New-York daily tribune., 1859-07-02
IHE RAILROAD plsAs1fa NEAa SOUTH BEND.
OF CONDUCTOR AND PASSENGERS
L L l. l. II \ X L i & L l. A X >.

COyrrsP Ldence cf lhe " l. inouos-
SouIH BEsD, IsD., June @s-5 g. m.
/ have iust returned from the scene Of the terrible
railrs ad accident near this tosnof which tbs tee
graph bss ere tbs, informed you-and drop you this
hssty pote by this mornings mall
Two miles east Of South Bend "a ravine, through
which runs rvulet, too 7nall 10 be called creek,
fed from the bills close by. AcIo-s this ravine the
company bad formerly constructed bridge ou. few
years s.ee it hsd been changed INTO an embanknen,,
with culvert a. ITS base through which the Es.er
ran. When building, the neighbors, remembering
great freshet eighteen years sgo, which tiled
h. ravine 10 unexamped degree, insisted that the
culyert was too small. But the engineer IN charge
could not believe possible and bus plan accord
ipgly canied out. The cuyert ass proved amply sui-
fcient for all the freshets since TIL this.
Yesterday afternoon and last night, the windows Of
heaven were op ned and the rain poured down in tor
rents Every stream was rapidly swollen, and, by
night this little brook foamng through the cul-
vert At p. M, passenger train going west passed
over safely. little before midnight, the night
press from the west made the fatal plunge of which
you have heard.
Ihave talked with several of the passengers who
wxre saved and they al concur n.he belief ina. when
the train came around slight curve toward this
rayne. the embankment had already washed away,
and the whole train leaped into the ehasm, which
was about % feet deep, and % or " fee, wide. The
culvert evidently choked up, converting the embank
ment into dam, the water rapidly accumulated, a.
can be seen by the marks Of ts RISE nearly high as
the railroad track and ts great weight at last tore out
the obstruction, and, instead OF the iron rails, there
was yawnng cleft or gap, with wild and angry tor
rent dashing through it toward the river The engi-
neer and fireman, the baggageman and expressmsn,
are all dead and hence We shall never know more
than DO now of the state Of the embanmen; at the
moment of the fatal plunge.
The engineer was running the train with great
Passengers from the west who left the train al this
place state that wherever there bridge TO pass
over he approached il carefully, as if thoroughly aware
Of the dangers Of this dark ard stormy night. So ne
did in passing bridge just mile this side of the
ernba1kment. Supposng, however, that this was all
right he was running, when he came TO It, az about
twenty niles per hour. The locomotive buried itset
in the loose sand of the bank and the baggage car,
which was torn into kinding piled its fragments
upon it. Over this the second-cIsss car the only
thing visible, SO deeply were the ethers imbeddei.
Tie three passenger which followed them fell into
the torrent below the railroad trick The sleeping
car which wss the last of the train, bat little
injured and DO one in it was killed. The others were
sadly demolished, aud many lives lost in EACH
Ip 10 the time when left the wreck, . dead bodies
had been taken out but this is probably not moieiy
Of the loss The engineers body had not yet been
found. and the survivors satisfied that number
who were not killed by the shock died by drowning.
Three dead bodies were found 300 yards beow where
the stream empes into the river aud the force Of the
current can be imagined when tell you that the very
heavy trunk of Mr.. Bliss, the President Of the road,
who was in the sleeping car and is unipjured, was
washed down that distance also. Many bodies
NAV have foated off down the river, or sunk after
reaching it, aud may be i'm oeddei so deeply in
the sand that they may not he found for several days
The violence OF the shock can be inferred from the
fact that the strong iron sae of the expresman
shattered into fragments Mr.. Heaton, the express
agent at this place, promptly on the spot, and aid
cd by the express nssengcr Of the night train from the
east saved all Of the money which had been in charge
of the deceased messenger that could be found. As
cose this letter, the engineers body has just been
found alongside of his engine, dead at his post.
omit names, you will doubtless have them by
telegraph and ain in great haste.
SCHUYLER COLFAX