The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1871-02-10

Among the victims ofthis teETible
aecidenty5Ee are SORRY to chronicle
the fate Of Mra Geo. S. Benedict,
one bf the editors of the Cleveland
Herald lie had been in New York
City, on business connected with
the establishment, and left there on
the ill-fated trainl He was a young
man OF great promise, and one Of
the best business amanagers Of o
nswspaperipuess yet developed. lHe
was married in 1e6s,9 and leayes q
wife and tw5 children to mourn his
untimcly tasing of: Nothing vas
positively known ,ss to the manner
of-his death, whether by burning,
crushing or drowning, up till We'd
nesday morniug-but only that his
renains had been recognized among
the bodiezOf the mangled victims.
Below we give the particulars
which hsve cone 10 hand:
.ALBASr, Feb. The Hudson
River Pacific Express train Lett New
York last evening at eightP. X The
train reached New Hamburg about
ten o'clock. As it approached that
place a freight train was observed
moving toward it at the usual speed
and in. good order, but when the
6rains were within half a mile of each
other an axle of one Of the Oil cars
on the freight train broke. Several
Of the cars. were thrown across the
track upon which the express was
aoving at the rate OF forty miles an
nour, and inean Instant the oil igni-
ted. and enveloped 5he entire freight
train5in flames. The express train
&sshed into the broken, burning
tARssg ThescelIisien. occurred upon
the, bridge near Hamburg. The en-
gias, baggage car and first sleeping
car we're thrown oyer the bridge on
the ice, a distance of six feet. As
they fell an Oil car toppled over up
on them, and the oil inundating the
sleeping car it Fas signited in a mo-
ment and was completely enyeloped.
an the other cars kept uPonsTthe
track, but the second sleeping ear
received some Of the, burning fluid
and topk4fre,n The passengers. .efthe
second sleeping and, other cars all es-
capped with only slight bruises. Be
fore any moyement could be made
toward assisting the passengers in
the first sleeping car eabout twenty
twas e solid mass of flames. SO
Sudden vas the disaster and SO in
stantlg did the FIRE do Its work that
when the tumult of the crash. subsi-
ded not a sound was heard from the
furnace. of death. IngteH minutes
every particle Of, the work WAS con-
sumvds and the passengers dead
The following are among the killed:
Doc Simmons, engineer; Peter YoE-
burg, sleeping car conductor; Bee
hire brakeman; Rev. DIR. Deemes,
pastor, of the church Of the Stranger,
New York, with his wife, were in the
/ 'front.' sleeping. car when the collision
occurred. A book was thrown on
the Lack which contained on the fly
leaf q memorandum that it had been
4 ,,rpspntpd IN 0r Daemes
:: The fire, communicated 10 and to-
1 tally consumed the baggage and
Sleeping cars, with every lsonl on
board, spreading from thence TO The
second sleeping car, which still re
maiued on the track, the passengers
i fortunately escaping in time, some
losing their clothes in their hSsty
departure. a gentleman and lady
who occupied q state room on the
forward part Of the second sleeping
ear, had very narrow escape, the
flames having already, commqhicat-
ed to it before they were fully arou-
sedt q sense ofthe danger they were
in; the passengers and employees in
the Remainder of the train, immedi-
ate1y on feeling the shock, ran ont,
and tbs, scene, which met their view
was most terrible. The ice was com
pletely covered with sheet of fame
and in its midst lay tho baggage and
sleeping cars almost entirely envel-
oped by fire. The blazing oil had
fioated along the ice to where sew
eral fishing boats were frozen in and
set fire to them, but the inhabitants
of tile vicinity extinguished the
flames. The excitement usually at
tendant upon such scenes was not
Witnessed on the occasion; every one
seemed cool and collected. One
body, supposed to be that Of Y0s-
burghs sths eqnductor, was pulled
from the sleeping4caf and presented
a si3keRiRg apllearanee. one les be-
ing consumed and the rest Of the
body 50. blsckened and charred as to
be unrecognized., Our informant
saw eight other bodies taken from
the ear. The fireman of the express
train on seeing the impossibility, of
avoiding the collision, jumped of,
having previously advised the engi
neer to do the same, but the latter
refused, saying he would go on
thfough with his engine. He must
have been burned to death, as he
was precipitated in the midst of the
burning oil, The bridge is a draw,
and the distance from it to the ice
below was scarcely. six feet. ,s-,s +
PopGaKEEPsIE, February t7zNoon
Over thirty bodies have been re-
moved from the debris at New Ham
burg and broughtto this city. Many
were burned almost beyond reeog=
milton, and many bodies were frozen
stiff. Physicians from various points
along the road have been dispatched
on special trains. The thermometer
is below zero, and many Of the res
eued were frost bitten. sss sisf III
Later dispatches from Poughkeep-
sic state that thlrty-four bodies thus
far have been found. A card, found
on Vosburgh's body, after being re-
covered, stated that the following
passengers were burned: Fowler,
Pease, CARR, Forbush, Rosenthall,
Nancreed, and DOrman.
a wretch named Wheaton whipped his
little boy to death, in AHengan county, Mich.
gan, on the 30th. The citizens turned cut
,sl -, A.. hunt fbs. .yo,,,1e-.-