Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1868-05-01
The Erie Slaughter.
INTERESTING STORY OF A WOUNDED PAS
sENGER.

iNiEhhSiiNH siokN OF A WOUNDED PAs- |
sENGER.
Mr.. Bringhurst, proprietor of the Edi-
tors and Printers Journal, Logansport,
ILL.,, was among the wounded. He is a
herculean looking fellow, very model
of manly strength, was Colonel Of the
Indiana Regiment, and was
for four years in the thick of the fight.
The following is the account of his part
in the adventure which We copy from the
correspondence of the New York Times |
Having perhaps a morbid dislike to
sleeping cars, Mr.. Bringhuist had occu-
pied seat with his little girl in the sew
enth car-last but two. Mary, pretty
child, eight years old, was seated in his
lap, her head leaning against his shoul-
der. His seat was ON the North side of
the car, and in about the middle of it.
He had slept ON and off during the night
and with the others was conscious during
his waking minutes that the train was
going with great speed. Mr.. Binghurst
uses expressive phrases now and then
He said She was going like old Harry"
The first indication that there was some
thing wrong was the humping of the
car ahead of him on the sleepers, then
that of his own. He leaped from his
seat, sat the htle girl down on it; her
head toward the aisle and made for the
bell-rope. A fellow passenger, young
man, had already seized it, it came away
in his hand it was broken further ahead.
The car now began to tilt, and he began
to realize what was about to happen. The
people began to rise. He made towards
his child, but before he reached her the
ca- turned over, and with the first con-
cussion he lost consciousness. When he
recovered his senses or rather partially
recovered them, he found himself seated
on the ruins of a car. He had at this
time no consciousness whatever of what
had happened, felt no pain, remembered
nothing about his little girl. But he did
feel rather uncomfortably seated, got up
and moved back few PAGES and sat down
again upon some timber probably one of
the uprooted telegraph poles with his
face toward the ruins As the flames rose
up from the burning car before him, and
the shrieks of the wounded and dying
and the shouts of others rose with them,
he fancied he was in theatre-among
the spectators of a new sensation. He
remembered clearly his feelings of annoy
ance at the scene. He thought they were
carrying the spectacular drama too far !;
he thought it was too real. The contin-
ued shrieking of the people and the loud
voices of men close by, gradually brought
to him the impression that something was
the matter, but what he could not make
out. How long he sat in this condition
of semi-insanity he does not remember,
perhaps onlya minute, possibly twenty or
thirty. At last he began to surmise that
things were not just as they should be,
and hailed a man he saw passing HAL
loa where am II" Well, you're pretty
near Port Jarvis, guess, was the reply.
"Dopt think it." said Mr.. Bringhurst,
what in the world would bring me that
road?" Don't you want to go up abovey'
said the man with the lantern / guess
you'd better; you're shook up bit-look
at yourself" He did so--his clothes was
in rags; there was blood upon his face
and hands. He thought he had better go.
They brought stretcher, put him on it,
and carried him up the embankment to
the cars. He had not once thought ol
little Mary all this time. After he had
been laid on seat, and before his reeol
lection had sufficiently returned, SO that
he could recognize that he was alone
somebody came to him and said: DOM
be uneasy friend, your little girls all
right" That's good" said Mr.. Bring
hurst, bring her along" So Mary wal
brought uninjured, saved by Sigh
scalp wound. But what was Mary's story
Stranger than her fathers. Mary says thai
what she remembers is, that she woke vi
suddenly, (she was asleep when her fathel
set her DOWN found herself on the bank
and saw the cars rolling down before her
She sat there until somebody took hel
away. How did she get out of the ca
all but unhurt? How did she reach he
position up near the top Of the embank
ment in time to see the cars rolling down
. We have had dozen theories about this
One of them is that the child passed on
through the window in fact, was sho
through by the sudden check Of the car
momentum. Another is that the car il
, which she was, was one of the ill-put-to
, gether ones before referred to, the side
| of which flew open, and that she was lef
behind by the ruins in its downward
I fight.