The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1868-04-29
Frightful Accident on the New
York and Erie Railroad--
Shocking loss of Life.

!
York and Erie Railroad
+ Shocking loss Of Life.
New YORK, April l5.-onea of
! the most terrible disasters on RS
cord occurred early this morning.
sixteen miles West Of Port Jervis,
on the New York and Erie Rail-
road. A train of passenger cars
was thrown off the track by the ;
breaking Of a rail, and preeipitat
ted down an. EN- banklnent. : Thir-
teen dead bodies are at Port :Jer-
Wis Depot, and ffty-twozef the ~
iured are at Port Jervis hotels
., Two more have not yet arrived: :
One of the cars, the least broken
! of the train, was SO. firmly inbed-
ded in the debris of the others as
to prevent the, escape. of, the&in- =
mates, and several were burned to .
death before relief could be afford
ed them. ....,.e -@.7@>-.:% Z, 81
- The train to which the accident
occurred left Buffalo yesterday al: :
ternoon, in charge of conductor
Judd and Chas. Douglas superin-.
tendent Of the DIVISION and. con-
sisted :of:engine and tender, three :
sleeping, two frst-class and one
second class, two baggage and oae'
postal car. > - ~: - : -
About three o'clock this 4; NJ,
Messrs. Ames and Horton, O. the
general postohice in thiszeity, who
were in charge Of the, postal car,
-. saw the bell rope -straighten :2out
and break, when Mr.. Judd imme-,
diately remarked to- one of the.
officers that he had lost his. FEAR
cars, They ran to: the platform
of theccar, when the four rear cars,
|'were, seensrolEng down q, ,preclpice
from seventy-fve to one, hundred
feet high, s,5sz12,ss.-5;3as.sss:.ss
+ The sides Of the zprecipiee are
formed ON Jagged rock, and in the
descent. the cars were,ebroken to
| pieces. At the bottom is aeulvert,
through which flows i .sream,
emptying into the Delaware. The
disaster was caused BY. q broken
rail, which threw the rear. car im-
mediately in front, and the y hole
were pre"ipitateds down the erna
bankmert. - -, ~ :, ~. =, z z
The cars, in going over the en-
bankment, turned several times
before the. bottom was reacheda2
and were nearly demolished. i,Ths.
! sleeping car was consumed 6y fire.
The passengers immedfately be-;
CAN'T rescue the wounded and to-
remove the dead bodies of the kilEI,
ed Many Of the latter eonldnot be-
recognized. Seven personssswer
burned to death, and six Others
were killed by coming in contact:
with the jagged rocks, &C. a5555s:',ss -:
A passenger states that, sAH
| four of the cars that went over
the embankment were completely,
demolished, and ! think about
twenty-five to thirty pesons were:
killed outright. 1 saw FIVE or six
ladies taken from the ruins quite.
dead, and a. number wounded
The rear car took fire from the
stove short time after the living
persons were removed from it,
and I should judge there were,
about seven dead bodies burned
up. There were in addition, three
dead bodies taken out before the,
fire reached them. The car ahead
of the one in which I was; Sleep
ing, also took fire, but the flames
were speedily extinguished. The
catastrophe, Of course took place
in the darkness Of the night, and
| the confusion and terror were, ap-
palling, and the horror was
greatly increased by the agoniz-
ing sbrieks and groans Of the
wounded and dying"
The number killed by the disas-
ter is now said to be twenty-four.
A toll-gate keeper was brought