St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-02-10
Terrible Railroad Accident.
In Express TTuiH Rms Into a
burning oil TRAIN.
THENrY-oNE PERSONS KILLED.

\ terrible accident occurred. late Mon
day night. on the Hudson river railroad
at New hamburg, about eight miles south
of Poughkccpsic, n Y. An axle Of an
oil train bounl south broke, while pas
sing New Hamburg, and dragged along
tlr ground till it reached the draw bridge
when, striking the timbcrs, it threw the
car of its track and upon the up-track,
in the face of the Pacific express train
going north, which left New York at $
o'clock. An attempt was made TO stop
the express, which WAS then approaching,
bat there WAS not time enough, and ii
struck the oil car, the fragments of which
were scattered in every direction. and AT
once iynltol, cnyolopiu" the entire cN-
press train in flames.
The express tram WIS composed of Il
locomotive, one BAGGAGE ear, one express
car. Il Pullman sleeping ear and coach
bound for Chicago, AMI five or six other
Sleeping cars. I'll" locomotive WIS III
one, hurled into the river, an. the BAG
ca"c ami express ears were piled On top
OF the rn"iHr. At the same time th,
Chicago sleeping car WAS one sheet OF
flame, and tw" other elrcpin" cars next
to ii were al" wrapped in flames. The
passengers III thr-c la-i two, however, all
got ont safely. The hrid.c then took
FIRE, and ia lc~~ tlan ton minutes til,
whule >,ructur' tli. carrying with it the
Chicago car, and buryng 1t and it- in
mates out Of SIGHT, unIcri water and
anon. the ruins IF the locomotive and
express cars.
lii" NIGHT was bitterly cold, the thcr-
mumctcr hrin" below zero all night,
which rendered the efforts of the citizens
10 recover the bodies very difficult and
hazardous. and several were badly frost
hittca. ~ soon ~ possible, men were
buSlly engaged in drawing away tlc half
burned raitCrs and s:ringcrS of the bridge.
and searching for the dead bodies The
scene OF tie catastrophe was IN i ter
r.blr one. ~ fast ~ the bodies were
raised to the surface, ;hcy were placed in
the ba1gag. car, where Il fire WAS kept
goiug 10 tliaw the clothing in order that
search might he made fer anything which
might lead to their Identification Many
of the victims. however, were burned be-
yond the recognition of their friends.
he following are the names of the
killed, IL far as had been aSccrtaucd NJ
10 Tuesday ni@ht: Rev Merrill Fowler,
wilr and three children of Batavia, y. Y
George w. Brnclict, editor OF the Clcvc-
land CO.. Herald, W. c. Currier OF Erie,
Pa, l.. \. Root. \. \. GilIct, Me>srs
Lowell, l;o>cnihal and Forbush, William
+. Pcase ami wife. ct Buffalo, y. Y,
DR. Naucrcde, Rcllin Gcrmain. George
+. Thompson, +. H. Simmons, engineer
81 the express tram, James Stafford.
bag.a@yma>tcr L. IL. Vosburgh conduct
or of the Pullman sleeping car, AID +.
Lawrence Monny. brakeman, all OF New
York.
Rev. Mr.. Fowler preached his farewell
sermon and assisted at the communion
IN the chapel of $. Chry~o-tom, at ~ Y,
sunday morning, and was ON his way TO
the mission at Salt Lake City, to take
charge of it, in connection with Bishop
Iuttlc. Mr.. Gcrmaiu was 90 years Of
age, and leaves Il wife AMI family of four
or five grown up children. His perma-
ncnt rc~lcn { was in Buffalo. whittier
he was bound. Simmons, the engineer,
was a son of DIR. Simmons, formerly Il
well known physician at the Toombs in
Y Y ,,Y NI,nn,- fb,, hr.,
discharged from the road, month ago.
and was rcinstatcd in his position, about
two weeks ago, ii the urgent request of
his mother.
Nineteen bodies have thus far been
recovered. The bodies of Mrs. Fowler
Il al her two children, of which the arms
yet remained, were discovered closely
embracing each other, and it is surmiScd
that, finding cgr,ss impossible, they re-
solved to die together. The search is
still continued, but it Is thought that no
Others Were killed, although some passen-
gers say that the Chicago car contained
% or 30 persons, while only u are
positively known to have been killed
There are three bodies which are vet
one Of them cannot pos
Sibly be identified. The body of cn.in-
Ger Simmons has not yet been found
\ laborer from Hudson had both lcrs
crushed at the ruins, in the afternoon.
by limbcrs tallin" ON him, and it is
thought he will die.