New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-11-10
al. The protrudlng flesh was

blunt fragment. The protruding flesh was
Jagged and torn.
a colored man, Of large and powerfully built |
frame, was lying a little below the first bag
gage-car, with both legs broken, the bones
being thrust through his pantaloors as though
cut off with O. eleaver. His mouth was filled
and his face about covered with large mass OF
what appeared to DO the purest white foam.
He was one Of the brakemen on the gravel
train. Another Of the colored brakemen on
that train, he found lying on his face on
gravel heap on one Of the cars with his head as
II beaten with heavy mallet into the gravel.
His leg had been literally torn off from the
middle Of the thigh, and was hanging down,
being caught between the two cars in falling,
the sole Of the foot being uppermost, and the
sinews, arteries of the limb, and shreds Of flesh
dripping and dangling about. From the for
ward window of the half crushed car, the neck
and shoulders of a muscular man were thrust
out, the head having been cut off as it with
guilIotine. He looked for the head but could
not find it,
One thing which attracted his notice was the
discoloration Of the bodies buried up in the
ruins, bearing the appearance of bruises and
suffocation.
Upon the conductor and others cutting their
way through the foremost first class car into
the wreck, and clearing away the fragments,
they found some twenty bodies Of men, women
and children, wedged in together with the frag-
ments of the cars The slain at the bottom Of
q ditch in front Of o battery Of canon, could
not have presented more horrible spectacle
There were two or three layers of these bodies
and ruins, and they were packed and pressed
together as if heavy slab of iron had fallen
upon and crushed them. There was very little
blood flowing from any wounds, but their
tongues and eyes were forced out OF their
sockets and mouths as though they had been
ehoked. In this car occurred an almost in
credible escape A young man, about twenty
three, stoutly built, had been flung up against
the roof of the car which was forced off at the
time, and his left leg and arm were pushed
outside, but the platform of the next car Tor
ward had fallen upon him at the moment, and
had tightly fastened him. The left leg and
arm were outside of the car, with the rest of
the body hanging inside Of the car, with the
face looking doWnwards
The conductor was the first to discover him,
and Immediately exclaimed on finding him alive,
that he must be saved. Making their way
through the ruins and over the dead bodies, the
conductor and the party with him reached the
spot where the poor fellow was clinched and
riyeted between the timbers. He was full Of
heart, and babe them work on, and that he
could hold out if they could. lie musthave been
some three hours and half in this position be-
fore he was discovered and found to be alive.
/ After half an hours work a saw was found, and
\ three men, Mr.. Edwin A. Skeele of ST. Louis, q
man from Vermont, and MIR. Meagher. relieved
each other in saving him out. This was &C.
complished in about three quarters of an hour,
l the man suffering intensely the while. Two or
three times he tainted and dropped his head, but
| fortunately they were enabled to recover him
with some brandy which Prof Brownson, of
Boston, happened to have with him, and which
he placed in MIR. Meagher's hands for the suf-
ferer. Upon excavating the man they found
that the thigh was badly crushed, as also the
arm and lower part of the stomach. The left
side of his face and forehead were also lacera-
ted, but, apparently, no other or mortal inju.
ries had been inflicted. He was brought Out
and laid in one Of the uninjured cars which hac
been, meanwhile, fitted up for the reception o
the wounded, by placing boards upon the top o
the seat backs, so that when the surgeon
reached the spot they found nearly all the in
jured lying in two rows on either side of tn
cars, from end to end. The children wer
placed underneath upon the seats. The havo
! among the children was dreadful-several 9
! them being killed outright, some in thei
mothers arms, while those who were alive were
many of them, badly MANNED As an instanc
| of this it may be mentioned that four childre
y had their legs amputated. One beautiful cir
q about six years old, with black hair and eyes
was found with her right leg broken abou
three inches above the ancle-the little for
!, being connected to the limb only by the fesf
T. causing it to hang down.
= Previous to the arrival of surgeons, the pal
sengers generally were busted on all hands
attending to the wants Of the wounded, cal
irving them water, bathing their forehead
- washing away the blood, and administerir
such other relief as lay in their power. Or
: old gentleman had discovered package Of tx
l. in the rubbish, and having procured a lars
n kettle, was busily engaged the whole mornir
l., in making and distributing it to the sufferer
= His name is not known. Others of the passel
gers, assisted by several workmen. were o
cupied in laying out the bodies of the dead, al
covering them with the torn canvass of Il
l. cars.
II II is undoubtedly, taken altogether, the wor
10 accident by railroad collision that has occurr
lie on this continent, and it is to be hoped that Il
In day is far distant that will witness its lik
y Most of the killed and injured were second ella
II passengers, who were emigrants. We should s;
III that, except the Bodfsh and Cakes family, the
lg was not an American among the dead. Of tn
g we could not be positive, as the faces were he
l. ribly gashed, besmeared with blood, and
m grinned with the sand and gravel of the Ell
Ie bankment. The entire attention of those
j. the spot had been bestowed upon the wound
he to the necessary neglect beyond the reach
q mortal aid and the endurance of lingering pal
g, The dead bodies were taken to Chatham Ii
It. evening, where the coroner's jury met II
II, morning to Investigate still further this matt
r 1t will be seen by the list which we secur
lie from the coroner, that there were forty-sev
Mt killed on the spot We were informed by ]
be Brodie, of this city, who was at Chatham neal
a all day yesterday in attendance upon the 8
til ferers, that one died-a woman-shertly af
va rna chino thai p1aca She had a. terrible Of