The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-07-31 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOL,

APPALLING ACCIDENTS IN AMERICA.

Among the news brought by the Baltic, we have
received accounts of a series of most appalling catastrophes
which have recently occurred in the United States. The
subjoined is a summary to the melancholy occurrences,
collated from the journals of which the Baltic was the
bearer :

FATAL COLLISION ON THE NORTH ,
PENNSYLtrANIA. RAILROAD.
A dreadful railroad accident has occurred near Philadel-
phia, by which sixty persons are said to have been killed.
The following are briefly the particulars as nearly as ascer-
tained. The scholars of St. Michael's church, Philadelphia,
attended by their friends, teachers, and the Rev. Mr.
Sheridan, left the city on a picnic excursion. The train
consisted of twelve cars, containing about six hundred
persons; and when near Champ Hill, where there is a curve
in the track, it was run agairat by the down train, and, dread-
ful to relate, some fifty persons, mostly children, together
with the conductor Mr. Harris and the Rev. Mr. Sheridan,
were killed, and from seventy to eighty badly, if not fatally
hurt. Three ears of the up train were broken to splinters,
and the fragments ignited from the fire of the engine, by
which many of, the above victims lost their Rm. Tb
down train was but slightly injured, and no parson in i
sustained any !qui

trasti of ihe'two trains was distinctly heard at the
lat Fort Washington, and for a distance of over a
mile at Dewy's Lane.

All the physicians in the neighbouring towns were
summoned to the place, and used their best efforts to
relieve the wounded. The most horrible sight of all
was that of the burning cars—for in a few moments after
the collision, the fire spread rapidly through the broken
irning and roasting to death. nineteen men,
women and children. The groans and shouts of the
wounded, and those held by the legs and arms to the
burning wreck were of a character to appal the bravest
heart.

remnants, b

A row of men was at once formed, and buckets used
to extinguish the flames, but they were unsuccessful. A
large number of persons were taken from the wreck
slightly bruised, who made hair-breadth escapes from
being burned to death.

An eye-witness gives the following account of the
disaster. lie says :

The scene was the most awful I ever witnessed. Of
five cars nothing was left standing but the wheels, every
bit of wood work was totally destroyed. A number of
the dead were lying in a heap so dreadfully burned,
that you could not tell whether they were men or
women.

Under the ruins the bodies of some fifteen or eighteen
persons could be seen. No portion of them could be
reached but their limbs—here a leg protruded, and there
an arm or a head could be discovered. The cars could be
seen burning for a distance of four miles, and the Ches-
nut Hill Fire Company hastened to the spot, and by their
exertions in extinguishing the flames, served materially
in the work of rescuing the dead.
The people around the neighbourhood hastened to the
dreadful scene, and by every means in their power,
assisted in the relief of the wounded. Fortunately, there
was a quantity of :ice and ice cream on the train ;
this was given to the wounded ; it refreshed them
greatly.

There was but one house in the immediate vicinity,
and this was thrown open to the reception of the
sufferers.

As the train of. baggage-cars sent, np from the city
approached the spot, the scene beggared all description.
Some from the city, who had friends on the excursion,
jumped out before the train stopped, and sought their
friends, who, too often, were dead or horribly
mutilated. Their shrieks would mingle with those of
the dying.
Another account mentions that eleven bodies of men
and women, and two children were burnt to death in
one car. The names are unknown. They were caught
under the side of one of the cars and roasted alive.
When we saw the remains they presented a horrible
spectacle. The mutilated remains of four men and
women and a child were dug► from beneath the engine
and tender. The remains of a small child were fonnd
under the ruins of the engine, in the ash- pan. The
remains of six other bodies were raked out of the ashes,
and placed on the grass opposite to where the accident
happened.

LATEST.—The total killed and missing is sixty-six,
and wounded sixty-nine, and of these a considerable
number is so seriously injured that death in their case is
inevitable. Most of the sufferers belonged to the humbler
classes, and their means, in many instances, are in-
competent to meet the exigencies of the occasion.
Exertions are being made to provide for the present
wants of the afflicted families.

The conductor of the (1;w1i-train, Mr. Vanstavoren,
after the accident, Procud a vehicle and came to the
city with the dreadful news. He received no bodily
injury by the collision, but when he reached the city he
was in a very high state of excitement, and hinted at an
intention to destroy his own life. This was subsequently
put into execution. In the course of the afternoon he
procured an ounce of arsenic and swallowed it; he soon
afterwards expired, notwithstanding the exertions of
several physicians to save him. Mr. V. was but twenty-
nine years of age ; he was unmarried. The deceased
was much respected by a very large circle of friends, and
he enjoyed the confidence of his employers in the fullest
degree. Williatn Lee, the engineer of the same train,
has been arrested and committed for examination.
The New York Times adds—The loss of life and the
extent of injury appear to be much greater than were at
first stated. The dead, it is reported, exceed sixty per-
sons, while there are more than a hundred of the maimed
and wounded. So friehtfill • • •• •

oisaster , in which
the terror of the calamity is increasedas this
by the combina-
tion of destroying elements, has seldom startled the
community. The suicide of the conductor, whose self-
destruction is an acknowledment of his guilt in causing
the disastero adds to
,the gloominess of the tragedy.

ANOTHER FATAL DISASTER.
DESTRUCTION OF A STEAMER BY FIRE.
Accounts from Buffalo, dated July 17, announce that
the steamer Northern Indiana took fire about eleven
o'clock that morning, while on her voyage to Toledo, and
burned to the water's edge. Captain Pheatt, commander
of the Northern Indiana, was not on board of her, being
sick and confined to his mom in Buffalo. The fire
originated in the wood work around one of the chimneys,
and spread very rapidly. The vessel burnt to the water's
edge in fifty minutes: Mr. Wetmore, the first mate,
commanding, in the absence of Captain Pheatt, exerted
himself to the utmost to save the passengers, and was the
last one to leave the burning vessel. He stood at his
post, throwing doors, life preservers, stools, &c., to the
passengers, who, wild with excitement, were leaping
overboard in masses. The weather was
pleasant, and a
dead calm prevailed, and Mr. Wetmore says, could he
have controlled the recklessness of the passengers in
jumping overboard, not one of them would have been
lost. During the excitement some of the firemen and
deck hands launched a small boat,- into which several of
them jumped, but it was-drawn under the wheels of the
steamer and they were lost.
he steamer was towed in shore by the propeller Re-
public, and now lies in Pigeon Bay, above Point-au.Pelee,
in ten feet of water. Her hull is said to be uninjured.
With favourable weather she can be towed into port.
With regard to the number lost, the reports are conflict-
ing, and a correct estimate cannot be made as the trip
sheets were destroyed. Mr. Marsh, the clerk of the
vessel, arrived at Cleveland this morning. He says that
not less than fifty have been lost.
The propeller Republic, supposed to have saved a num-
ber of the passengers, arrived at Detroit this morning
with several of the crew, but with only two of the pas-
sengers.

A THIRD FATAL CATASTROPHE.
From Kingston, C.W., intelligence had been received
stating that on the night of the 17th inst. the propeller
Tinto was burned last night off Nine Mile Point, and.is a
total wreck. About twelve, persons are lost,,among them
Captain Campbell and a Mr. Henderson. The purser and
twelve of the crew are saved.

THE LATE COLLISION IN THE RIVER
ADJOURNED INQUEST.--YEsTEaDAy.