Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-12-27
A wOtfAN,s

The Cleveland Herald relates the fol-
lowing incident of the recent Railroad
accident near Erie, Pa. Besides giving
a picture of terrible suffering, it shows
what heroism al be exhibited by a wo-
man when occasion demands:
Mrs. West of Milwaukee, was thrown
on her face, with her babe under her;
Miss West fell on her back, but received
no other injury than the crushing other
left hand. Miss Emms's first question
was, "Aunty, can you breathe?" She
replied, ga little" A man managed
to reach her and cut the f~astenings of
her dress, which gave some relief. Miss
West was released in about ten minutes,
but efforts to get Mrs. West out from
the wreck were unSuccessfully made for
three-quarters of an hour, she, in the
meantime, remaining very calm, quiet
and entirely conscious, a gentleman
supporting her head. She knew her
child was dead. The pressure was so
crushing that her eyeballs were forced
from their sockets and hung down on
cheeks, and the face swollen by the
congestion or rupture of blood vessels,
to more than twice its proper size. The
body of her babe beneath her, being
soft and yielding, was perhaps the only
thing that saved her life.
Every effort to relieve her by chop
ping off the corner of the car with an
ak, was futile. She was incapable Of
so much exertion as to speak and tell
them to stop, although every blow Of
the OK caused her the most excruciating
agony. Hearing some one say, Gre
move that dead man and it will release
her." she summoned her strength for
the effort, and moving her left arm,
which was free, toward her right shout
der, said, al am fastened here;" a saw
was procured and she was sawed out.
Then the earth was dug away and she
was dragged from under the car and
placed on the grass. The first question
she asked was, "Who's killed."
After being told, she then said she
could not see, but not knowing why,
and dictated a telegram to her husband
at Milwaukee: "Your babe is dead,
FOUR wife severely injured, Uncle Whee-
Ter killed and Emma slightly hurt"
She then said to those about her, "Don't
leave me here to die; there is life here
yet" They proposed to, take her to
Erie "No," she said, ''is there no
house near?" To those who said they
would place her in a wagon, she object
ed, asking, "Cannot men carry me in
their armsT" and she was so carried,
some sixty rods, to the house of Mr..
Chambers. The surgeons arrived about
an hour after the disaster occurred, and
attended to her, replacing the eyes in
their sockets. This she does not yet
know, although she often speaks of hav-
ing been blind for some time after the
accident. Nor did she eve see her
babe again, since it was playfully kiss
ing its mamma at the moment when the
whistle sounded. Its little crushed
body was forwarded on Thursday to
Milwaukee for burial.
After her removal to the house a re-
action took place, and she coolly gave
the most judisious directions to the la
dies in attendance for heating her chill
ed extremities and relieving her pains.
She still remains at the house of Mr..
Chambers, the unremitting attentions Of
whose family are most gratefully ac-
kn%owledged. She is improving rapidly
and can soon be removed to her home.
Her heroism, GOODNESS and ~self-posses-
sion under such frightful injuries and
such bitter mental sufferings astonished
all. The surgeons declare that they
never saw its parallel.