Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1876-03-11
Der of the Baltimore city council.

= DER OI lne DalIiulOlc City CouhOii'
The bodies Of Messrs, Baldwin and
Bower were received by friends at Cam
den station aud conveyed away 10 hear
ses. A large crowd of persons had col
lected at the station and anxiously
awaited the arrival of the train contain
ing the dead and wounded When the
train pulled into the station so great
was the throng around the cars that it
required squad OF policemen to re-
strain them.
STATEMENT OF DIR. CARTER.
DIR. ID. ID. Carter, of Woodstock, Va,
who with other surgeons was summoned
to the scene of the disaster about one
o'clock yesterday morning, says he
found the most of the wounded in Ca
boose cars on a side track near the
wrecked bridge. The injuries as gen
eral thing were very serious, requiring
careful treatment, and the cries of some
of the worst hurt when stirred was
heart rending.
1t appeared that scamp" of cars lad
been stationed near by for several days
to accommodate large force Of work
men who were AZ work on the. centre
span of the bridge. The workmen lived
in the caboose cars and on the evening
Of the accident had quit operations at
six o'clock. Hence when the accident
occurred assistance was near at hand,
AID before the surgeons had arrived
mucn had been done TO alleviate the
sutferings of the wounded.
Among the wounded in the cars was
II. Z. Baker, of Baltimore, who was
conscious, but unable to speak. While
DR.. Carter was attending TO Mr.. Baker
two men, one on the right aud one on
the left died. One of those who died
was J. d. Baldwin, also of Baltimore,
who managed with an effort to bid his
friend goodbye few minutes before
he died Three hours after the acct
dent there were yet one halt of the pas
sengers on the train remaining buried
under the ruins. When Dr. Carter left
the scene of the ruins, about seven
o'clock last evening, the bodies of the
engineer aud brakeman had not yet been
extrcated from the wreck.
The scene, as described by DR.. Car
ter, was one of great disaster. The
bridge, as has been stated, spans small
creek at an elevation of ia feet, run
ming from one steep precipice to anoth-
er. In the center of the space between
the two precipices, but not reaching as
high up as the bridge, was wall OF
masonry not yet quite finished. The
bridge, he SAYS, gave way at about the
centre of the distance between the wall
and one side of the precipice. AT the
bottom of the ravine damming the creek
was the wreck piled up against the wall
some thirty feet high.
The wreck presented the appearance
of a horribly mixed mass Of twisted iron
work, shivered timbers, dismantled
trucks, tops of cars, carcases OF bulls,
sheep and swine, and various kinds Of
merchandise. 1t was work of great
difficulty to find and extricate the bod
les of human beings from the wreck,
owing to the heavy iron work wedged
SO closely in the wreck, and several per-
sons found alive were in the ruins many
hours before taken out. Some OF the
dead bodies taken out, showed evidence
of having been scalded terribly, and
some of the wounded persons received
scalds.
STATEMENT OF PASSENGER.
p. NJ. S. Bird, of Mount Jackson, Va,
who was on the train and fortunately
escaped with injuries that are not con-
sidered very serious, states that the pas
senger car was the last one in the train,
and he with others were seated, a few
awake, others doing, but the greatest
number asleep. He was near the rear
end of the car, and at the moment OF
the accident heard the wheels of the
car make rough, grating noise, as it
running over ties instead OF rails, and
the next minute there was crash and
a terrible shock.
As soon as he could collect himself
he looked around and found he was in
an aperture about four feet square, seat
ed on the floor alongside the seat he
had occupied He was wedged in on
all sides, ABOVE and below, and there
was no apparent way of getting out
He could hear subdued groans, but they
came from parts of the wreck divided
from him by masses of timber, irons, DC.
He shouted, and after an hour, which
seemed a century, he was eXtricated.
The escape of Mr.. Bird was almost mi
raculous, and yesterday afternoon he
was the only passenger able to make
any statement regarding the occurrence