The Hawaiian gazette., 1869-12-15

sr slrasllea the engineer u the wes,era Pa
elfie train. who bad slowed down. that u
MAS all right. aud IL ~ ahead. To this false
Information the terrible tragedy is solely
assFiAatta.
We were anaele TO learn the name of the
switch tender, Tie was a new mau appoint-
ed three or four dayssgc. happears that he
went 10 his breakfast a short time before the
accident occurred. and while thero a loco
motive with train of gravel cars passed
Without looking oat to satisfy himself ho
presumed this 10 be the passenger train nom
HAYWOOD mad reporting n as such 10 the en-
gineer, he preSlpltaisd the trains 90 speedy de-
straetion aud a number Of pasSengcrs 20 un-
timely and terrible deaths, The ground over
which this portion et ,he resd runs { level,
wooded only hy such orchards - grow upon
SOME ef the Arms> Ordinarily, train of
cars could DC seen several miles ahead, but
On this occasion dense fog prevailed, aud
no object could DC seen many rods Distant
Tie train IRON HAYWOOD seems To have
been little behind time. Zach train was
moving az the rate Of 70 miles per hour.
When mile aud half south Of Brooklyn
Park Station, and six or seven miles south Of
oakland. they eollided A passenger IN the
hiud car Of the Western Pacific train states
that he heard a whistle, the sigual for ''down
breaks" aud almost instantly = jar and the
saaaen stOppage Of the train. There was no
prolonged noise pereeptlole above the usual
noise of the train, and he supposed the train
had been suddenly stopped without any e.
peeial iujary. on getting out he was utterly
sstoanded In finding the elggest half Of the
two trains a mass Of ruins, The nearest
house was about the eighth OF a mile aud
several others stood within the fourth Of
mile from the scene OF the collision. The
residents ofthcse houses, the nearest one ex-
eepted. could see nothing whatever Of either
- hay haarsf n Nf,f<a u, attlls1or,
sharp aud loud thai many supposed the boil
er Of locomotive had exploded. There
Was no continued or prolonged crushing Of
timhers, such a. accompanies the failing Of
building. This fact shows how instanta-
neously Was achieved the terrible work Of
death and destruction. The noise, however,
MAS accompanied BY terrible jar and tremor
Of the earth, resembling that OF q violent
earthquake.
Tue Western Pacific train was made up as
follows: The locomotive and tender. the
express aud mail coach, baggage car. =
smoking car, two ordinary passenger cars,
aud a Sleeping car. The train from Haywood
was made up as follows; The locomotive
aud tender, freight car, box ear, aud two
passenger ears. Fortunately neither train
WAS crowded with passengers-the Alnleda
train having hut few aboard. Those who
emerged from the cars unharmed did so to look
upon such a scene as has rarely been wit
nessed-even In the Eastern States, where
railroad disasters have become matters Of
daily Occurrences. Both locomotives were
thrown from the track, each falling In 4
diagonal position on the southwestern side
of the road The boiler Of each remained in-
tact but with this exception, that they
were literally shattered TO fragments. The
wheels. cylinders, sm0ke-staeks, piston rods,
wood and iron work were scattered in all
directions. The track Of the road was torn
up, snd iron and ties were forced out Of
place in the direction opposite TO that on
which the engines had fallen.
The boilers and fragments Of the engines
were nearly buried by fragments OF wood
and loose earth. The tenders Were as com
pletely wrecked as the locomotives, and
their fragments were piled on the boilers or
scattered in the vicinity. The mail ard bag
gage ears Of the Western Pacific train were
not much injured, but the smoking car and
passenger car Immediately behind presented
. wonderful md horrible spectacle. These
cars are about 4s feet in length. The
smoking car was completely felescoped'
into the passenger car. As the two ends of
these cars were brought together by violent
shock, the hind end OF the smoking car en-
tered the front end Of the passenger car and
slid into il the entire length except about six
feet. By this OF Grafton the sides OF the pas
senger car were forced together, aud the top
thus forced into the other. all the passengers
iu the passenger car, together with the seats
of the car were instantaneously swept to
the hind end and compressed into q space Of
six or seven feet. There was of course not a
moments time for precaution or selfpreser-
vatiou This space of six feet was found to
be filed with dead and wounded human
beings, crammed together in Il CORY mass.
The passengers in the smoking car escaped
in comparative safety The biudmOst pas
senger car and the sleeping car sustained but
little injury, aud their occupants, therefore,
suffered but little damage. The box ear Of
the Almeda train was thrown backward on
one end where IL stood erect until lowered
for the purpose OF removal With the two
passenger cars Of this train the effect was
very similar to that Of the other train, except
that they were nearly empty, and therefore
there was but little loss Of life or limb pro-
duced by the crash The forward car Of the
two was driven into the hi.Idmost one about
three fOurths Of its length
When the passengers who had escaped in
Jury emerged from the cars their ears were
al once salufed with the moans Of the dying
and the piieous appeals Of the wounded
Some, when they attempted to render assis-
tznee, tainted at the sight of the torn and
mangled, and were for a time unable to ex-
tend any aid Others seemed bewildered or
sffrighted and were therefore inefficient,
while others were so entirely indifferent to
ali save themselves that they took their car
pet sacks and walked away as rapidly as
possible There were others Of the passen-
gers, and some Of those who were quite Sc
yerely wounded, who were perfectly cool
aud acted and advised with deliberation.
Several procured horses and started to Oak
land Almeda, and San LeandrO for surgical
aid All the ranehmen OF the neighborhood
rallied promptly 10 the succor Of the suffer
en- Bringing axes and implements Of vari-
ous kinds, they and the passengers aided In
cutting away the timbers OF the wreck where
ever necessary in order TO remove dead bod
les or relieve those who were living. While
this work was going on, many beart-rending
incidents occurred One man who was nor
rfbiy mutilafed begged bystander 10 shoot
him to put him out Of bis misery. In about
three minutes afterward be expired without
the interpOsftion Of the bullet
A dead man and . wounded one were
vedged In between the timbers In such way
that the wounded one could not be removed
for some time He begged bystander to
cut OF the leg Of the dead man 10 order that
be might be exfrjeated- The operation was
performed with an az
II Was nearly eleven O'Clock before all the
bodies sere removed from the wreck
Justice Clement, Of San Leandro, Impan-
Beled jury with . view Of holding an in
quest, bat IT was afterwards decided 70 re-
move the dead bodies 10 Oakland, and post
pone the Inquest until to-day. The most Of
those who were wounded seFsFely or danger
ously were taken TO the Alme1a Asylum"
PAKrs exesIs all other cities in the maBufse-
tsrs Of artificial eyes There arc two largs,