Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-10-06
The Accident on the Pennsy lvsnia
Central Railroad.

The accident on the Pennsylvania Cen
trail railroad at Thompsontown, Pa
last Wednesday, proves To have been
much more serious than was at first re-
ported. The cause of the accident In
the first place, was the gross careless
ness OF the conductor OF the freight tIain
which came in collision with the pas
senger train, aud the loss o! life was i'm
mensely larger than IL would have been
If the car doors had MOI been locked
The first passenger cal cor',, 49, at
east firtv persons, many Of whom were
,uu,eu and children. These were either
crushed under the baggage car or driven
In mass to the rear OF the car. But the
crash was scarcely over when flames
were discovered in the rear of the car,
and within four minutes had enveloped
dead, dying and mangled. The morn
ing being quite cold, about a half an
hour before fire had been kindled In
the first car. The stove was upset by
the collision, and the hot Goals spread
ing over the door of the car, the flames
burst up and soon enveloped 1t. Fran
tic efforts were made by the passengers
VI GSClDts lON luSuNNl w bAt hNOAsi b"S
found them locked. The key was prob
ably in the pocket of the conductor, who
was on this car and who must have
been killed instantly. Many of the pas
sengers were supplied by the imminen-
cy of the danger, and made but feeble
efforts to escape But one AK could
be obtained, although little or nothing
was accomplished even with that, one
or two openings being cut through only
to find an inside wall made by the side
of the transtiXed baggage car. SIX per
sons in all, were rescued from the car,
the remainder, being estimated at least
forty persons, were either crushed to
death, or having been wounded were
burned alive. How many were buried
in that fiery tomb may never be told, as
everything was literally consumed to
ashes, and utterly beyond recognition.
Nothing could be found of the con
ductor, John Madison, except his ticket
punch. One young lady some sixteen
or seventeen years of age, they struggled
to drag from q window, but being fast
under the baggage car, she at last drew
herself back again and persisted within.
A man who had dragged himself partly
through window, found himself fast
also, and laying himself on. q side of
window, was consumed before the hor-
riaed spectators. On the left side
of the train, soldier with one
leg succeeded in getting it through the
window, but was unable to force his
way farther, and persisted as he was,
his charred remains, after the wood work
had sufficiently burned away, falling
headless, armless mass upon the other
track. One woman with four children
is known to be among the victims
One poor boy, himself badly injured, lost
his father by the flames and many pa
rents lost their children.
The second car caught fire from the
first but from this, although the doors
were also locked, all the passengers es-
capped with their lives, but some Of them
were badly burned before being rescued.
Two died after they were taken out.
One was woman. A man had his legs
completely burned off. This car, like
the first, was burned to cinders. The
other cars -four in number) were saved
by the passengers, who uncoupled them
and pushed them back out of danger
Two army surgeons were among the I'M
injured passengers, and they rendered
valuable assistance to the wounded