The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1864-12-01
Great Railroad Disaster.

The following account of most terri
ble disater was published in the Jersey
City Daily Time on the 9th ult.
We have to record the most extensive
and fatal casualty ever known in this
country. Yesterday morning at an ear
ly hour very large train left Orange, n.
j., en- route for the White House, Wash
ington, d. c., under the charge of chief
engineer George B. Mcclellan. 1t was
expected to make the trip through in
twelve hours The train was very heav-
lily laden with merchandise shipped by a
New York Jew House, August Belmont
agent All the Copperheads in the coun-
try were passengers, besides few inno-
cent people who had been deluded into
taking an excursion trip by the offer of
deal-heai ticket Horatio Seymour of
New York was tina conductor, assisted by
Franklin Pierce, c. h. Nallandgham and
joel Parker Ben Wood was appointed
to hold the money received for fares and
wore a hat baaI marked conspicuously /
-ll-44.
For convenience and comfort the pas
sea-e-s were classified in the cars the
fogies under the charge of Robert G.
Winthrop and Millard Fillmore the
short BOYS under John Van Buren and
Capt. Rynders; the mountebauks and
minstrels led by Jack Rogers and Marble,
editor Of the World, and the clergymen
marshaled by the Very Revereuds c.
Chauncey Burr and IL. j. Nandyke.-
There were several cars that were inten-
ded to be attached to the train that did
not make the conuection--oRe from Can
ada with George \. Sanders conductor,
and roomy one from New York, filed
with Gov. Seymour's friends, were both
detained by the unwarrautabe interior
cnce Of a man named Benjamin /. But
Ter. who came to New York last week to
"stop a SPELL" The cars were gorgeous
IL decorated with such elegant notices as
the following Butter has riz, "Abe
lincoln is gorilla" Little Mixes the
b'y be iabers, "Niggers for slaves, Irish
men for our masters" I've are coming
Lroth.c JeE, let Is change our base"
Here's yocU sPanicls for you Massa Da-
vis."
7t::y moved cut Of the Orange depot
g-:iy. to the tune Of Dixie, though the
engineer hesitated, when the final moment
Of departure came, about stopping on the
platform, and was at last only got on board
10y little expedient of Fernando Wood,
who pulled him into the train backwards
By his coat tail Engineer Mcclellan
was dressed in the full rig Of Major
General, for which his Uncle Sam paid.
lie was yery nervous. and remarked that
he should prefer a gunboat to ride On
such locomotive. This engine was a
new one, built at Chicago last August,
but on plan designed by Benedict Ar
mold and subsequently, improved by "A
ron Burr and John G. Calhoun. 1t was
built to the order Of Jeff Davis and bore
the engaging name Of Cessation, which
was adopted as slight change from the
original designation Secession" 1t oc-
cssioned good deal Of remark that hard
ly any soldiers took passage On the train.
There were some men named Grant, Ser
idsn, Sherman, Hooker and D;x around,
who very ungeuerou.ly expressed ,oubts
as to the safety of the track a.au the abil-
ity Of the engineer, and 1t is supposed
this prejudiced the .'blue-coat'' boys
Besides th-s, the conductor of the train
retr.oed to have an American flag on the
engine. and the soldiers have stubborn
feeling Of prejudice on that subject
notwithstanding these slight drawbacks
the train moved of with the good wishes
and cheers of all the rebel soldiers in
Lees army, all the British aristocrats, the
pirate Semmes and his friends. From all
that can be learned from the lncoherent
talk of the few survivors of the sad catas-
trophe, it appears that there was trouble
from the very start The engineer and
his fireman Pendleton quarrelled all the
trip about the method OF firing up, and
the conductors and the fare tsker were
constantly giving contradictory orders to
the brakeman, and nervous conservative
old gentlemen pulled franticslly at the
belirope, giving engineer Mcclellan no
end of trouble just how the accident
happened no one can tell now, but certain
it is, that before the train got half way
through, there was shocking sniSsu- up
The locomotive exploded, the cars were
all piled up in fragments, the track torn
up and such a multitude of passengers
fatally injured that it is doubtful if their
aamss can ever be a:certained. Some
assert that an old Illinois joker, familiar
y called Abe, caused the disater by put
ting rail on the track f; others, that the
Greman Pendleton let too much water out
Of the peace tank upon the fire in Nc,
Clellan's boiler; others, that Vallandig.
ham ran the train off the track by drop.
ping on go. A. X" stick Of timber un
der the wheels; still others, that the en-
gineer was frightened by suddenly dis
covering "a niger in his woodpile" OF
the tender, and overturned the locomotive
by attempting to "change his base" toc
suddenly.