New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-07-12
From the Baltimore Patriot Of the 5th
DREA nEEIa RAILROAD ACCIDENT

DIRE AQE'GId GSAILf9AD AEIlAlENTs
AWFUL CRASH ON rHE SusouEHASNA RAIL
no GREAT Loss Oh LIrE.--0ne of the most
appalling accidents which ever occurred In our
MIDST happened yesterday afternoon, near the
citys On The Baltimore md Susquehanna Rail
road. &
Early yesterday morning q large number Of
excursionists repaired to Riders Grove, Q miles
out on the railroad, to spend the day. The ac-
cident occurred about one mile this side Of the
Grove, between the upward train for New York
ana one of the trains containing portion of
the excursionists, on their way to the city.
The scene Of the accident was a curve Of the
road about midway between the Relay House
and Riders Grove.
Three trains, full Of ladies and gentlemen,
with children, LETT the city during the day, to
participate in the celebration. Returning, one
Of the trains left for Baltimore at two o'clock,
another started at FIVE, and the third, with
which the accident occurred, at about fifteen
minutes later.
At 20 minutes past o'clock yesterday after
noon the regular train for York left Calvert Sta
ton, consisting of four passenger cars and 8
baggage car all with the exception of the last
car were filed with passengers, Mr.. William
Scott was conductor, accompanied by Mr.. Hol-
Inns, and other officers of the road, who were
repairing to Riders Grove to assist in the ar
engagements for the safe return Of the excur-
sonists. On arriving at the Relay House the
York train, according to orders, proceeded to
lay off on the Green Spring switch. where the
instructions were that it should wait until the
excursion train or trains passed. The express
train from York, due early in the day, which
had been thrown out of time, was waiting Mt
the Relay, and after it had passed down towards
Baltimore, waited for the excursion train, of
about sixteen cars, crowded to excess, which
passed down without giving any information to
the conductor that two other trains were coming,
which unfortunately proved to be the case.
The road being now supposed to be clear, the
York train again took the main track, and pro
ceeded on, and had scarcely got fullysunder
way when, about three quarters of q mile from
the Relay, and about mile from Riders, a ter
rible crash, accompanied by rush of steam.
brought all who were uninjured to their feet,
and on escaping from the wrecked ears a most
heart-rending scene presented ITSELF that it were
impossible to describe in all its horrors.
| The locomotive attached to the excursion train
was behind, pushing the cars; that attached to
the other train was in front, and literally
plowed its way into the cars loaded with pas
sengers in front.
About half dozen cars were crushed and
shivered to atoms, and a large number of their
| unhappy inmates either killed upon the spot or
dreadfu1ly injured The scene is described as
narrowing to the last degree. Several of those
killed and wounded were so caught in the wreck
of the broken cars that they could not be re-
| leased for q considerable time.
Axes and crow. bars were brought into requi-
| sition, and those alive ard unhurt made super
human efforts for their relief The cry for
water from the sufferers was continual, and sew
eral persons were engaged constantly in supply
I ing them. 1t was not, however, until the loco
motive attached to the excursion train had been
sttached to the crippled mass, that the dead and
wounded were got out. A large number Of those
who escaped walked to town, while others came
| in in whatever vehicles could be obtained.
The centre of the foremost car was filled with
the dead, dying and wounded, all wedged to-
gether in one mass with the fragments of the car
| and the seats, so compact thatit required a half
hours time and the use of axes to rescue the
wounded A number of females and children
were taken out from among the dead scarcely
! injured, while through the floor of the car
could be seen the protruding limbs of some who
had been instantly struck dead.
Among the dead in the centre of this car was
Mrs Robertson, named in the list below, q young
and beautiful woman, and Henry Clay Jeffers,
the son of Madison Jeffers, bright and beauti
| full boy; the bodies of whom were so wedged
among the fragments of the two cars, which had
been run through each other like a telescope,
that it was impossible to extrcate them without
| hauling off the fragments of the upper car by
| the locomotive, which was also necessary to re
| lease the large number of unfortunate creatures
who still remained wedged between the forward
| cars; some still alive and others dead In re-
| moving the cars Mrs. Robersons body was lit
orally torn to pieces, but in the effort to recover
those in whom life still remained, it became
necessary to disregard the dead
On all the platforms of the wrecked cars the
destruction Of life and limb was immense, and
the cars being SO closely wedged together it was
! utterly impossible for more than an hour to
relieve any of them, although the screams of the
sufferers caused the most superhuman exertions
for their succor.
On the platform at the head Of the excursion
train four men were caught by the forepart Of
the engine; two of them were instantly killed
and the other two were fast by their limbs. suf-
fering the most excrueiating agony, and almost
roasted by the smoke pipe of the locomotive
They both tainted from exhaustion before they
could be rescued, requiring more than an hour
Of incessant labor, and one Of them subsequently,
died
Two or three were instantly killed also on the
front platform of the York train, one of whom
was Benjamin Merryman, the baggage master,
who met death standing manfully at his post at
his brake, endeayoring to check the destruction
The accident occurred at 20 minutes past five
o'clock, and it was half past seven o'clock before
the last body was taken from the wreck The
dead, the dying and the wounded, were strewn
about on the grass, some of the bodies horribly
mangled, while the broken limbs and deer
gashes in the bodies of the wounded rendered
it certain that many were injured beyond re-
covery.
A powerfully built man, one of the men con
nected with the engine, was drawn out from the
ruins at o'clock, with severe bodily injury
but the moment he was relieved from the pres
sure he became insensible, and in his dying AGO.
MES his body fairly bounced from the earth.
Messengers were sent to the city, Immediate
iy after the accident, for relief, and number
of physicians, whose names we did not ascer-
tain, were soon on the ground, as also were n
number from the vicinity. who labored unre-
mittingly to relieve the sufferings of the unfor-
tunate creatures strewn about
The trains from the city did not, however,
reach the scene OF the accident until after 8
o'clock in the evening, at which time there were
about 5000 awaiting conveyance home, all the
excursionists having arrived from the scene Of
their festivities to the scene of death
The principal portion of the sufferers were in
the excursion trains, although several of those
in the accommodation train were also killed and
wounded Several persons, among them Mr.
Emanuel Stockett, saved themselves, on hearing
the whistle blow, by leaping from the cars to
the ground, while going at full speed. Those
who escaped in this way, received, so far as we
could learn, but little damage
The bodies of the dead were all placed in one
car, and piled upon one another, presenting a
CHASTITY spectacle. Most of them had been in
stantly killed by the crash, some of them being