The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-07-04
The Recent Railroad Disaster.

The "Neckarn sailed from Hamburg the 18th
of May with SIS passengers, the greater part
OF whom came from Bohemia, and the re-
mainder from Poland, Saxony, the Hanseatic
towns, Sweden and Norway. -These emf
grants were distinguished for their eminently
respectable appearance, broad countenances
and haxen hair, all grouped into families, and
bound principally for the Western States
They landed at Quebec, and all but eighty
persons, who were not able to pay their fares,
took the cars.
The train on leaving Point Levi, contained
ass passengers, who occupied eleven freight
and second class cars. At LIS A. III. the
train arrived at St. Hilaire station, a mile or
50 from the bridge over the Richelieu, the out
let of Lake Champlain. The train immedi-
ately proceeded up the track to the bridge
over the Richeleu. The night was fine and
clear. The draw was then open, and FIVE
barges passing through on their way to Lake
Champla,n in tow Of a steamer. The usual
red danger light was burning, and could be
seen at distance of 1920 feet, or more than
1000 feet from the end of the bridge, which is
constructed of iron and rests upon seven
stone piers at an altitude of about forty feet
from the summer level of the river.
The bridge-master saw the train coming,
purpose. On came the train, and just as the
mast of the third vessel had cleared the bridge,
the engine plunged into the gap, and car ar
ter car Numbered into the river forty feet be-
low and upon she deck OF barge that was
passing the draw.
The locomotive struck the barge just aft
the mast and bounded Off and plunged into
the river. The baggage cars came tumblng
after, followed by the passenger cars in rapid
succession. The cars were broken and piled
upon one another in terrible confusion. Such
spectacle is seldom witnessed on EARTH
The whole seemed as if they had been placed
under the pressure of some enormous power
and crushed into an unacceptable mass Of
splinters, iron, human flesh and bones! 1t
seems that no prolonged suffering tortured
the last moments of these poor foreigners.
Death in every case appears to have been in
Simultaneous, SO says the correspondent Of the
Montreal Gazette who has given a very graph
ic account of this terrible accident. We will
not attempt to describe the scene that follow
ed it, We rejoice TO believe that everything
has been done that could be to relieve the SUI
fering of those who were taken out alive from
the ruins.
A great many OF the dead were evidently
asleep when the accident occurred, as they
had taken Off their boots and coats, endeavor-
ing to make themselves as comfortable as pos
sible on board such conveyance. They
were found in heaps one upon another, and
dressed In the traditional blue of the German
people.
The drawbridge is about fifty feet high from
the water, and seventy feet wide. The entire
length OF the bridge is about 1900 feet The
orders to engineers and conductors are to
stop moment before passing the bridge, but
il seems in this case the engineer paid no at
teniio9 and pressed forward, plungng the
train into this river, and destroying some
hundred Of human lives and wounding many
persons. He has been arrested, and we trust
justice will be melted out to him in full meas
ure. His name is William Burney. He was
first fireman, and has been promoted in the
usual way, having been employed on the road
some eleven years. The whole responsibility,
it would seem, rests upon him.