The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-02-10
hotels men and women crowded, anxously
asking II any names had yet come in. Many

or relative rushed to the mind. Numbers
of guests at the hotels. whose business
in the city was finished, thanked their
stars that some trifling accident had kent
them In town. When every railroad
accident for years had been discussed,
this dwarfed them all. In omnihuses
and cars, On the streets and in the houses,
the friehtful accident was the only subject
of conversation. The horrible circt1m-
stances Of the event appalled, the stoutest
hearts-men and women jumping from their
berths to be engulfed in flames and buried,
half roasted. in the ice. War news lost its
and every other subject that usual
ly engrosses mems minds went out Of view
in the excitement of the hour.
[By Telrrraph.l
The Coroner's InQucst-Tcstimony Of Survivors.
PoUGuKEEPsIE, Feb. S.-The Coroners
inquest in the case of the recent railroad
accident was commenced here to day before
Coroner Andrus upon the body of James
Stafford. The first witness called was ex-
District Attorney William J. Thorne. of
Poughkecpsie, who testified as follows
was In the rear car Of the train and asleep
when first heard the crash great confu-
sion ensued, and got out and walked out
side the car on the river side ; the engine of
the oil train had passed my train before I
went out 4: part of that train was left on the
bridge, and there were several tanks Of oil In
it : saw nothing but flames, for they were
in every direction, and everything seemed to
he sheet of fire. There were some cars on
the bridge which had not fallen from the
track. The fire must have enveloped eve-
rythng at once. | directed a man I saw to
,incouplc the next car to him, which he
4; Sh hno
this occurred on the drawbridge. NV i'm
preston is that four cars were destroyed.
| saw passengers getting out of the fourth
car from the rear. The fire was very hot
one would keep going from it all the while.
All that could be seen was one great. vol
ume of fire. There were StreakS Of smoke
with flames, the latter shooting up so or
100 feet. If there had been half dozen
cars piled up they could not have been seen
for the flames. 1t appeared from the looks
of the ties that the car ran OIL the track at
New Hamburg station. The oil car was
not on fire until struck by the locomotive
Of the up-tran.
Charles CasSum, conductor of the ex-
press train. sWorn--SayS We left New
York six minutes past O'Clock Monday
evening we should have left at O'Clock.
| was sitting in the rear end of the second
sleeping.car. with Mr.. Scott, conductor ;
he heard the first whistle that was blown.
Passed Fishkill at fifteen minutes past 10
o'clock The whistle was probably blown
at twenty-SiX minutes past 10. Was seven
teen minutes behind at FiShkill; our time
there is 9:5S; heard the second whistle
and went out on the platform and COM
menced putting on brakes; Scott followed
me out and put on the brake on the other
car : rs got my break on and turned to
take hold of the other, felt the engineer
reverse his engine in Il short time, two or
three seconds, / felt Il shock, and the car
then went on i or 20 feet, and then came
to dead stand. There were but two sensa-
tions; ] saw glare of light, and looking out
saw mass Of flames was on the river
side the instant the train stopped the light
flashed like gunpowder: there was no fire
till the engine struck; the oil from the oil
car then entered the tire-boX Of the engine
and became ignited; the fire Sprang I'D like
n wall Of flame; the fore part OF my car
was then in the fire; | heard no explosion
you could see nothing because of the fire
Scott and myself then got I'LL TIE passengers
ont of the car; il was then all on fire j: it
was the second sleeping car there was only
one in front of it: the train consisted Of the
locomotive, express car, baggage car, five
went out of the second car I thought the
flames would follow back. All the passen-
gers were then out OF Tie li;i:d car, and
that part of the train WAS uncOupled and
showed back. Part Of the oil train had
broken loose and gone south, and the other
part was further back when l got to the
third car the forward platform was on fire
that was the car Scott had put brake on,
and | then found we had saved all we
could, and that three >leeping-cars had
gone. 7 then went forward to see what
was the matter. | could see nothing all
the way up To the bridge but flames, which
seemed to rise Solidly twenty-five or thirty
feet. The first and second slccpcrS were on
the bridge, and the flames were burning
under the bridge; On the ice / heard no
sound except the roar OF the flames. We
were not trying to make up time; in cold
weather our orders are not to make up
time. The engineer was considered goou
man there is Il tlagman at the draw the
engineer said that hc had told him to put
out red light as he passed: the first signal
we got was forty yards from the bridge: the
engineer Of the oil train had jumped off to
give the signal; | think the cars Of the
oil train which ran off We're rather back
of the centre of the train; rs Il rule we
are in time; if we had not been be-
hind time the accident would not have
occurred the night was perfectly clear,
but curve south of the bridge would pre-
vent an engineer seeing Il car off the track
on the bridge had taken up all the tick
cts in the sleeping-car YOU could put thir
ty passengers in The Slceping-car, but twelve
could occupy the whole there were two
State-rooms in the first sleeping-car, but
only one was occupied; | should judge
I, ixyto i,,f h,
sleeper; | made a statement, which ap-
peared in the Poughkeepsie Eagle, relative
to having SiXty-tive sleeping-car tickets /
found one or two more persons who said
they were in the first sleeper, but when /
came to sift them down they could not tell ;
had in my car iOrty-seven passengers, who
told me they were in the sleeper; there
were three persons who went to bed at
New Hamburger that made thirteen miss
ing; there was one child somewhere in the
sleeping-car that got Il half ticket from ; |
got no tickets from two small children ; /
found no one to respond to d half ticket
there were three brakemen on the train
trains run at full speed over all the bridges.
j. ID. Scott, conductor Of Il Sleeping-car,
testified to a positive knowledge of the fact
that the passengers of all the cars except
the first sleeping-car were saved, and that
the train was running about thirty miles
per hour.
Hammond V. Grant, conductor ola Sleep
ing car, testified that directly after the first
shock he saw the first sleepine-car lying on
its side, inclining to the east and parallel
with the track. 1t was in flames, and no
help could be given those inside.
The inquest then adjourned to Thursday
at O'clock P. M.
Up to this time no more bodies have been
but graphing still continues.
All the bodies found thus far have been
being nineteen, as follows:
George S. Benedict, Cleveland; A. A. Gil
lette, Buffalo Arthur w. Pease and wife,
Buffalo; Lucius A. Root, Buffalo; r. Ger
nnin Rev Morrell Fowler and wife and