Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-09-06
The Alton Disaster.
Horrible sunerings of the Unfortunate
Passengers.

Horrible suTerIngs of the Unfortunate
Passengers.
Mr.. A. s. Burgess, conductor of the
Pullman Palace car on the train which
was wrecked on the Chicago and Alton
Railroad, has given an account of the
accident, from which the following ex-
tracts are taken:
When the collision occurred Mr.. Bur-
CESS was standing at the door of the
car marking off berths for the passen-
gers on the diagram. The first concus-
sion threw him forward against the
door, the second hurled him over the
brake, and the third back again to the
door. His clothes were torn and his
legs somewhat bruised, but he immedi.
ately went forward with the rest of the
passengers to see what was the matter.
"Never in my life," said he, "have ]
witnessed such sight. 1t was the fifth
collision in which [ was q participant,
Tut never did see such utter misery.
In the meadows on either side of the
track were lying human beings, yelling
in agony-their flesh boiled off them.
The freight engine had run clear under
meath the smoking-car, and there ex-
ploded, shattering the car into little
pieces, and blowing the occupants high
up into the air and over the fence into
the meadows. The other engine burst
at the same time. A mani dom tknoW
who it was-ran up to me, shrieking
with agony, and threw himself into my
arms. [ tried to hold him, but his
clothes tore off him, and the flesh came
off with them. 1 was nearly stunned al
the sight There were dozen or more,
stripped stark naked, running up and
down, crazy with pain. They were
tearing at their bodies, and tearing of
great handfuls of flesh. The passen.
gers behaved admirably. They took up
the victims and carried them into the
coaches. I told them to bring them
into the sleeping car, and they did
First thing knew the ladies, God bless
them ! were tearing up their under
clothing to bind up the sufferers. Why,
sir, in half minute they had scarcely
anything left on them. There was round
one mans hand lace handkerchief that
must have cost a small fortune. I could
not stand that any longer. did not
care what the company said, so 1 just
gave orders to open the lockers and teal
up anything that came handy. AND
they did. There were two or three
ladies tearing sheets into lengths tC
bind up wounds, while half dozen
others were binding them around the
bloody arms and bodies of the wounded
men,"
Reporter--Did any one inthe smoking
car escape unhurt?
Mr.. Burgess-It may seem like q ro
nance, but it is strictly true, and
think you would like to hear the story
There was a crazy fellow on his way tC
the asylum at Jacksonville. He was
noisy and dangerous, and was hand
cuffed and placed in the smokingcal
when we left Chicago. Just after the
explosion a young girl came to me and
wanted me to find her brother. told
her he would be looked after, and tried
to quiet her down, but she would not
remain still. was afraid of her getting
into trouble. She told me her brother
was crazy, and could not look after him
self. l tried to keep her for moment
but she escaped me. Presently she
came back with the crazy fellow, who
appeared to enjoy the scene immensely
She had found him just where he fell il
the meadow. He had been blown by
the force of the explosion twenty o.
thirty feet, and had not scald or scratcl
about him.