The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1867-11-28


train, saw them.
He whistled down the brakes, but |
the train being very heavy, consist
ing of ten freight and two passen-
ger and two freight coaches, there
hcing down grade, and the track
being very slippy from the damp
and foggy atmosphere, it was found
to stop it in time, and
the engine plunged into the rear of
the Express train, and now was in
augurated such scene as is almost
impossible to describe. The ex
press train consisted of two freight
and baggage and two passenger
cars, belonging to the Atlantic &
Great Western Railroad, and one
baggage, one passenger, and one
sleeping car belonging to the Day
ton & Michigan Railroad, which
had been hitched on to the main
track at Dayton.
These three cars were in the rear,
and into the sleeping coach the en-
gine, "Franklin" forced it's way. cut
ting the coach almost in two. The
smoke pipe and front part of the
engine were completely demolished
and the box ofthe tender lifted from
its place and thrown forward In
the collision the kerosene rejecting
headlight Of the engine was broken
and the contents of the lamp was
emptied on the floor, and ignited by
the fire from the stove which had
been overturned. The flames spred
with fearful rapidity and soon the
whole rear portion of the car, or
rather what was left of it, was in
flames. Some Of the passengers
who had been awakened a short
time before the accident by the por-
ter, who it seems was in charge
were either dressed or in the act of
dressing. all escaped with only inju-
ries others, and among them four
sisters, Sallie, Rachel, Hannah and
Mary Morgan, were asleep, or at
least had not arisen. These four
lost their lives They all occupied
bearths on the rear end of the car,
and it is supposed that three of
them were instantly killed by the
concussion. The other, supposed
to be Rachel, had the lower portion
of her boldly completely wedged, in
among the broken seats, &c, and
found it impossible to extricate her
self. She was in close proximity to
a window, however, and managed to
break the glass with her hand.
Through the opening thus made she
forced her shoulders and arms, and
called upon those in the vicinity for
help. Several Of the panic stricken
passengers rushed to her assistance
but it was found impossible toextri-
cate her from the horrible and heart
lending position, although the
strength Of three men, strength al
most sufficient to pull her body to
pieces, was used. One of the pas
sengers, Mr.. Jackson, of Boston
seeing that nothing could be done
to relieve the young girl from the
outside, rushed into the car, and was
never again seen alive. Again the
passengers on the outside attempted
to pull her through the window, but
they were unsuccessful and the heat
and smoke from the burning car be-
coming so intense, they were obi
ged to retire. Finding nothing
could be done to extricate her, the
poor girl, throwing up her arms
shouted, 90, God! if you can't save
me, kill me as quickly as possible ,
In an instant more she was com
pletely wrapped in flames and her
prayer was answered. She was q
corpse.
| By this time the car was ont
sheet Of flames, which were soo1
communicated to the car toward
and it was quickly consumed. No
being satisfied with their terrible
work, the flames sped on and die
not cease till four more cars, six il
all, had been burned There was
not single piece Of wood work
of any of the cars, twelve inches in
length, left unburned.
AS soon SIS the flames ceased, tn.
work of removing the remains from
the debris commenced It was sup
posed at first that eight or ten per
sons had lost their lives, and it wa!
with no little anxiety that the worl
progressed. The first BODY founC
was that of Mr.. Jackson, who hero
ically lost his life in trying to saw
that of a fellow being. He had un
doubtedly been smothered by tn
smoke, aud had fallen in about tn
middle of the car. His clothes ha.
been almost completely burned off
and his body, charred and blackene'
was burned to crisp. Fit had NO
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