, 1876-12-31
INTO ruin HURLED.
Heartrending Details Of the
Lake Shore Disaster.
Over One Hundred lives
Lost by the Catas-
trophe.
Nearly Forty Bodies Taken
from the Smoldering
Ruins. !.
Very Few Of Them in a Con-
dition to Be Rec
ognized.
A Complete List Of the Saved,
Injured, and Uninjured.
Narrative Of Mr. ]. E. Burchell, a
Passenger On the Ill
Fated Train.
4 Vivid Description Of the Wrecked
and Burning Train.
p. p. Bliss Burned to Death Try
ing to Extricate His Wife
and Children.
Jerry Stewart, a Sleeping Car
Porter, Recit@ His Ex-
pertence.
Il Melancholy Train OF Mourners On
the Road to Ashtabula.
In Search OF the Remains OF Mr.. Bliss
and Family..-The Life OF tho
Sweet Singer.
cther 0hioagoans Who Are Feared to |
Have Died That Fatal Night,
a Melancholy Train OF Mourners On
the Road to AshtabuIa.
In Search OF the Remains OF Mr.. Bliss
and Family..-The Life OF tho
Sweet Singer.
Other Ghicagoans Who Are Feared to
Have Died That Fatal Night,
THE GULF OF DEATH.
WHAT DAYLIGHT DEVELOPED.

HaA1 uA1A1EtI LEV ELU1EQ.
Special Dispatch to The Tribune
AsHrABULA, O., Dec 30.-The proportions Of
the AshtabuIa horror are now approximately
known. Daylight, which gave an opportunity
to find and enumeratc the saved, reveals the
fact that two out OF every three passengers on
the fatcd train are lost Or the 100 passengers
whom the MANNED conductor reports Us having
been on board, but fifty-ufne can be found or
accounted for. The remaining 100, burned to
ashes or shape]ess Jumps OF charrcd flesh, lie
under the ruins OF the bridge and train.
The disaster IVES dramatically complete. No
element Of horror was wanting. First, the crash
Of the bridge, the agonizing moments Of sus-
pense as the seven laden cars plunged down
their fearful 1eap to the icy river-bed; then the
fire which came to devour all that had been left
alive by the crash; then the water, which CUR
clcd up from under the broken ice and
OFFERED ANOTHER FORM OF DEATH;
and, finally, the biting b1ast filled with snow,
which froze and benumbed those who had ez-
capped water and fire. It was an ideal tragedy.
The scene Of the accident:wns the valley of
the creek which, flowing down past the eastern
margin Of Ashtabula village, Nsses under the
railway three or four hundred Yards cast Of the
station. Here for many years after the Lake
Shore road was built there was long wooden
trcstle-work, but as the road was improved this
was superseded about ten years ago with
AN IRON HOWE TRUSS
built at the Cleveland shops, md resting at
either end upon high stone piers, danked by
heavy enrthcn cmbankmcnts. The iron struc-
ture was single span of 159 feet, crossed By a
double track seventy feet above the water,
which at TINT point is now. from 8 to s
feet deep, and covered with eight inches Of ice.
The descent into the valley on either side ispre-
ctpitous, and, as the hills and slopes are piled
with
HEAVY DRIFTS OF SNOW,
there was No little difficulty In reaching the
wreck after the disaster became known.
The bridge has been regarded as one OF the
very best Of It's kind in the country. It has
been tested with six locomotives, and trains fre-
quently crossed on both tracks simultaneously
without causing more than slight
detection Of the structure. It WIS intended
to be as strong as iron; and masonry
could make 1t, and it required almost actual
sight OF the wreck to convince the ChiefEngf-
near Of the road that the bridge had fallen un-
der the weight of a single train. The disaster
occurred shortly before 8 o'clock. It was
THE Widest WINTER NIGHT
of the year. Three hours behind its time, the
Pacific express, which had left New York the
night before, struggled along through the drifts
and the binding storm. The eleven cars we're
a heavy burden to the two engines, and when
the leading locomotive broke through the drifts
beyond the rayine rolled on ACROSS the bridge,
the train was moving at less than ten miles an
hour. The head lamp threw hut short and
dim flash of light in the front, 80 thick was the
air with the driving snow. The train crept across
the bridge, the leading engine had reached solid
ground beyond, and its driver had just given It
steam, when something in the undergearing OF
bridge snapped. For an instant there was a
CONFUSED cRACKL1EG OF, BEANS AND GIRDERs,
ending with tremendous cash, as the whole
train but the leading engine broke through
the framework, and fell in heap Of crushed
aud splintered ruins at the bottom Notwith-
standing the wind and storm the crash was
heard by people within-doors half mile away.
For moment there wes silence, & stunned
among the survivors, who In all
stages OF mutilation lay piled among the dying
and dead. Then arose the cries Of Ea1mcd and
suffering 4e few who remained unhurt hast
ened to escape from the shattered cars. They
crawled out Of windows into freezing water
waist-decp. Men, women, and children, with
limbs bruised and broken, pinchcd between
timbcrs and transhxcd by Jagged splinters,
BEGGED WITH THEIR LAST BREATH FOE AID
that no human power could gfTe-
Five minutes after the train fell the fire
broke out In the cars piled against the ahut~
uents At either end. 4 moment later flames
broke from the emokingcar and first coach
ni}ed acrosa each other near the middle OF the