The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1856-07-25
From the Philadelphia Bulletin of 18th inst.
PARTICULARS OF Thea
Collision on The North PenGR. Railroad
AN EXCURSION TRAIN WRECKED
SEVERAL CARS BURNED.
NEARLY FIFTY LIVES L0STt!!


sion bad occurred Nm tbe North Pa. Railroad, /
between The regular morning train fom Gay
nedd, and an excursion train that lr th" city I
at five O'Clock this morning, with large party I
Of school childrrn, with their teachers, &c.
The particulars, as far as have been able /
to CLEAN them from reliable sources, are as io!-
lows:
AT FIVE O'Clock this morning special train
Of ten ears left the Master street Depot with
the schools OF St. Michael's Roman Catholic
Church, in kensi0gton. The excursion party
consisted of between five and six hundred per
sons, The greater majority Of whom we're chil-
drrn. rhry Intended proceeding 10 Fort WASH
ington, iourlern and half mlleS rom The cliy,
I whore they were TO ENJOY PIC mic.
Owing 10 the number OF cars. and ihe wei-ht
Of the train. there was some delay, and The
conductor, Mr. Alfred + HopPe, iiu,ling him
self brhind time, pushed forward with great "a
pidlty, when towards The end Of bis trip.
The regular passenger train for the city left
Guvnrdd al 6 O'Clock and IS tnlnutrS Find
ing the excursion train had not yet arrived,
Mr. w Yansavoren, tbe conductor, drlrrMln-
ed not to wait for it and his tram as moving
along, when the expected train Game thunder
ing on around a curve, at the rate of ~ miles
an hour. A collision Of course ensnrd, WITH
The most appaiSg consequences.
The down train escaped without serious dam
aye, bni the scene presented by the excursion
/ train was f-arlul' The three forward cars Of
/ thetrai was crushed completely to pieces, and
the wreck. mingGng with that Of the locomo-
tive, took fire. and the flames communicated 70
the other cars Of th- train. The next mo cars
after the three that were Wrecked Outright
took fire, and were entirely consumed.
Th,. inmates Of the three forward cars were
completely mixed mp with The vrrck, an@a
large nuFubrr OF them were killed oniTlEht.-
There were probably fifty persons ~ EACH oi
thr thrrr cars and the lowest estimate wp beard,
fv the npeh5erof killed at fifty, while II was
frarrd that the dead aggregate wond reach one
hundred
When our iniorman, left the spot, every Fl
fort was being made to rescue the wounded and
the bodies OF the dead from the wreck. Eve
rvthing was in the wildrst confusion, and Il was
Of courS- impossible, under the circumstances 10
arrive with any Certainty at the number OF the
victims, or pretend to obtain any particulars as
to their names.
Mr. Hoppel, the conductor, escaped with
very little injury. Harry Harris, the engineer
Of the excursion train, was Cut to Piec7s and
killed INSTANTLY, and John Bazans, thr fireman,
is among the missing, and it IS believed he IS
under the wreck.
One OF our reporters, on hearing the news,
immediately repaired to the office OF the COM
pany. al Corner Of Front and W!llaw streets,
but the ten o'clock traio had Just left The sta
ton.
Hethpn proceeded along The line OF the road
to the outer depot Of the company, where he
fy,."ei-.a,, Njef gy.si.ut ami Engineer Of lhe
thousands If sNcitpd men AMI women
lie was informed that an attempt had been
mad 10 send hand-carS along the road to tie
scene 0i thr' accident, bat they had htru imlne-
, diairiy surrounded b. The noh, aad tar police
.aasl s'4p-sinPlaYees ofthe company had th- ut
HoSt difficulty in Keeping them from being ruo
of with.
Tie excitement at the Willow Street Station
was also Intense. Excited crowds We're eager
y lnqoiring for the latest intelligence from the
scene, while those who had children on the i'll
lated train were in the most dreadful condition
of snsppnsr.
The news OF the accident having been widely
circulated, large number of persons who i'm
agined their friends might be among the iniur-
ed, also proceeded to the outer station.
The excitement among the pedestrians, the
majority Of whom females, appeared 10
Increase as they reached the Cohocsink Sta
ton.
ACCOUNT By ANOTHER REPORTER.
The locomotive Aramingo, under charge Of
Conductor William Vanstavoren, left For
Washington station one and onp-half miles be-
/ low Guynedd, at SIN o'clock. fourteen minutes
There were only about twenty passengers on
the train, which consisted ola locomotive,
smoking, and baggage car and one passenger
car.
When the train was at the station the con-
ductor Inquired if the excursion train had arr
we'd. A gentleman answered in the negative
The conductor said ''they ought to be- up and
immediately gave the word right the bell
was rung, and the train proceeded down at
slow rate--the engineer constantly sounding
his whistle. The collision took place about one |
hundred yards north of Dewey's Lane, and -! |
miles from Phiadrlphia.
The up train was drawn by locomotive Shack |
amazon, Wm. Harris. engineer, who was SO |
dreadtuly injured that he soon died
The train was under the charge OF Conduc-
tor A. Ho?prl, who had one Of his legs bro
ken.
They were going at a rapid rate, and as the
trans met at short curve, could not discern
fhr tram coming down until they were within
few yards Of each other.
The up train consisted Of twelve passenger
cars, baggage car, locomotive and ttndrr.-
1t Is estimated that there were over eleven hun
drTd persons on this train, of which oyer-hallI
were small children.
The next down train left GwvnedG at %.
and arrived al the scene ofthe disaster at 40
the proper time. Conductor Henry Keyser