The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-07-22
RAILROAD MURDER.


The long, dismal aud bloody catalc
que Of disasters that mark the histor
J of the Erie Railroad is made again t
] bear another burden Of human slangh
: ter. in the record of one of the mos
2 nmiticated railroad murders the pub
Q lie has heard of for some time. A
, midn isbt Of Wednesday over a dozel
? human beings were rushed headlony
! into eternity through the awful portal
2 of fire, at a Tlace called Mast Hope
: twenty-ei ght miles west of Port Jervis
on the Ellie Railroad, by the downright
carelessness Of the engineer in charg
Of a freight train, against which tn
mail express from New York at half
past 6 D. m. came in collision. TIL
facts, in few sentences ar,
these: The freight train backed on
switch at Mast Hope depot, to get on
of the way of passenger train, bu
failed to get out fast enough or fal
enough to avoid being struck by the
passenger train, for which the track
should have beer always kept clear
The engineer of the freight tain was
of course, responsible. 1t is generally
stated that he was asleep at the time.
\ terrific collision occurred, three OF
four cars were burned. and in the la.
comic despatch OF the Associated Press
furnish ed by the railroad authorities
"some emigrants in the smoking car
some five or six in number were burn
ed"
At 9 o'clock in tho morning. after
great exertions, six burned bodies were
rescued from the ruins of the smoking
car, and at noon of yesterday passen-
ger by the midway train reported thir-
teen charred bodies lying along the
track. There were comparatively few
wounded. Flying spiinters were rare
and the terrific force and suddeness of
the shock left nothing to e4 cept but
Instant death for those near The point
Of collision. Some of the trainmen on
the express were hurt, but none killed
Out of $50 pieces of baggage only
eleven were saved; the remainder were
destroyed or ground up in the wreck.
Information Of the accident was imme-
diately telegraphed to the officers of
the Erie Railway in this city, who gave
orders to have a train made up'o con-
vey to the scene of the disaster, and
TO take The necessary articles along
for elleviating suffering. Nearly all
of the through mail matter was destroy
ed; the way mails we're saved. The
track was cleared for trains before noon
yesterday.
At sunrise the road presented an ap-
pearance of complete ruin, Several
skulls and burnt clnders, which we're
lied as human bodies by the
bones, were fou nd lying among the re
mains of the smoking car. 1t is not
known how many were burnt. though
4 woman, with her three children, and
two men. are positively known to have
persisted in the burning mass. One of
them was Mr.. Hallock. and the other
was an elderly Ger ian, VIII, was ac-
compaDied by his tw, sons. One of
the sons was hurt in the leg. The
other stood bareheaded, with toro clio
thing. all the morning pointing to a
tori and blackened mass; saying my
fader my fader." in au eAplanat DRY
tone to the bystan ders. and poking it
apart to discover the Prussian silver
coins hich he carried on his person
Ever aud anon his search was rewarded
by a hot coin which he picked up.
though it burned his fingers. and drop
ped hastily on piece of sheet iron
Dat of $50 which he said his father
carried, he found a bout two thirds.
He also fcuno his fathers watch en-
crusted with black, and the remains of
a small pistol. 1t is believed that
about nine persons we're killed and
half dozen injured, all Of whom were
in the smoking car
STATEMENT OF D. WENTWORTH (oNE
OF THE INJURED).
81 was in the smoking car sitting in
an inclined position in seat with a
stranger. The two seats opened oppo-
site to each other. Only ten minutes
before the accident something told me
to take my limbs down from the oppo-
site seat, which | did Hardly ten
minutes had elapsed before the awful
crash came, and it seemed as though