St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1869-07-23
dnOfHer Railroad Horror.

Mast Hope, on the Delaware division,
last night The No. 3 night express train
from New York left there at $50 o'clock,
made the usual time going west until
midnight, when the disaster occurred.
At Mast Hope it would overhaul IL
freight train also going west, which, ac-
cording to telegraphic Instructions,
should have run off on siding to per-
init the express train to pass without
stopping. The freight switched off in
the regular manner, but from some care
lessness, stupidity or fatality did not
move far enough up the siding to entire
ly clear the track, and the tail of the
train, consisting of one or two cars, re-
manned on the track or projecting over it
when the express train came laundering
along. The train struck the end of the
freight train, and the engine. tender,
baggage car, one passenger car and Il
sleeping coach were thrown off the track
and smashed out of all shape The scene
that followed beggars description.
The splintcred cars and fragments of
timbers came in contact with the scatter
ed fire from the locomotive, and a con-
fagration ensued in which timber, bag
gage and the wounded passengers all
went to feed the flames. Seven cars
were thus destroyed, and six passengers
are known TO have been burnt to death.
Two of the passengers are from New
York, and one of them is supposed 10 be
the lev. Benjamin b. Hallock, pastor OF
a New York church who resided in East
Fourteenth street.
LATER.-One dispatch says: son a
long board alongside the track have been
placed the remains Of the victims rescued
from the fire. They are seven IN mum
Der, only one of which can be identified,
and that is the body of the Rev T. Il.
Hallotk. 1t was known where he laid
in the wreck, and his body was the least
burned Of all. The other six are mere
crisps, none of which, probably, can ever
be recognized. One of them Is supposed
to be that of u German woman, who
persisted with two or three children.
Another German, father of Henry Bler,
who is among the injured, is also known
to have been burned How many pei
sons really persisted in the flames it l.
impossible to tell at present. They wer,
mostly German emigrants in the smoking
car, which makes it more difficult to as.
certain. The number is variously csti-
mated at from 10 to 20"
Mr.. Gibson of Leominster, Mass
who was a passenger on the train at til,
time the accident occurred, states that il
the burning smoking car, wedsed in hi,
seat by the heaps OF broken timber, sal
Rev. Mr.. lIallock of n. Y. city, perfrc;
| ly unhurt, but unable to extricatc n.m-
self from the wreck. ''In calm accent
and perfectly collected tones" say, Mr.
Gibson, she told US TO get an az, .lu,
try TO cut an opening in the side OF IT,,
car. We searched around and Oblaiae,
one from house by the roadside, bat !.
was 50 blunt that We could do nuthu.
with il. We worked and struve to no
crate the unfortunate gentleman. WI,
sat there sound in limb watching the al,
preach OF the hungry flames Nearc
and nearer they came until his Ices b,.iu
10 crisp and burn and his skin to cra,n
Then when, in like manner we touu,
the heat uubcarabIc, we reluctantly I,
tired, compelled to leave TIN, poor zen
tlrman with his eight fellow sufferers t,
their terrible fate. Nine persons wcr
thus burned to death, and nine Other,
/ injured, more OF less severely"
IJ,Ny IT IJAUI.L->l-b
1T appears (tho special reporter of IT,,
Sun says) that James Griffin. engine
of the freight train on the switch. tEuu-l
he had been less than four hours ON dulv
had fallen asleep ut his post. The con
ductor OF the freight train, j. ID. Brown
was i'll his caboose, forty or fifty cars il
the rear. At this iuncturc the 4 80 L
VI. express tram from New York
Charles f. Cotfey engineer, came sweep
ing around the curve at thirty or forty
miles an hour, Fastening to make III
lost time The noise of his approach
startled the sleeping Griffin. lie though
the switchman had called to him t,
90 ahead, and 20 ahead he did Dream
| lily Selling his lever he turned on steam
and moved a cars length or 50, ill hi:
fore wheel caught in the frog of the I'm
opened switch, Just far enough to thrust
the side of his engine across the path o
the express, and in Il moment the light
ming train was upon him, striking tn,
outer rim of mis- left cylinder head. Th,
shock to the freight engine threw it of
the track, while the express flew in IN,
opposite direction, ran couple OF hun
dred feet, and swinging around at iii,
outer verge of the depot platform till hel
head lay east, she turned over bottom up.
permost, the steam bursting from heI
broken pipes and the fiery Goals from
her ruptured furnace, forming an invit,
ing pyre for the sacrifice. And the sac.
rifice came; dreadful sacrifice Til,
postal car, with It's combustible cargo
leaped upon the blazing pile, followed by
the express and baggage cars behind, tn,
latter 'telescoping' into the smoking cal
Immediately in its rear.
In the smoking car, asleep and awake
were some fifteen or twenty people, Ole
and young, mainly men, though at least
one woman was there with her three
children, Immigrants bound for the glow.
ing, bounteous West and liberty, to live
and thrive. They found a haven near.
er and more heavenly than they dreamed
The inburst of the forward car swept
the seats from their fastenings, and hurl-
ed the wakeful and the sleeping in one
vast heap toward the rear. The shock
was terrific the scene that ensucd beg
gars all language to tell. The strong
and the weak alike were helpless, bound
down by the ruin Of iron and wood
that overwhelmed them. The erie:
of strong men for help, the shrek