Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1864-07-08

The DISASTER On The GRAND TRU>K RAu-
wAY.-From the Montreal Gazette of Mon
day, We learn the following particulars Of
the terrible accident on the Grand Trunk
Railway:
The cars were literally piled one upon the
other and so mixed up and iumbled that It
seemed as if they had been placed under press
Of enormous power and crushed into an unrecog-
nizrble mass Of splintcrs and iron, mixed here
and there with ear wheels in every position.
shreds of clothing, loaves of bread, bundles and
human bodies bruisel, battered and covered with
blood. The woodwork in some Of the broken
cars was open here and there and one could
see through them into further sickening vistas
OF hands, heads and feet, covered with shattered,
splntered woodwork and torn clothing. Some
Of the members thus held up by the wreck in
which they were immovably encased were blue
TO blackness. betokening the nature Of the death
Of which the poor sufferers had died.
Here and there a little child could be distn-
guished. its little faxen head dabbled with blood,
and its body lying in the wreck on the water
Il is satisfactory to know, however, no long pro-
longed suffering tortured the last moments Of
these poor foreigners. Death in every case ap-
pears to have been instantaneous. \ few may
perienced in falling from such height and the
subsequent shocks from the accumulation Of the
cars in the gap. was SO great that inseusibilty
must have Immediately ensued. This is fully
established by the appearance Of the dead.
Every body that saw was more less disigurel,
wet or bruised, but through the blood On the
face and brow, the calm, placid aspect assumed
by the suddenly killed could be easily dis;in-
gushed. As socn as the train fell in, the alarm
was given, in the vicinity, and assistance was
telegraphed for. The conductor and brakeman
were missing; Burney, the engine driver. was
slightly injured and rescued from the wreck
Many Of the passengers made their way out Of
the broken cars TO the deck of the partly sunken
vessel, and thus came to land.
1t is astonishing that so many should have es-
capped SO slightly injured. But when We look
into the way the cars placed, this easily explains
itself The leading cars Of the train fell into
the gap and on TO the barge, blocking up the
limited water space which the vessel left unoccu-
pied, 80 that when the last four or five cars Of
the eleven rolled in turn into the draw. the wa
ter was filed up with the ruins Of the previous
cars, and they slowly tumbled over one another
down on either side The confused pile thus
had broad foundation, and from it escape was
comparatively easy.
The clearing of the debris proceeded in the
mean time with much difficulty and slowness,
owing to the great confusion in which the wheels,
trucks and other parts of the cars were involved.
A strong cable was attached to the upper part
of the pile, and by this means two cars, the last
of the Inflated train, were dragged on to the
wharf under the bridge. Their removal reveal
ed horrible sight A shapeless blue mass of
heads ana hands and feet protruded among the
splinters and frame work, and gradually resolved
itself into closely packed mass Of human beings,
all ragged and bloody and dented and dinged
from crown to foot, with blue bruises and whcals
and cuts inflicted by the ponderous homework
the splnters anu the enormous weight Of the
train
Still another tier of bodies was uncovered rs
the day wore on, and by this time the number
of dead recovered from the river amounted to
69-or IL men, l9 women, l6 boys and q girls
This last discovery was effected by the removal
of the second car mentioned above. As it swung
round on its chain, mass Of eight bodies, as
closely packed as they could well be, became ap-
parent. The lower tier consisted of children and
a young man, while above them were two girls
and boy, and on the top of the pile wel-built
man, of powerful frame, who lay on his back
with a car wheel resting on his throat, CON-
pletely concealing his face from view. The
probabilities are, that il was shattered by the
wheel as to be unacceptable. One of his hands
lay by his side and was quite black with blood.
Ii is supposed that from 20 to 80 bodies are still
In the river.