The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-01-11

UOHC1uO1 VI OOOoA 0UAOAAA |
'sTo His Excellency R. B. Hayes, Gov Il
ernor Of Ohio.
.sP. S.-As the solution of the vexed
political questions which now agitate
the public mird might ultimately de-
pend on yourself or upon your dis.
tinguished competitor for the Presi-
dency, have addressed letter SINH
lar to this to His Excellency Govern
nor Tilden.
Yours. WADEHAMPToN.
.ASHTABULAB BRIDGE.
Interesting Account OF the Terrible Calamity.
A correspondent writing from Ash
tabula, Ohio, gives the following &C
count of the terrible railroad accident |
at that point, some details of which |
appear in our news summary
The proportions Of the Ashtabula |
borror are now approximately known.
Daylight which gave an opportunity
to find and enumerate the saved. re-
veals the fact that two out Of every
three passengers on the fated train
are lost. OF the 100 passengers whom
the MANNED conductor reports as hav-
J ing been on board, but fifty-nine can
| be found or accounted for. The re-
naming 100, burned to ashes or shape
less Jumps of charred flesh, lie under
the ruins of the bridge and train.
The disaster was dramatically COM
plete. No element of horror was want
ing. First, the crash of the bridge,
the agonizing moment of suspense as
the seven laden cars plunged down
their fearful leap 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 gurgled up
from under the broken ice and offered
another form Of death and, finally,
the biting blast filled with snow, which
froze and benumbed those who had es-
capped water and fire. 1t was an ideal
of tragedy.
The scene Of the accident was the
valley of the creek which. flowing past
the eastern margin of Ashtabula vii
lagos passes under the railway three
or four hundred yards east of the STA
ton.
Here. for many years after the Lake
Shore road was built. there was long
wooden trestle-work, but as the road
was improved this was superseded
about ten yearsag with an iron Howe
truss built at the Cleveland shops, and
|, resting at either end upon high stone
! piers. fanked by heavy earthen en-
! bankments. The iron structure was
t single span Of $50 feet, crossed by a
: double track seventy feet above the
: water, which is now at that point from
. to feet deep, and covered with
a eight inches Of ice. The descent into
!, the valley on either side is precipitous
!, and as the slopes and hills are piled
= with heavy drifts OF snow, there wa:
no little difficulty in reaching the
e wreck after the disaster had become
. known.
> The bridge has been regarded as ON
: of the very best of its kind in thu
d country. 1t has been tested with 81,
r. locomotives, and trains frequentl.
Is crossed on both tracks Simultaneous,
J, without causing more than slight de
e lection of the structure. 1t was in
. tended to be as strong as iron and ma
10 sonry could make it, and required al
Or most actual sight of the wreck to con
RS vince the Chief Engineer of the roat
that the bridge had fallen under tn
weight of a single train. The disaste
q occurred shortly before o'clock. l
was the widest winter night of tn
=. wear. Three hours behind its time
), the Pacific express, which had LET
- New York the night before. struggle
> along through the drifts and the blind
ing storm.
a, The eleven cars were heavy burde
re to the two engines, and when tn
n leading locomotive broke through tn
or drifts beyond the ravine, and role
Mt on across the bridge, the train VIZ
an moving at less than ten miles an hou
is The head lamp threw but short an
ne dim flash of light in the front, /
/ thick was the air with the driviI
o. snow. The train crept across I'll
he bridge, the leading engine had reacht
o. solid ground beyond, and it's driv,
la. had given it steam, when somethi1
he in the nndergearing of the brid,
oi- snapped. For an instant there was
N, confused cracking of beams al
n girders, ending with a tremendo
70 cash. as the whole train but the lea
H. ing engine broke through the fran
in work, and fell in a heap of crush
he and splintered ruins at the bottol
he Notwithstanding the wind and stOr
te, the crash was heard by the POP
of within-doors half mile away. For
We moment there was silence, stunn
ri sensation among the survivors, w
to in all stages OF mutilation lay pill
of among the dying and dead. Then arc
the cries of mind land suffering; t
f few who remained unhurt hasten
: it to escape from the shattered ca
to They crawled out of windows in
18th freezing water waist~deep. Mt
the women, and children, with lin
of bruised and broken, pinched betwe
ich timbers and transfixed by jagg
est splinteTs. begged with their last bres
ent for aid that no human power co,
ate give.
Of Five minute3 after the train fell I