The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-08-26
Another Smash up on the South
side Railroad. aa.
Narrow Escape from a Terrible
Catastrophe.
Express Train Thrown
: from the Track.
FIFTY PASSENGERS INJURED.
The Cause Of the DiSaster-What an Inspee-
ton Of the Road Revealed. i~'a
-. x-ss..saC.s

The Cause Of the DiSaster-What an lnspcc-
ton Of the Road Revealed. Pie
There was another smash-up on the Southside
Railroad yesterday morning. These little anatrs
have become alarmingly frequent OF late on this
road and have caused considerable apprehension
among the travelling public.
Yesterday morning the Patchogue and Fire
Island express train, while on Its way to Brooklyn,
was thrown from the track at point about mid
way between Merrick and Freepors distance Of
some twenty-five miles from the city. The train
consisted OF locomotive, tender, one baggage car
and six passenger cars the latter being crowded
with people who had spent Sunday at Babylon and
Fire Island. Charles Baldwin, conductor, had
charge OF the train. The engineer was Daniel
Ryden and the fireman William Morrison The
train was running at the rate Of about twenty-five
miles an hour and the first intlmation that the
passengers had Of the accident was
rs SUDDEN SHOCK. $
The locomotive tender, baggage and four Of the
passenger cars were violently shaken, but man.
aged to keep the track. The three remaining pas
senger cars, including the smoking car, were
dragged along the road for about nifty feet and
then hurled into swamp to the left Of the track
ana wrecked. A brakeman was thrown from the
platform Of his car Q distance Of about twenty
feet and newspaper boy was propelled through
window into the mud, where he recovered from
the temporary shock and found that he had not
been badly hurt The swamp Is not more than
four or I'VE feet below the road bed, and the con-
sequence was that terrible calamity was averted.
As 1t was, there were no less than 1
ID FIFTY PERSONS INJURED
but, fortunately, none Of them seriously. Those
passengers who were seated on the right-hand side
Of the upturned cars were thrown over to the left
and struck just above the windows while those
who were seated on the left-hand side managed to
remain in their seats, notwithstanding the pre-.
cipitating. Of the cars Strange TO say none OF
scene Of the widest confusion and excitement
ensued. Women shrieked for help, children cried
another in their efforts to extricate themselves
from the wreck. Many had been cut and bruised,
But 1a w5 ne Asps OUT wsn ss vss
so mat es se, msas ss
certaned that except in one case itast Child,
WHO had several q her RIBS fracturedJ no bones
sengers were badly bruised BY being thrown against
the sides Of 81 i ~ 4& Raa sa0Rss GLASS
of the windows, but oil save several ladies and
gentlemen continued on their way with the balance
Of the train.
engine as quickly as possible ana returned to the
three wrecked cars, which had been separated
IL.
twisted and wrenched from the ties for some one
hundred and fifty or two hundred feet, and the ties
an hours delay the remnant Of the express train,
with the passengers crowded into four cars, con-
tnued on It's way TO the CITY a. on o. 9 the
at the foot of South Eighth street, Williamsburg,
and the superintendent ordered o gang OF wo .hc
men to proceed by special train and repair the
track, so that travel would be impeded as little as
possible.
which left the Williamsburg depot at half-past
RAPIDLY APPROACHING THE SCENE
Of the disaster. A telegram from Freeport how.
ever. arrested its progress several stations below,
where It remained until the balance Of the wreck
train passed. A representative OF the HERALD
being aboard Of the mail tr In. went with it as far
as Freeport and then walked along the ., track
ne took occasion to examine the rails and discoy.
cred that about every other one was sound In
and broken, especially when two were fastened to
@ that ney were not more nan an men e0 or an
n o In sae to the
foot while in still other places they had been i'm.
perfectly joined. Many Of
and displaced. Several gentlemen in the party,
upon making these discoveries, expressed their
astonishment that catastrophe had been averted
Upon arriving at the wreck the reporter found
number Of men at work endeayoring TO repair the
track, which had been wrenched rom Its place.
and the rail- on the right hand side going west had
THsowN INTO THE SWAMP.
1t is remarkable fact that the cars were injured
new ones The bodies Of them were wrenched
from the wheels, and the ends and platforms and
this the damage was comparatively small. Inside
the cars were spattered with the plood OF
ns though h aon sea's seemed
broken, and over one of the seats was laid
copy Of the HERALD spotted with the blood Of one
<nff n nrod MOI a
At Quarter to twelve O'Clock the train contain.
ing gang OF workmen to clear away the wreck
men Immediately went to work. BY haltpast one
O'Clock the mail train continued on its way to
from Ire city, which mad been detained at Free.
port for about half an hour. There was no further
~ sfXTEMENr OF AN INJURED PASSENGER.
At Freeport, which appears to be one OF the
most wretched places on the island. the HERALD
been injured BY the accident He stated that he
was aresdent OF Bay Shore (which is forty miles
from the city, but he declined TO give ms name on
name should be published THIS unknown man is
and ruddy complex and wears light mustache.
| He was badly cut about the head and his nose
biackened. He stated to the HERALD man that he
got on the train at Bay Shore about quarter past
eight ococE ana took seat IN the third car n T ron
| smash-up was the sudden
ovERTuRNIH6 OF THE CAR,
and the next thing he knew his head struck against
one Of the hat racks over the seats. The passen-
| gers precipated around him began 70 scramble
| out and he followed suit, making his exit BY
door. He said he did not know OF
| anybody being seriously hurt except Mr.. Francis
Squire, OF Duane street. New YORK. and child,
| whose name was unknown. Almost everybody IN
his car, however, was more or less cut and bruised
He thought that ''the chief cause OF the accldent
| was that two rails had been fastened 10 one Tie
| and one Of the rails was driven out OF place"
The HERALD reporter also met John Waid, the
| fireman OF the paper train which followed the ex-
| press train, who stated that the accident was
| caused by the breaking OF rotten ne ana tne
breaking Of o chair which displaced the track ana
threw the nrst car which passed over and OF. The
track was torn up for some enght, and the otner