heaps of ruins covered hundreds of men, women, and children, so suddenly called to their death. The charred bodies lay on the brink of ice, or imbedded in the shallow waters of the stream. The fires were still smouldering in great heaps, where many shapeless victims had been all •consumed. While men went about seeking some trace of the lost one from among the wounded or dead, the scenes among the wounded were as suggestive almost as the wreck in the valley. The two hotels nearest the station contained the majority of these, and they were scattered about on temporary beds on floors of parlours and offices. Towards, morning the cold increased and the wind blew a fearful gale, which, with the snow which had drifted waist deep 9.?ong the line, made all the work extremely difficult. Of 165 persons on the train, less than sixty are known to have been saved. Tbe lost are so totally destroyed by fire that it is impossible to identify them. But a few burnt stumps of lftJibs and arms remain. Correspondents from the wreck say of the last dozen bodies only one has any resemblance to a human body. By the side ofthe heap of embers was found a pair of scissors and also a tuft of grey hair, but no other means of identification could be found. The bridge was truss built, entirely of iron, eleven years old, had an arch of 150 feet, had been tried with six locomotives, and at the time of the disaster was considered in perfect condition. The iron of the bridge is twisted in endless confusion wi'.h the weight of carriage wheels. The locomotive is a wreck in every part. It is estimated that the loss of the bridge is 7,500 dollars. Another account says the train crept across the b,ri ige. The leading engine had reached the solid ground beyond, and as the driver had just given it steam when something under gave in, the bridge snapped, and in ian instant there was a confused crashing of beams, as the whole train — all but the leading engine— broke through the framework and fell in heaps of crushed and split red ruins at tbe bottom. Notwithstanding the wind and storm, the crash was heard by people half a mile away. For a moment there was silence ; then arose the cries of the maimed and suffering. Those who were unhurt hastened to escape from the shattered cars. They crawled out of the windows into the freezing water, which was waist deep. Men, women, and children, . who lay with lamps broken around them, with their limbs bruised, and themselves pinched between the timbers and trains, were begging with their last breath for air that no human power could give them. Five minutes after the train fell, a fire broke out in the cars piled against the abutments at the other end. A moment later flames broke up from the smoking c s ar, and the first coach piled across the water near the middle pf the stream. In less than ten minutes after the catastrophe every car in the wreck was on fire, and the flames, fed by the dry varnished work, licked up the ruins as though they had been shavings. Men, who in their bewilderment of tbe shock sprang out and reached the solid ice, "went back after their wives and children, and found tham suffocated and roasting in the flames. People residing in the neighborhood were startled by the crash, and lighted to the scene by the conflagration, which made even their ; prompt assistance too late. At night the storm subsided, but the wind still "lew fiercely, and the cold was even more intense. As the bridge fell, the driver of the locomotive in front gave it a quick load of steam, which tore the -• drawhead from its tender and liberated He engine, which shot forward and buried itself in the snow. The other locomotive was drawn back, and the B fe||ing train tumbled over the pier ; it K ." bottom upward on to an express car R^ght behind. During the day lollow-

iug over a hundred men commenced fie labour of clearing- away the debris ofthe wrecked train and bridge. In the Ashtabula river this labour was rewarded by r the recovery of only two more bodies and some unrecognisable burned pieces of flesh, and the belief is gaining ground that many of the passengers were totally, or almost wholly, consumed. Many persons have arrived here from both east and west in search of information regardingmissing friends, but little satisfaction can be given them. Telegrams are being constantly received asking for news of absent ones. Boxes in the freight houses containing bodies were numbered to-day and white labels placed on those that have been identified. J. E. Burchell was unfortunate. He has

A STORY FULL OF HORRORS

He said, " I should judge that there there were 250 passengers on the train. We pulled out of Buffalo in a blinding snow storm an hour late, and ran at the rate of about fifteen miles an hour before reaching the bridge. I went through the train, and noticed that the coaches and smokers' carriages were filled. I was in a car behind the parlour and it was filled. Behind this were the sleepers', which were also nearly full. The first thing I heard was a cracking in the front part of the car, and the same cracking in the rear. Then came another cracking in front, louder than the first, and then came a sickening oscillation, a sudden sinking, and I was thrown stunned from ray seat. I heard cracking and splintering and smashing all around. All tha iron work was twisted like snakes. Voices were soon hushed as the fire king engrasped them. One women was pinned down by her legs under a burning car. Her cries for help were piteous, and in her despair, as the flames circled round her, she shrieked, 'Take an axe and cut off my legs.' It was impossible to reach her, and she was consumed. The paint on the burning car snapped like gunpowder, scaring many who were working. A husband and wife in the burning wreck were held down by obstructions, and calmly awaited their fate. Their lips moved as if in prayer. Neither pen nor tongue can describe the horrors of the scene."

The engineer ofthe Columbia "Piap" says his engine turned bottom upwards. He was thrown violently through the window of the car, and was badly cat. Dan Maguire helped to pick him up, bruised and bleeding. His first words were — " Another Angola horror, Dan." The search for the bodies was resumed at sunrise on the lst January, when Hie wreck men tried a new plan by removing the ice south of the mass of iron work of the bridge, but on looking into the clear water they could discover no human remains capable of identification. Some pieces of bone and flesh were recovered, but one could scarcely tell to what part of the body they belonged.

AT THE INQUEST,

Capt. C. H. Tolie, of Stolias, testified that " While the train was at Buffalo 1 examined the coaches and was satisfied that fully 200 persons, seventy more than the conductor stated on the dav previous, were on the train. Several car parties were formed just before the accident occurred. Scores ot persons were lying in the wreck giving vent to most frightful moans. The fire broke out in three places almost simultaneously. Everything took horrid shapes. I heard a lady scream in anguish, ' Oh, help me ! ' Then I heard a cry of ' Fire. ' Some one broke a window, and I pushed out the lady who had screamed. Most ofthe pas-seng-ers who had escaped did so by way of the windows. There was no egress at the doors for the stoves were there. One lady was pulled from the window, and almost every stitch of her clothing stripped from her, and when they were taking her the rescuing party could hear the screams of women and children for aid but could not render, them any assistance. Those who came from the wreck said they could see into the cars, and could see the charred trunks of those who had been literally burnt to death. They described the bodies as wholly unrecognisable beyond identification, and presenting the most ghastly scene they had ever looked upon. Some of the unfortunates had been burned literally to ashes, and in some instances only calcined bones were there to tell that human beings had been there. Of fifty-two persons taken from the wreck all were more or less injured, nnd about forty of them dangerously, if not fatally. There was a fire-engine in the town, but no horse to take it out. I think the fire lasted an hour, and by that time all the cars were burned. I should say there were at the least 150 persons, reckoning those killed/ The railway officials admited there were over 100 killed. A young lady who was fastened in the wrecked timbers up to her waist was pleading for help, wben half a dozen stalwart men responded. She _was_ finally dragged forth, her clothing from her waist down, aud her shoes and stockings, being torn from her ; and in this way she waded knee deep in snow for nearly half a mile to a place of safety. A man escaped from the wreck with his clothes ablaze, and ran as if mad. The crowd on the bank yelled to him to throw himself into the snow, but he took no heed, and then some one shouted to those near to knock - him down. He was shoved down, but rising instantly, turned his face towards the burning wreck, plunged into it, and was lost. It was

a case of utter frenzy. The shirks of the living and the groans of the dying were terible to hear.

Many people are now saying that the bridge was known to be unsafe for a long time. The engine-drivers, they say, were nervous when going over it during the last year.