RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN AMERICA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 30, 3 February 1877, Page 2

RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN AMERICA.

A terrible accident occurred at Ashtabula [ (Ohio) on December. 29. A train bound west went through an iron bridge, down seventy-five feet to the river. The irou bridge spans Ashtabula Creek, 75ft above the waters. On both sides, are high banks. Snow. has. been falling almost constantly for 48 hours, and now a driving storm is raging. It seems that the falling train and bridge smashed the ice in the creek and, .those not killed by the fall, or burned up in the burning cars, were held down by the wreck and drowned before they could be extricated Many, too, will be or have been frozen. The train was drawn by two engines; one engine remained on the bridge, but everything else went down. This terrible railway disaster' has thrown a pall over the entire community. All witnesses so far agree as to the main facts of the accident. About 8 o'clock, the train was running along at a moderate rate. Suddenly, and without warning, the train plunged into the abyss forward, the locomotive alone getting across in safety. Almost instantly the lamps aud stoves set fire to the oars. The haggard dawn which drove the darkness out of this valley of the shadow of death, seldom saw a ghastlier sight than was revealed with the coming of morning. On cither side of the ravine frowned the dark and bare arohas from which the treacherous timbers had f illen, while at their base the great heaps of ruins covered the hundred men, women, and children who had so suddenly been called to their death. The charred bodies lay on thick ice or embedded in the shallow water of the stream. The fires smouldered in great heaps wh^re many hapless victims had been all consumed, while men went about seeking some trace of a lost one 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 a majority of these, and they were scattered abou. on temporary beds on the floors of the parlors and offices. To

ward morning the cold increased, and the -: wind blew, a fearful gale, which, with the sr.ow which had drifted waist deep along the line, made all work extremely difficult. ;Dec. Slst^During the entire day over 100 men have continued to labor, clearing away .the debris of v the wrecked train. Their i labor was rewarded by recovering only two more bodies aud some unrecognisable p eces of flesh. There are 36 bodies or masses of charred and blackened flesh in the building. Of these 17 are supposed to be identified. ■■. A young lady who was fastened in the wrecked timbers up to her waist was pleading for help, when half-a-dozen stalwart mci responded. She was finally dragged her clothing from her waist down and Ker 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 yel'ed 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 shrieks of the living and the groans of the dying we're terrib'e to hear- Jones, of Beloit, Wis., says :— " There could not have bebn less than 300 on board. The fire was so hot that it clipped the piers of the bridge from the turret to the foundation stone. It melted brass like lead, and steel could alone successfully resist it. One of the passengers writes:— The first thirglheard was a cracking in the front part of the car, and then the same cracking in the rear. Then came another cracking in the front louder than the first, and then came a-sickening oscillation, a sudden sinking, and I was .thrown stun ned. from my seat. I heard cracking and splintering and smashing all around me. The iron work bent and twisted like snakes. Voices were soon hushed as the Fire King embraced them. One woman was pinned down by her legs under a burning car. Her cries for help were piteous and in her despair, as the flames circled around 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 cars snapped like powder, scaring many away 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 or tongue can describe the horrors of the scene, _-s