The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1876-12-31
THE OHIO HORROR.
HOW OVER ONE HUNDRED PAS
sENGERs DIED.
The Dreadful Details Of the Most Awful
Railway Accident in osE History.

sons on the train. less than sixty are
known to have been saved. Tue lost
are so totally destroyed by fire that il is
impossible to identify them. But a few
burnt stumps of limbs remain.
Cleveland, Dec. 30.-The following is
the latest from the wreck at Ashta-
bula:
darkness out of this valley and shadow
of death, seldom saw a ghastlier sight
than was revealed with the coming of
the morning.
On either side of the ravine frowned
the dark and bare arches from which
the treacherous timbers had fallen,
while at their base the great heaps of
ruins covered the hundred men, wo-
man and children who had suddenly
been called to their death. The three
charred bodies lay where they had been
placed in the hurry and confusion of
the night. Piles of iron lay on the
| thick ice, or bedded in the shallow
water of the stream. The fires still
smouldefed in the great heaps where
msny of the hapless victims had been
| all consumed, while men went about in
wild excitement seeking some trace of
lost ones.
A list of saved and wounded having
been already sent. the sad task remains
of discovering who may be among the
dead. The latter task will be the most
difficult of all, until the continued alb
sence of here or there a friend, will al
low of but one explanation, that he
was one of those who took this fatal
leap.
All witnesses SO FAR agree as to the
main facts of the accident. Suddenly
and without warning the train plunged
into the abyss, the forward locomotive
alone getting acros in safety. Al
most instantly the lamps and stoves
SET FRI TO THE CARS,
and many who were doubtless only.
stunned, and who might otherwise have
been saved, fell victims to the fury of
the flames. -
Gen. Supt. Payne is here. He says
that there is no prospect ut present of
a~scertaining the James of the killed
and wounded. The railroad folks are
doing what they can to get the names,
but it will be late before anything will
be known.
On arrival of the Cleveland surgeons
they organized a corps of assistants and
made a tour of the various hotels,
where the wounded were attended to.
Such help has been given to each as
was possible. All that human skill
could do to save life vas done. The
SCENES AMONG THE WOUNDED
were as suggestive almost as the wreck
in the valley. The two hotels nearest
the station contained a majority of these.
They were scattered apuut on uempor-
airy beds, on the floor Of the dining
rooms, parlors and offices. Toward
morning the cold increased, and the
wind blew a fearful gale, which, with
the snow which had drifted waist deep
at points along the line, made all work
extremely difficult. At 6 o'clock the
beds in the sleeping al of the special
train were made up and such of the
wounded as could be removed were
transferred there.
THE BRIDGE
was a Howe truss, built entirely Of iron,
and eleven years old. 1t was SO feet
above the water; had an arch $50 feet
long, the whole length of the bridge be-
ing It's feet. 1t has been tested with
six locomotives, and at the time of the
| disaster was considered as bling in per-
feet condition. The iron of the bridge
is twisted in endless confusion with
that of the cars, while the loco motive
is a wreck in every part.
"HELP ME, MOTHER"
A passenger who himself was severe
ly bruised, in the great peril of thu
| hour rushed to the relief of others. de
saw a woman struggling for life and
went to her assistance; he carried hei
by main force to solid ice, and then,
urged by the cries of the mother, went
back to the rescue Of the daughter, 3 Of
four years of age. The wood, in spin
tering. had caught the child in it
grasp, and the fire completed the hor
| rible work. The man vas compelled
to see the child enveloped i'll flame, ant
to hear .'help me. mother, y ringing on
in agony Of death and On the ears OF tn
cruel night. In amument she was lost
swept up by the sharp tongues of fire
while her mother, in helpless agony
fell to earth in a deadly swoon. Il
Had it not been for the fire probabl.
not one-third would have been lost. Thu
water in the creek was only about thre
feet deep. 1t is thought by some tina
when it is dragged a number of bodie:
may be found.
A stock drover is another witness a
10 lllt dplult WIN Nv ehS a "a
its work, He says he was one of tn
first out of the wreck, and that fiv
minutes had not elapsed before tn
whole thing was in flames.
A FAMILY SAVED.
There was ON board IA family name
Bennett, on the way from New Yorl
state to Jefferson, Ashtabula county
The father and mother got out of til
wreck, the children only being save
by being passed from the arms of on
man to another over a pile of burnin
wood. On Saturday morning til
mother, who was enciente, gave birth t
a child, the event being FASTENED b
the excitement she had undergone.
THE KILLED, WOUNDED AND SAVED
Nearly a complete list of the injure
and saved is at hand. 1t is remarkab
that those not killed were g~enerally-b'
slightly hurt. The only California;
in the list are: j. A. Thompson, i
jured about the head; A. Nathan
back ana head; E. Unworthy, Oa
land, Gala. ribs broken. The list Civ
the names and residences of 81, vi
5 either escaped or received injuries viii
were more or less serious. The de
list ear only be ascertained when it