The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1864-12-14
GREAT RAILROAD DISASTER.
A TERRIBLE CATAsTROpHE.-TTE MOST
AWFUL ON acknowledgements LIST
OF THE SUFFERERS.
from the Jersey City Times.

0~SN A@H ~ N@A ~NN'
hour very large train left Orange. h j.,
en- route for the White House, Washing.
ton, D. G., under the charge Of chief en-
gineer George B. Mcclellan. 1t was ex,
pected to make the trip through in twelve
hours. The train was very heavily laden
with merchgndise shipped by New York
Jew house, Augustus Belmont agent.
All the copperheads in the country were
passengers, besides few innocent people
who had been deluded into taking an ex-
cursion trip by the offer of deadheal
tickets. Horatio Seymour of New York
was the conductor, assisted by Franklin
Pierce, G. L. Vallandigham and Joel
Parker. Ben. Wood was appointed to hold
| all the money received for fares and wore
hat band marked conspicuousiy 4-ll-44'
For convenience and comfort the pas
ssngers were classified in the cars; the
fogies under the charge of Robert c..
Winthrop and Millard Fillmore, the short
boys under John Van Buren, and Capt.
Rynders, the mountebanks and minstrels
led by rack Rogers and Marble, editor of
the World, and the few clergymen mar
skaled by the very Revs. g. Chauncey
Burr and II. j. Van Dyke. There were
several cars that were intended to be at
tached to the train that did not make the
connectiou-one from Canada, with
George N. Saunders conductor, and a
roomy one from New York, filed with
Gov. Seymour's "friends," were both de-
tanned by the uDwarrantable interference
of q man pamed Benjamin I. Butler, who
came to New York last week to "stop
spell" The cars were gorgeously deco
rated with such elegant notices as the
following: "Butter has riz," "Abe Lin
coin is gorilla" Little Mikes the by
be jabers." "Niggers for slaves, Irishmen
for our masters" "We are coming, broth
er JEFF" "Let US change our base,"
Here's your spaniels for you, Massa
Davis
They moved out Of the Orange depot
gaily to the tune Of Dixie, though the
engineer hesitated, when the fual mo
ment of departure came, about stepping
on the platform, and was at last only got
on board by little expedient of Fernan-
do 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 Uucle
Sam paid. He was very nervous and
remarked that he shonld prefer gunboat
to ride on such locomotive. The en-
CINE was a new one, built at Chicago last
August, but on plan designed by Ben
edct Arnold, and subsequently improved
by Aaron Burr aud John G. Calhoun
1t was built to the order of Jeff. Davis
and bore the engaging name of "Cessa'
tion," which was adopted as slight
change from the original designation
"Secession." l."
1t occasoned a good deal of remark
that hardly any soldiers took passage or
the train. There were some men named
Grant, Sheridan, Sherman, Hooker aud
Dix around, who very ungeuerously ex
, pressed donbts as to the safety of tht
track and the ability of the engineer, anC
it is supposed this prejudiced the "blut
coat" boys. Besides this the conducto1
Of the train refused to have an American
flag on the engine, and the soldiers hav,
, q stubborn feeling of prejudice on tha
f subject Notwithstanding these sligh
draw backs the train moved off, with th
good wishes and cheers Of all the rcbC
, soldiers in Lees army, all the British
aristocrats, aud the pirate Semmes ant
t his friends. From all that can be learne,
e from the incoherent talk of the few sur
n vivors of the sad catastrophe it appear
j that there was trouble from the very start
: The engineer and his fireman Pcnde
S ton quarreled, all the trip, about the firm
t up, and the conductors and the fare take
were constantly giving contradictory OF
ders TO the brakemen, and nervous con
servative old gentlemen pulled franticall
# at the beli-rope, giving engineer McCle
e Ian no end of trouble Just how the az
J. cident happened DO one can tell now, bu
/. certain it is, that before the train got ha
way through, there was shocking smas
Y up. The locomotive exploded, the cal
. were .all piled up in fragments, the tract
torn up and such a multitude of passen
O gers fstagly injured that it is doubtful
:. their names can be astertained. Som
assert that an old Illinois joker, familiarl
o called old Abe, caused the disaster b
= putting rail on the track; others thu
h. the fireman Pendleton let too much W;
d ter out of the peace tank upon the fire
If McCIellan's boiler; others that Fallar
/. digham ran the train off the track by droE
Y ping an 80. a. K" stick Of timber unde
5 the wheel; still others that the euginee
d was frightened by suddenly discovering
/, 'nigger in his wood pile" on the tender
n and overturned the locomotive by al
. ten,ntlnn tn 6chanoo his base too sue