Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1871-02-25
Terrible Railroad Disaster.

At tweniy.four minute, ,fIer ten o. clock
on Monday night s'pee'sl freight irsla.
or wild cs,," a. such are called IN rail-
road phrase, laden with petroleum oil IN
tanks and bs,reis. passed the sls'"n of
New Hamburg. D, contested Of sboSt
thirty cars. Some ,~o ~ three rods be.
low ,he station one Of the cars vas
thrown from or Jumped" The track.
This va. not known al, The ms,ks ito
wheels lef, on the ground aud Ties ~srs
discovered an hour later by the light oil
lantern In The hands OF one OF the hurry.
ing passenby. Yard after yard IL bur.
ried along. Jumping from ''de I" side and
marking iis devious p.th ull. when near
ly . quarter OF a mile below the sts,lon
aud Oh The draw bridge over Wspp,neers
creek, the engineer. doubtle" feeling .
check IN The speed OF the usin. dew oUt
the throule. The renewed force threw
the car. which va. slresdy of the ra'ls.
cIesn over on and rross the oppo'i'r or
up track. and Pellmell packing Of the
cars ensued. Al this uniorirnste moment
a sight. always grand but nov terrible.
gre, ted The eyes Of the men on the loco
mouve.
Twenty or thirty rods swsy loomed up
,mid q cloud Of smoke flashes Of fame
and . sIho~et Of sparks. Ihe engine snd
nAln OF The New York lightning express.
The engineer OF Ihe coming Ws'n "a"
the cat thrown upon his rack. end ~rh
starting eyes and blsnchtd cheeks. drew
the valve and let The susm etespr. u
came forth IN torrents and vilh blssine
horrible noise. The fireman. noble
man OF great courage, sprung The patent
sslely brakes bot ~ wss TOO late. Oh
dashed the train like ,hunde,boi'. The
fireman lesped. saved his lie. The en-
g,nee;. pale bot sle,disr. held tie valve
vide open. Then there WI" ers'h. .
sheet oi fsns le,Ping hundreds OF f,s' !"
,he ,ir--lhe trembling snd thunder Of sn
explosion. and bslfs hundred soU's we're
hurled al the Zee, VI God.
Tie car struck by the locomotive Of
the express tram WI" surmouird by two
huge wooden sa". containing non fehnsd
explosive petroleum. One tank ~n
shattered. aud the OIL rushiog forth over
The engine. wss Ignlled by tho gIos'ne
Goals in The ash pan. Escaping e" IN
the second isnk csogh, The flame aud Tho
terrific explosion ensued. The air Tor
thousands OF feel was filled with The luI,d
fame Of the burning gs. u ncendsd 10
the he'gh, OF hundreds vi feet. IL tn'sl-
opsJ an area Of hundreds porr.snd those
who bres,bsd IN ,ba, fatal circle had in
inhsle hqold 6ie. Then before sny had
sn opportunity to compute the iins.
crushed by the weight Of care. drjoin'd
by the shock, The wooden duSbndss
crunbl.d beneath Tho weigh, upon IL aud
sank with its load through the zee aud in
10 The water. Then came all the W,.
rofs Of D,nio's many hslls TO the sleeping
passengers sOd 10 The ~sk'nR ons'. ITO
,ide vas not ye, ., i,s iuil. and the wst,r
vas not more ,ha, four Zee, deep ia The
cars. II burst the doors. ho~ever.of the
baggage cars and came through tho gin.
Jo~s OF the p.lace sleeping ear wnh 10
thirty three occupants. Mingled With u
were fragment. OF broken zee, shstp.eold
and cuilIDs. IL rushed slons ihs pas
sage ways and deluged The bsrshs. iissI.
ing where il touched. But IN ibs space
above ~ss nothing but lnrid a'ms.- The
s,mo,phen "" burning sss. Oos hall
The psr,on 'n''l"ped IN liquid zee snd he
other half in liqulj Gre. Such uu The
cstssuophe.
Mr.. Charles II. Green. an employee Of
the company. w.s on The scene OF the di.
sa.,sr belseen iwo and lhfss o. clock and
says ihs, at that ii'nc nineteen OF ihs bod
lie, had been recovered. There remsinsd
10 be found only The remsins Of nf.
Simmons. the engineer. sod one or tss
Others. Mr.. Wbeslr. ihs wsek km,st0.
was lskins active measures To e~e,s new
bridge. having brought one hundred m'n
and . large quantity Of Rsisn.I from
Poughss,ps,e for ibs Pufpo's.
Mr.. Greens account OF tho csls,hophs
10. that The engineer Of The on u,,n. hs,.
ing entered upon the bridge snd become
conscious ,hs, something vas wrong Win
his usin. s~uog out tie red light. the
danger sgosl. TIE ohei train vn 90.
10 about one hundred f,el OF ., the ims,
aud va, just rounding the curve. entering
on The bulge. Summons. The engineer
OF the later. whi"ied "bpke,." Teurssd
The engine. and dad III that m'ri,i could
do 10 s'sn the ea's'uophs. Tssin CON
durtor Chsrles Carson snd rondueios
Srou were IN the car in the rear of the
Buffalo sleeping car. and promptly hss.
tened 10 pot on The bfstss. which iLsy
had scarcely accompanied sbsu The col.
li.ion TOOK place They had p" "'iously
shouted to The pa"ensSi' ~ 'he car sp.
pn,,ng Ihrn oil the danger. An old MN
and woman ~ho fingered IN one eosnsf
Of The car had n,'ros escape, bst ihsy
fortunately got oUi IN time.
Al unite 10 spplaud'"g the berpism IT
the III faied engineer. Doc. Simmoas. Hs
and the fireman were on the locomou
when they e'pisd the red l:sh, on the op.
posii. Wain and the 6'smsn shouted 10
Jump OF. 81 viii n"t.' answered Sim.
mon,. Il will stay With nv sneins." :" end
he re'oIo,,ly held TO h" post. vh,le The
fireman Junped of snd saved bi@,sif.
SIMMONS vas pe:rinR out INTO he DARK
ne's. shading bn eyes wnh his hsads.
when he persisted.
The eye. siioe'ses bsd ssea se,sssl sf