The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1864-07-21
COLLISION ON THE
Erie Railroad.
DREADFUL LOSS OF LIFE.
Sixty-four Rebel and Union Sol
diers Killed.

bel prisoners left Point Lookout, under
the charge of 125 Union soldiers. They
safely arrived at New York on the l4th,
and left Jersey City at 5 A. NJ, on the
morning of the 18th, en- route Tor Eiml,
ra, n. Y, whittier they had been ordered
to proceed. At Port Jervis the double
track of the Erie Railroad ends and for
the next twenty four or twenty-five miles
the road is but a single track to Lacka-
waxen junction, with occasional lengths
of double track where the nature of the
road permits. 1t was along this piece OF
the road, about two miles from Shohola,
and when turning point of one OF the
abutting hills, that the train of eighteen
emigrant cars, met coal train.
The shock was tremendous, and its re-
suits awful though fortunately neither OF
the engines left the line. The tender OF
the passenger engine was turned up on
end, the wood for fuel being thrown IN
front, and burying the driver and fire
man before named. The first car OF
course was utterly destroyed, being
iammed as a spectator described 1t to us,
into space less than six feet, while to
complete its demolition, the tender that
had been tipped on end fell back on its
roof. 1t contained 81 men, some OF
whom were on the platform at the time
of the collision, and from its wreck 30
we're taken out dead, only one man es-
Gaping with his life by falling between
the platforms to the earth. Three of the
cars in all were totally destroyed, and
seven or eight of them so much broken
as to be entirely useless, and it was in
these cars that the greatest loss of life oc-
+ CURED; for when the collision took place
two Union soldiers were placed as senti-
nels at each door on the platform of each
car, which were also occupied by some OF
the Rebels beguiling the way By conver-
sation with the sentry. Of the men thus
standing all were Immediately killed save
one or two.
AS soon as possible the survivors set to
work under the guidance of the Captain
in charge of the body to extricate the
diving and wounded from their fearful
position, and, in the mean time, word was
sent TO Shohola, apprizing the authorities
there of the state of things, who immedi-
ately telegraphed for assistance to Port
I Jeryis, whence, in short time, Hugh
Riddle, esq. District Superintendent, ar,
rived on the scene of disaster in relief
train, with three surgeons to attend to
/ injured The scene is described by
those who escaped as most appalling, the
road blocked up with debris, car piled
upon car in the most indescribable con-
fusion, the bodies of those thrown from
them covering the road at every step, the
flying dust and binding smoke from the
quenching fires, the noise of the escap-
ing steam, and, above all, the fearful
groans and heart rending cries of the in
Ijured and expiring will never be forgot
ten. Some of the corpses were shocking.
ly mutilated, heads completely crushed,
bodies transfxcd, impaled on timbers or
iron rods, or smashed between the collid-
ing beams, while one man was discovered
dead, sitting on the top of the upturned
tender, in grotesque and CHASTITY mockery
of the scene around him.
When the cries of the last wounded
had directed the searchers to his place OF
Imprisonment, and the last corpse re-
moved from its temporary tomb, 1T was
found that the victims numbered 16 I'm
ion men and A Rebels, dead; while the
wounded numbered about 120, some of
them wounded mortal y-indeed four
have since died, and number of others
cannot be expected to recover. L. D..
Ridgway, esq, Associate Judge of Pike
/ County, was soon on the spot, and, after
consultation with Mr.. Riddle and the
officer in command of the men jury was
impanneled and an inquest held; after
which large trench was dug by the SOL
diers and the railway employees, 76 feet
long, 8 feet wide and 6 feet deep, in
which the bodies were at once inferred
in boxes, hastily constructed-one being
allotted to four Rebels and one to each
Union soldier. The wounded were con-
veyed as soon as possible to Shohola,
where they met with every attention and
aid that surgical skill could suggest and
the limited accommodation permit, from
Drs. Appley, Hardenburg, Cooper, De-
DOrn, Lawrence anu w alSH, dsSIStcu ny
number of volunteers from the inhabi-
tants of the neighborhood.
The ladies of the vicinity also were un-
wearied in rendering those kind officers
which womanly tenderness alone known
how to bestow, besides bringing soups,
jellies, and other delicacies so grateful to
the parched and fevered patient. The
names of these good Samaritans, so far as
we could ascertain-though if We do in;
justice by omttting any that should be
mentioned we sincerely regret it-are
Mesdames Lotus, Deborn, Halbut, Kel-
sail, johnson, Bross, Harwood, Gardner,
Spring, and Misses Skinner, Bross, and
| Hamilton.
The line was cleared on Friday night,
and on Saturday morning early the officer
in command proceeded with the rest of
the men to Elmira, taking with him most
of the wounded, seven or eight of them
cases requiring amputation, which could