Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-07-04

WITH MALICE I
AUSTIN, MOWER COZ
THE BELLEylLLE HORROR.
The Recent Canadian Railroad Accl'
| Hlcxss
Mr.. Robert Nelson Roady, who wit
messed tho recent railroad accident nea1
Belleville, makes the following state
ment to the Toronto Globe:
81 reside in Peterborough, and nm
manager for Mr.. Watson, who has the
contract for building the Dominion
telegraph line from that place to Bar
rie. On the night of Friday last tool
the train at Port Hope for Brookville
having with me eleven men, who had
been working for me, and to whom
had granted four days leave of ab
sence, to allow of their visiting thei,
families, all of whom lived in the lowe,
province. / was in the smoking. car,
and after remaining short time,
went into the secOnd-class and asked
my foreman to come with me into the
first-class part of the train; but he
declined to do so. I Ireturned there alone.
and lay down upon the seat, when j
suddenly felt jar, as if some of the
cars in the fore part of the train were
tipping over. l tried to open the win.
dow of the car was in, but il appeared
to be jammed, and / got out of the
door and ran to see what was the mat.
ter, but for short time could not do
SO for the dense cloud of steam. After
q moment or two, I managed to get to
the front of the train, and from there
into the uppermost side of the second
class caA I tried to open the windows,
but, finding I could not do SO, ran
round to the platform side OF the
smoking cal, and got crowbar out of a
number bel onging to our men. I saw
that,,the'@vo cars were "telescoped."
then: commenced to break the windows
OF the second-c class car, and several of
the men came ont through them. I
smashed in the door, and, as the steam
;; had pretty we'll dispersed, went in
and found some of the men sitting in
their seats, apparently stunned and
unconscious. Conductor Nelson. the
Pullman Car conductor, and two volun-
/ teers from Port Hope-one of them
was named Skltch-then came in. and
we went to the middle of the car and
saw that the side was completely
smashed, and there were many
of the passengers buried among
the ruins. We Immediately commenced
lifting them out, and as 1 was thus en-
gagged. l found two little children lying
in the bottom of the Cur, quite dead.
The clothes of all those 1 touched were
90 hot that I could hardly bear to han
die them. One woman, who I believe
to be Mrs. Calender, died lust as she
was lifted out. The safety valve OF
the engine pertruded right into the car,
and I do not think there was a particle
of water two minutes after the engine
went over on its side. When all the
passengers had been got out, I went to
look at the engine, and saw Hilbert.
the driver, lying between the engine
and the broken truck of one of the
cars, quite dead. Five of the Others
died before they could be removed.
The sight was an awful one. AS soon
as the men got into the cool night air,
they began to suffer dreadfuliy, and
their cries were frightful to hear. Thev
tore their clothes of, and manv Of
them jumped the fence and fed across
the fields, crying out the same time
most pitifully. One man got awav at
least quarter Of mile before 1 could
catch him, and another was half a mile
of when he was found. Belleville was
communicated with, and tram was
soon upon the spot; but before it ar
rived the scalded people began to com.
plain of cold, so with some of the
loose planks we made fires, and rugged
up shelters from the wind. The peo-
pie were then placed on the train aud
taken to Belleville. Most of nv
men had considerable sums of money
with them. The damage done was
strictly confined to the two cars
mentioned-the second-class and smok.
ing. The Post Office attached, with its
occupants, escaped by something little
short of miracle. The first-class and
Pullman cars (though the former cot
off the track) add their passengers sns
tanned no injury. It is most singular
thing that, among all the number of
killed and wounded, with but two
exceptions, VIZ: the driver and an.
other man, those injured did not sus-
tain the slightest contusions; but the
sca!ds were something beyond all de-
scription. "A visit to Belteville freight
shed on Saturday evening was sufi
cient to unstring the strongest nerves.
and created q feeling of pity in the
hardest heart. Stretched on the trestle
beds or mattresses laid upon the floor
amongst the goods, were some so fear.
fu1-looking objects, some =, writhipq
about in the acutest agony. Others.
exhausted by the pain they were suf-
fering from the scalds and the steam
they had inhaled, lay perfectly passive.
while some kind female or man dressed
their hurts with cooling lotions, or
kept current of mir about them with
fans. The poor creatures with their
swollen and :bandaged features and
limbs, presented an appearance which
can never be effaced from the memoir
les of those who saw them. The pa
tients who death early released from
their agony passed away, without ex-
ception, in the quitest manner. No
struggle, no painful gasping for breath,
but they seemed to sink into a doze,
which gradually changed into the sleep
of DEATH"
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