SIXTY LIVES LOST. AN EXPRESS TRAIN WRECKED. Cars Thrown From a High Bridge-Passengers Burned to Death.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 195, 19 March 1887, Page 2

SIXTY LIVES LOST. AN EXPRESS TRAIN WRECKED. Cars Thrown From a High BridgePassengers Burned to Death.

Concord (N.H.), February 5. -The express train that left Boston at 7 o'clock last night met with a terrible accident near Woodstock, on the Central Vermont road, about 2 3'/ o'clock thi« morning The train started from this city on tttne, but was detained at White River junction bo it was a'out an hour and a half late. It consisted of a locomotive, a baggage car, a postal car, two passenger coaches, and two sleepsre. It was running at the usual rate of ppeed, and when about 200 yards south of the end of the bridge, near the old Windsor station, a broken rail was struck. The locomotive, baggage car, and postal car broke away from the rest of tho train, parsing over the bridge in safety. The rest of tho train was thrown from the raile, and continued on the roadbed until it came near the end of tho bridge, but there it ran over the abutment, and ail the care fell into the White River, some fifty feet down. The gorge at this point is very stoep, and when the cars went down there was a terrible crash. Aa soon as possible tne detached part of the train wae stopped and run back to the scene of the disaster. The screams of the injured were heart-rend-ing. Aeeiß-fcance cuine from people in the vicinity, and everything was done to rescue and relieve the injured. Soon after help arrived it wae discovered that a fire had started in the first coach and the entire train was ablaze, thuß adding a new horror to a frightful catastrophe. Those present vrere powerless to stop the fire and devoted themselves entitsly to attempting to rescue those imprisoned in the wreck. The rescuers met another and unexpected ob3tacle in the heat, which had become bo intense that they were obliged to reliuquieh their efforts to save the sufferers, and were compelled to retreat to a place of safety for themselves and to become unwilling witnesses of a terrible scene. In addition to this, and to add to the horrors and sufferings of the passengers, the weather was intensely cold, and the heroic rescuers were hindered thereby in their work. No water could be obtained with which to check or extinguish the flames. The ice was several inches thick on the river, and there were no appliances at hand to raise it. Twenty-six persons, co far aa known, were taken out alive from the cars which were burned. Two died soon after being taken out. The two passenger coaches were well filled and every berth in both sleeping cars was occupied, and twelve in the one from Springfield, making the tofcal number of passengfira in the wrecked cars about eighty. Thie will probably make the number of dead between fifty and sixty. The bridge was between thirty and forty feet above the water, which was oovered with thick ice, making it probable that death resulted from crushing and burning rather than from drowning, Several were !

penned in the wreck who might have been rescued alive but for the flames. Brakeman Parker, who was on the forward end of the first passenger car, felt the jar and saved his life by jumping. On the ice below the bridge site are twenty-six oharred and un* recognisable bodies. Many more were doubtless cremated.

A Crowded Train. This will not include those that may have been carried into the river through the ice. The latest computation as to the number of persons on the train places it at over 100. When the last car on the ice is over-hauled tomorrow and further identification takes place a more complete list of the killed will be obtainable, alI though it is thought that some of the bodies already recovered are so diefipured as to preclude any identification. Many of the survivors will probably die of their wounds. Considering the height fiom which the cars fell, and the speed at which the train was running, it ie regarded as a miracle that any on board escaped.

A Son's Effort to Save His Father. One of the first passengers to escape from the wreck was Joseph Magnet, a FrenchCanadian boy. c He was with his father in the third car from the rev. He was dozing in hie seat when he felt the car shiver. This motion was kept up for a few seconds and then the car dashed over the bridge upon the ice. By hard work the boy succeeded in getting out of one of the win dows. He at once went in search of his father, and discovered him by Ihe light of the burning wreck just above him, penned down by a part of the top of the car which had fallen directly across his chest anr l legs. The old man was as firmly held as if in a vice. He seized his father and struggled to extricate him, but in vain. The names were approaching rapidly. "Joseph," said his father, "run and get an axe or saw," but the boy could not find either. " Pull me out, then," said the father, " even if you have to break my legs to do it " Joseph tried, but could not stir hia father an inch. With wonderful coolness the father then bade his son good-bye, and the boy was forced to watch his parent slowly burn to death in the debris.

Saved From the Flames In th 6 first coach was Conductor Sturfcevant, pinned down under timbers. The rescuers each got hold of an arm and pulled with all their might and at last got him out, but not beore his legs and body were fearfully burned. His ribs and thigh bones were broken. He was laid out upon the ice and the rescuers went to Marie Sadler of Ormstown, Quebec. She was pinned down by the legs by heavy broken timbers and was unable to move. The men got hold of her and pulled with all thair strength. At last they got her free, but they broke her ankle doing so.

Forty-two Known to be Lost. Midnight. — It is positively known that forty-two persons perished, while there is a probability that a number of other corpses will be found in the wreck or under the ice. One of the wrecked cars on the ice Has not yet been overhauled, and it is thought that at least twenty bodies are in the debris. Should this prove true it would run the list of killed up to over sixty.