Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1868-09-28
County aud stats.

dents, resulting in loss of life and one invol-
wing great destruction of property, on Sat
urdxy night The first accident occurred at
o'clock. A coal train of Sc cars, drawn by
the powerful engine No. 81, was brought to a
standstill at High street, en- the heavy down
grade OF the road, about one-eighth of mile
from the DEPOT, by the display of signals OF
danger, the draw of the bridge over the Pas
sale river being open. At the same time the
engine Dove was being switched off to allow
| it to back into the paint shop, a brick build
nag on the east side OF the depot, and separa-
ted from the latter by Spring street. Nathan
Nichols, the engineer of the coal train, seeing
| that the signals of danger were about to be
| removed, endeayored to start the train with
the brakes on. Failing i'll this, he sounded
his whistle for "brakes off" but no sooner
were they removed than the train began to
descend the grade, gaining speed with every
revolution of the who els until, when it reach
ed the depot, it was moving with fearful ve-
locity. In vain were the brakes applied and
the engine reversed-the slippery condition
of the track, caused by the rain and the hea-
| Wy laden cars pushing down, prevented the
| train from losing speed. AS the train reach
ed the depot, the engineer discovered that
| the switch was misplaced, and sounded the
alarm, when the fireman, and the brakemen,
and Conductor, named Samuel Doty, who
had jumped upon the train at High-street,
leaped to the ground, escaping with slight
bruises. Had the switch been replaced in its
proper position when the purpose for which
| 1t had been removed was accomplished, the
coal train would have passed safely over the
bridge, as the draw was re-adjusted. But the
| collision was inevitable. The locomotives
met with fearful force, the shock throwing
| the engine Of the coal-train off the track. On
the train went, passing through the corner
of dwelling-house, occupied by family
named Conkling, on the northwest corner OF
Spring and Division SITS. The corner of this
house was entirely torn away, and the front
entrance blockaded with the cars. The ten
der OF the engine, in passing through the
house, was turned on its side on the right OF
the locomotive. The coal cars, however, fol-
lowed the engine, and when the latter came
to stand still, were thrown against it, the
load of coal in the first car being thrown up
on the engineer, who had remained at his
| post When the debris was partially remov-
| ed, the engineer was found lying dead be-
meath the fragments of his engine house, COW
cred with huge pieces of coal, his head lying
| near the furnace door, Nichols has two
brothers in the employ of the Company. He
was widOxyar his wife HOY or racaptlu 1;ad
| and leaves a boy Of about IL years. He serv-
ed four years as drummer in the Eighth New
Jersey regiment, dnring the war, and was
about So years of age. week ago he re-
marked to q friend that he would be the next
man killed The body was removed to the
baggage-room of the passenger depot, and
Coroner Ball summoned. The locomotive
Dover, with which the collision took place,
was thrown violently into the paint shop, and
there struck passenger car which had just
been painted So violent was the collision,
that the passenger car was forced through
the brick wall of the shop, and hung hall
way out over Ogden street. The brick wall
tell into Ogden street but fortunately no per-
son happened to be passing at the time. At
the corner of Spring and Division streets,
| there was one mass Of debris, and in the
darkness of the night, lighted only by the
lanterns OF workmen and the street lamps
on the corner, presented sad spectacle
The Conkling family were happily at the
evening meal in another portion of the house
and escaped uninjured. The news of the
accident soon spread through the city, and
crowds assembled to view the wreck Yes
| terday there was continual stream of people
pouring to the place of accident. Workmen
were employed throughout the night and
during yesterday in removing the debris,
| and last night it had all been removed from
the Spring street corner. The loss to the
Company by this accident is immense. The
engine Dover is but little damaged.
| The excitement in regard to this accident
had scarcely begun to subside when flag
man, Michael Burns, for many years station
ed at the Broad street crossing, was run over
He was warning pedestrians of the approach
of down coal train, and stepped from the
track on which it was coming to the opposite
track, directly in front of q tender and en-
CINE which was backing up. He was struck
| by the tender and thrown under its wheels.
One OF his legs was cut off and he received
severe internal injuries. He was taken up
and removed to the flag house, where he died
at o'clock yesterday morning, three hours
after the accident. He resided in a small
house along the depot, where the body was
conveyed. This accident, and the one which
it so quickly followed, have created much
feeling in the city. Coroner Ball yesterday
impanneled a jury for the purpose of holding
an inquest over the body of the engineer
Nathan Nichols, but after the examination o.
one witness, who identified the remains, the
inquestwas postponed until Wednesday next
An inquest will also be held, it is understood