The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-03 00:00:00

AN AMERICAN RAILROAD .ACCIDENT.

(Front the St. Louis Evening News, Nov. 6.)
It is before us now—that terrible scene ! The moment
before the long train with its load of life approached the
fatal spot. Many were intently observing from the win-
dows the well.marked line which separates the thick tur-
bid waves of the Missouri from the pellucid waters of
the Gasconade ; others looked out on the long bridge we
were approaching, and remarked on its strength or its
frailty ; an old gentleman, whom we thought unduly
cautious and nervous, wished he was out, " for," said
he, " I believe that bridge will break down." We
glanced out of the window near us in a careless way to
see the structure, and turned round again without the
shadow of a fear that we were doomed not to cross it.
At that moment came the destruction. We could see no-
thing, but we heard everything. A sharp piercing sound,
as of shattered timbers, came from the front. We knew
its meaning. The bridge had broken down. Then followed
four; separate well-defined crashes, and our car took
the inevitable plunge. At the first sound we sprang
to our feet and started to run backward. It seemed as
though the ruin was approaching us instead of our near-
ing it. Every man in the crowded car in which we were
seated jumped up, as the shiver in front told of the
coming danger. During those terrible moments, in which
we approached the precipice, the intensest silence pre-
vailed. Not a word was spoken. We had made but
two steps backward in the involuntary effort to avoid
danger, when our time came to follow those who had
gone before. Down, down, down, endlessly we seemed
to go. We were not long falling, yet it seemed ages. The
memory of railway accidents we had read of, and the re•
flection that we were in the midst of one of frightful cha-
racter—the question soon to besolved whether weshould
escape or be killed—the reflection that we might be
killed the next moment, and the inward belief that we
should not be killed at all ; a chilling thought at the idea
of being crushed by a beam, or transfixed by a rod, or
torn asunder by adverse forces—all these thoughts flashed
across our mind while falling. Then there was a tre-
mendous concussion, and we found that we were on the
ground, under a mass of leaning timber, which, however,
did not touch us. Though in the midst of a crowd when
the car commenced falling we saw no one near us on the
ground. We crawled out from under the wreck, and
thanked God we were safe. We sat down on a stone to
recover from the shock. There was not a sound to be
heard. Not a shriek, nor groan, nor cry came from the
wreck. All was silent as death. After a moment we
looked and listened again. Men were creeping, crawl-
ing, and hobbling from the shattered cars, some bolding
a leg, some pressing an arm, and some clasping the
head. Several sat down near us and breathed heavily,
but spoke not. A man staggered by and said quietly,
"My coller-bone is broken." Captain Couzens went
past with a man swinging to his neck. Hie feet did not
touch the ground, for his legs were broken. A wooden
skenty was standing at a short distance off, and we got
up and walked to it. Major King, with the blood stream-
ing over his face from a gash on his forehead, was trying
to tear down the door. Hefinally succeeded, and we then,
assisted by others who had come up, tore off the sides,
so as easily to admit of the wounded being brought in.
The floor was soon covered with the prostrate forms of
men marked by every description of injury. One had a
leg lying unnaturally bent, or an arm doubled back-
ward ; here was one bending his head forward, to let the
blood drip from a gaping gash in his face, and there an-
other with his bowels protruding from a hideous wound
in his body. No one complained except when those
who brought in the wounded in their haste stepped on
a fractured arm or disturbed a broken leg. Those suf-
fering victims showed no weak timidity nor selfishness.
Even through their agony shone the traits of a generous
manhood. No one desired to engross the attention of
his friends, but all submitted without a murmur to the
wretched comforts that alone could be provided. A.
little boy was delirious with a wound on the head.
Now he would lie moaning in the shanty, then jump
up, and run into the rain with shrieks that would have
made the hardest heart shudder. A considerable time
elapsed after the accident before men spoke about it.
They were stunned, shocked, bewildered and unstrung
by the concussion, and overpowered by the overwhelm-
ing consciousness of the destruction they looked on. As
they recovered their senses they began to talk. One
knew that the man who sat next to him was killed, for
a wheel had fallen on him ; another saw the man before
him pierced by a huge splinter ; and another still saw
the roof of a car as it crushed the life out of this or that
citizen.
At one part of the wreck several wounded persons
could be seen directing the labours of those engaged in
extricating them. One by one, as the timbers which
pressed them down were cut away, they were dragged
out and borne away. Under the roof of one car could
be seen the protruding limbs of seven lifeless bodies,
crushed to instant death as they fell. The dead were
neglected. and the living sufferers alone thought of.
A body which moved was brought out and placed on
a log. Then it ceased to move, and a men placed his
ear over the heart, bit it was pulseless. The face,
chest, and neck of the dead man were discoloured,
so that it could scarcely be recognised. Passers-by
looked on the face and asked who it was, but could
not learn. It was Mr. Chouteau. Men ran wildly about
seeking friends of whose fate they were uncertain, till a
motionless corpse, visible through a crevice in the wreck
told the worst ; or till those looked for were met, when
a momentary gleam of joy at the meeting would light up
saw the
e e t
the universal gloom. ,Mr. O'Sullivan stood on the plat-
form of the engine to note the effect of the passage Of
the bridge. H quick eye
tim-
bers, and a consciousness of the impending horror seized
his mind. "My God, boys, ys ,w
areyielding alling k oi
kilted,"
le hd, e
hadhardly escaped his mouth, when he went down never to
rise or speak again. Several countrymen, on the oppo-
site shore of the river, 200 yards distant, witnessed the
awful spectacle. They gazed with curious delight as they
saw that magnificent train sweep along the high embank.
ment towards the fatal spot ; they were still staring
with pleased wonder when a shudder came over them
and rooted them to the spot, as the locomotive went
down, and each whirling car, as it came to the abut-
ment, stopped not, but leaped down with its precious
load of life. It was a terrible picture.