The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-06 00:00:00

711 E ERIE RAILWAY DISASTER.

Another railway disaster has occurred in the
United States, due, as usual, to defective, worn-out
rails. An Erie Railway passenger train left Buf-
falo at twenty minutes past 2 p.m., April 15, con-
sisting of a locomotive, a luggage car, a postal car,
and six passenger cars, three of which were sleep-
ing cars, with some 200 passengers, for New York.
Up to Narrowsburg 100 more were taken in, and
the 120 sleeping berths were all occupied. Time had
been lost, as the train had stopped and backed to
pick up the body of a man over whom it had passed
near Corry, Pennsylvania. The driver, anxious to
make up the three-quarters of an hour he was be-
hind, increased his speed to some 40 miles an hour,
although ordered by the regulations not to exceed
30. The roadway beyond Port Jervis has been cut
out of the mountain side, and to the left of the
train, at a depth of above 200 feet, flowed the Dela-
ware River, there, in a body of water, no more than
a Scottish stream. The scenery is Alpine in abrnpt-
❑ess of outline ; everywhere craggy rocks stand
out, giving it a wild and savage character, the pecu-
liar appearance earning for this portion of the
Delaware the saying "that to live there is to
see the sun but at noon." W hen 16 miles from
Port Jervis, at a place called Carr's Rock, Sullivan
County, New York, about a quarter past three on
the morning of the 16th, the rear car got off
the track, three others quickly followed, and on the
giddy precipice danced along while the couplings
lasted, propelled by their own impetus and dragged
by the engine. But the links snapped one by one,
and the last car, reaching the edge, plunged down
the precipice, rapidly followed by the three before
it. A sufferer thus describes the de=cent :—"The
car I was in crushed up as it rolled like a long
paper box, and when it had ceased rolling it was a
complete wreck. The sides had folded open, as it
were, and lay level with the door of the coach, and

the narrow section of the roof, in which the sky-
light and ventilation are placed, lay diagonally
across the broken-body of the car. Mr. James P.
Bigler, who was a passenger, gives the following
account :—"As soon as the motion of the train
ceased, I'went up and got out of the rear door, and
saw there were no cars behind us. I ran back
along the track, accompanied by two of the brakes-
men, and after going some - distance we met the
conductor, Mr. J. B. Judd, running along the track.
His face was scratched and bloody. He told one of
the brakesmen to run rapidly back and get the red
light, so as to stop the othet trains that were on the
track, and the other, to go and help the passengers
who were over the embankment, and striving to
get up the rocks. He himself rztn down to the
-train and ordered it to-back up to the spot where
the accident occurred. I proceeded on with the
brakesman, who went to the scene of the disaster to
help the wounded. Their cries, shrieks, and groans,
which could be heard at the top of the embankment;
were of the-most appalling nature. We climbed
down by aid of the telegraph wires that had broken,
and found the four cars that had gone over all de-
molished. They rolled over twice, descending about
70 feet. Prayers for relief came from every portion
of the wreck, and without delay we commenced to
extricate the passengers buried beneath the ruins,
Men, women, and children were taken out, some
dead, others' dying, and occasionally those that
had escaped entirely. One man was pulled from
the wreck with a large hole in his head. His death,
from appearances, must have been instantaneous.
The next dead person found was a woman from
Hornelsville; my impression is that her name was
Cobb. Almost immediately after we had descended
the conductor, with the passengers of the forward
cars, joined the brakesman and I, and we laboured
together. In a few minutes I found one of my
friends, Mr. D. Lyon, of Binghampton, and taking
him from the wreck helped him to a mattress
taken from the ruins everywhere piled about.
His injuries are internal, and of a very seri-
ous nature. After relieving him I countinued
my search amid the wreck 'ln less than half an
houc—the darkness being' of thj most in-
tense nature—the rear sleeping coach, which was
separated from the other three by a swift stream of
water running through a culvert, took fire, illumi-
nating the scene, and adding a new horror to the
fearful disaster. By this light the faces of the dying
could be seen, and their sufferings shook the stoutest
heart present. Efforts were made by a number of
passengers and brakesmen to put out the fire, and
they eventually succeeded, but not before six or
seven bodies were burned ; but whether any of these
were living when it commenced I cannot say. Soon
after, it was discovered that the wreck of the for-
ward car was in flames, but by prompt action it
was soon extinguished. There was no one in this
car ; but several passengers were under it, one of
whom was my townsman, Mr. I. S. Dunham, who
was shortly after taken out, but found dead. His
death, I think, was immediate, the car having fallen
npon him. More than three-fourths of those who
went down the embankment were either killed or
badly injured. When nearly all had been taken
from the wreck and transferred to the train, I went
through the cars and asked the injured what I
could do for them. More than 60 messages were given
me by men and women to telegraph to their respec-
tive friends, who were in Minnesota, Indiana, Wis-
consin, New York, and the East. These I subse-
quently left at the telegraph office in Port Jervis.
While I was writing these messages, the cries
of the wounded and their great sufferings,
with the bodies of the dead relatives near
them, made a scene of the most heartrending
character. One of the passengers killed was Mr.
Blossom, keeper of the Erie restaurant at Sus-
quehanna ; I knew him by sight. There was a
family of nine persons, father, mother, and seven
children in one of the rear cars ; the mother and
one child were instantly killed and the father mor-
tally injured. I saw five of the children, and they
were badly scratched, but not seriously hurt. I saw
a young lady and her little sister from Chenango
Forks, Broome county, New York State, who pointed
to the bodies of her dead father and mother. Her
grief was indescribable." Five hours bfcer the
catastrophe the injured and the killed were con-
veyed to Port Jervis, where all the surgeons of the
neighbourhood were summoned by telegraph, and
a scene harrowing in its details occurred. Ephraim
and Mrs. Hoyt, Chenango Fortis, Ne« York, were
among the dead, but the children in the same car
had escaped. Mr. Sauss, a French gentleman on-
his way from Niagara to New York, with a boy
named Foye, whom he was taking to France,
occupied one berth in a sleeeping car. The boy
escaped, but Sauss was mangled to death. The
victims, so far as is known are 23 killed, 69
wounded, and fonr missing, among whom are
killed—Ephraim Hoyt and Mrs. E. Hoyt, Che-
nango Forks, New York ; Mary E. Cobb, Horns-
;Tulle, New York ; Enos Blossom, saloon-keeper,
Susquehanna Depot ; child of Mrs. Fisdell, Ithica,
New York ; H. C. Corwin, supposed to be from
Urbana, Ohio ; J. S. Dudham, Binghampton, New
York ; C. K. Loomis, Buffalo, New York ; Eli J.
Knapp, Jamestown, New York ; and Thomas
Pierinton, 102, Broadway, New York.

