Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-09-07
Awful Catastrophe on the Camden and
AmbOy RnilrOnd. New JcrsrY.


Amb0y Railroad, New Jersey.
The New York papers give the essential
particulars Of a calamitous railroad ac-
cident in New Jersey very destructive of
human life. 1t occurred on Wednesday the
ooh, about 10 \. NJ.
The morning mail-tran left Philadelphia
at 10 A. NJ, und reached Burlington (twcnty
mi les) "A few minutes ahead of timc-sav Il
quarter Of an hour after II o'clock. There
were SIR passenger cars in the train By the
rules of the Railroad Company, the train
first arriving at Burlington, which is the
place for the meeting Of the trains, j. required
to wait ten minutes, and if the other train
does not arrive then, the first is entitled to
the road both trains to run, looking for
each other. There is but single track.
The up-tran waited, according to orders
for the train from New York, and then came
on. When about three miles this side Of
Burlington, the trains met, saw each other
in season to reverse reversed rapidly, aud
the train which had left Burlington few
minutes before, ran back for two miles, until
it had reached IL crossrold half II mile this
side Of Burlington.
At thlS point y wagon with two horses
driven by DR.. Heineken, an old physician,
residing Just out Of Burlington, was crossing
struck the horses, killing them instantly,
and this caused that car to be thrown from
the track, while those in front piled up on
top OF it. FOur out Of the six ears were
thrown off the track III this manner, and
three OF them were utterly destroyed. They
were all ,ccH fHcd ,cnh passengers nearly all
of whom were injured more or less seriously,
and it is feared that the number who were
killed outright was even greater than was at
first reported The accounts gather
Ell, however, indicate that TWENTY pcr.uus
arc killed. while not less than seventy $50 re
iuu
" Whrr the down train (r,m = Y- I4t.)
was stOppri it was within one huudrcI rect
of the wrecked, or Philadelphia train. The
vehicle which caused the accident to thc up
train. was driven by DR.. lilnuegan, and con-
tanned, also, his wife and two children, all of
whom escaped with but triGing injuries.
Both horses were instantly killed. TIE Do.-
tor was hard Of hearing, and did not hear or
see the returning train. Having seen the
train pass up he thought all was sale
Most OF those killed outright seem to have
been, residents Of Philadelphia, baltimore,
Pittsburgh and other places south and vest.
Several were attached to the [. :. Navy ser-
vice. Only four or five females are reported
among the dead
The ladies' of Burlington. and Of N" houses
in the immediate vicinity of the UctiIaus,
rendered the greatest lossihl. hospitality 10
the unfortunate sufferers. Mrs. Neyiug,
Of Burlington, we have heard mentioned III
terms of the highest praise. The pngEor
families and others early repaired t. the
scene OF the disaster, with bludagcS. linen
cloths. stimulants, Nc. Many of the wpu,ll-
ed men lie IN the houses near the cross roads,
and many others have been taken into Bur
lington. Tie houses of that city have been
freely opened, and the bodies Of the dead
were all taken thith"r.
A number of physicians from Pnilticlphil
came up and rendered all the assistance it
was possible to afford to the sufferers.
A passenger states that when the train
was backed towards Burlington, they were
going at a very rapid rIt2-tbout p miles
! an hour, but the engineer AYERS il to be only
| l. miles and when near Burlington the
rear car, which was entirely empty, and was
3 IA lighter car than the others. ran into Il span
of horses driven by Dr. ilanneSan. The
/ horses were rolled and crushed unda the car,
/ being carried distance of thirty or forty
/ yards. The empty car wd- thcn thrown uuC-
| side the track and down an cmhlukmcut of
or 5 feet. The next car. filled with pass IL
/ gers. was thrpHn uli the track aud driven 30
| or 60 wards further along through the SlUd,
| finally lodging crosS-wise on the track. The
third and fourth cars were .anurd Ak tin>J
I the second, crushing it and IL Passengers in
an awful manner, one being tnrowu oil the
track to the light and the other to the le.t.
The fitch ear was then furcct il between IT.,
two preceding it,
The greatest los, Of life WAS amoii: t..
passeng rs in the third car, but that in thc
second ami fourth was also terrible
ilnn ,,n, had his lanl ma .l,I lit..r.,t't- I,
n jelly another WAS cut completely in twn
another was buried III tie .aua, aud :,
thoroughly mlngled that his body " liter
ally removed ia sAoNci,iul.
The sight OF the killed and dying wA> :,
utterly hurrilyng that, for five ~ ton min
utes afterwards, those who escaped found /
impossible to make single movement to cx
tricato their less fortunate companions