Wounde.l.—Henry Haention, Darnsville, New
York, legs broken ; S. B. Fairman, Elmira, New
York ; G. W. Harris, Ind., badly ; Lewis Baker
Bates, New York, head ; S. W. Horton, Salem,
Wis., side and head; S. P. Snow, Bleaksburg,
lowa, head and breast ; --Aldridge, head ; G.
W. Baker, lthica, shoulder broken badly ; G. G.
Latham, Syracuse, New York, back and head ; Mrs.
C. R. Beardsley, 133, Hudson-street, New York,
arm, shoulder, and head ; G. Hartman, Hudson
city, New Jersey, head ; C. V. Taffany, Dansville,
slightly; A. L. Oliver, 17, west 13th street, New
York, leg ; A. L. Smith, Hornellsville, New York,
badly; Mrs. C. C. Reynolds, Hornellsville, badly;
D. Rogers, Corning, New York, head and limbs ;
W. P. Decker, Waverley, N.Y., head and limbs ;
A. Palmer, Ripley, N.Y., back and internally ;
L. J. Fitzgerald, Cortland-street, N.Y. ; A. T.
Kingley, Scoutland, N.Y. ; M. Goodman, 64,
Eliott-street, Buffalo; S. Swett, Middletown, N.J.,
breast ; J. It. Henean, Louisville, Kentucky,
badly ; Mr. Rea, Middleton, N.Y., slightly ; J.
Henderson, Bonat, Ohio, breast, badly ; J. Balzier,
boy, Cincinnati, Ohio, face and limbs ; E. It.
Newton, Corry, Pennsylvania, back, side, and
breast; N. W. Gokey, Addison, N.Y., slightly ;
A. S. Gillett, Miss A. S. Gillett, and M. Stewart,
Mercer, Pennsylvania, back and head, badly ; J.
J. Ranney, St. John, Michigan head and back ;
A. Classin, New York, slightly ; three children
of S. P. Snow, hurt seriously ; C. It. Mon-
crieff, 453, Hudson-street, New York, badly ;
D. Lyons, Binghampton, New York, head inter-
nally ; J. B. Floyd, Chemung, New York, burned
and badly hurt; A. L. Bigelow, boy, Attica, New
York, face and limbs ; E. Gunther, train porter,
head and limbs ; G. Furnace, New York, badly ;
Misses Maggie and Emma Hoyt (father and mo-
ther both killed), Cheuaugo Forks; D.B. Stratton,
New York, back and arms injured ; Mrs. Bailey,
Londerville, Ohio, slightly ; J. T. Jewett, 73, Leo-
nard-street, New York ; J. Decker, Elmira, New
York ; C. C. Donahue, Buffalo ; Austin Woodruff
Randolph, New York ; John Dubers, boy ; un-
known woman, insensible, aged 30, baggage check
506, New York ; Addie Snow, child, slightly ; C.
W. Douglass, division superintendent, badly bruised
head, shoulders and back.
Au accident had occurred on the preceding
Thursday evening within a mile of the spot, when
13 cars of a freight train ran off the track and
down the embankment, where they were broken to
pieces. This, as well as the Wednesday tragedy,
was due to a broken rail. The Erie directors lay
the blame upo❑ the Vanderbilt party, declaring
that they had contracted for 20,000 tons of English
steel rails, which, had it not been for the injunc-
tions, would now have been laid. They state that
by their orders within the last three months the
speed of their express trains had been reduced to
accommodation time. Indeed the reduction of speed
was rendered incumbent by the state of the line,
Mr. H. S. Riddle, the general superintendent,
having reported in March that the condition of the
iron at that date was such as to give him anxiety
and apprehension for the safety of trains, adding-
-1" The iron ritiifi have broken, laminated, and worn

out beyond all precedent, until there is scarce
.3
mile cf your road, except that laid with steel rail,
between Jersey City and Salamanca or Buffalo,
where it is safe to run a train at the ordinary pas-
senger train speed, and many portions of the road
can only be traversed safely by reducing the speed
of all trains to twelve or fifteen miles an hour, solely
on account of the worn-out and rotten condition of
the rails." The verdict of the coroner's Inquest
held at Port Jervis sustains this evidence, showing
the accident to have been the result of the defective
state of the road : From the evidence before us
we have arrived at the conclusion that the deceased
Tobias Elrich came to his death from injuries re-
ceived by the c Lrs of the Erie It lilroacl being
thrown from the track at Carr's Rock, PennsYl-
vanii, the acci lent being can3ed by a broken rail.
The occurrence, in our opinion, might have been
avoided had the train run at less speed, owing to
the unsafe condition of the road."