St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-01-05
/ of these only half are identified, ana
tbey not all with certainty.

of these only half are identified, and
they not all with certainty.
SCENES AND INCIDENTS.
Charles S. Carter of Brooklyn, N. T.,
was PLAYING cards in the palace car
with three Others. He heard the WIN
dow-glass in the forward part of the car
breaking, and almost instantly the car
began to fall. He was seated with MS
back toword the front, and, as ne went
down, he sat as quietly as he could ana
held on. When the car struck at tne
bottom of the ravine, he found himseI
almost unhurt, although one OF the gen
tlemen playing with him, whose name
he did not know, was killed instantly,
while another, Mr.. Shepherd OF New
York, had leg broken. Carter says
the front of the car was much lower
than the rear, and that the flames IN
front began to eat their way upward
and spread with great rapidity. he
turned TO the assistance of Mr.. Shep-
herd, and with great difficulty succeed
ed in getting him out, the broken leg
impeding their advance. when Shep-
herd was saved, Carter turned to the
assistance of woman calling Tor help
at the front of the car. He got her out,
and, as she was quite thinly clad, gave
her his overcoat. After reaching no
tel, he found himself severely bruised In
several places.
Another man saw woman struggling
for life, and went to her assistance. he
carried her by main force to the solid
ice; then, urged by cries of the mother,
went back to the rescue of the daughter,
a sweet child of three or four years OF
age. but the treacherous wood in splln-
tering had caught the child in its grasp,
and the fire completed the horrible
work. The man was compelled to hear
her "Help me, mother" ringing out IN
the agony of death, while the mother
fell to the ice senseless.
Of family named Bennett, on their
way from New York state to Jefferson,
Ashtabula county, the father and moth
er got out of the wreck, but the children
were only saved by being tossed from
the arms of one man to those of another
over pile of burning wood work. One
of the four was seriously injured, and
all scratched slightly. On Saturday
morning the mother, who was inciente,
gave birth to child, the event being
fastened by the excitement she had
undergone.
A young girl of 10 years was seen
struggling to release her hips from the
crushing weight when the flames over
took her, and fine appearing, middle
aged gentleman was seen sitting bolt
upri ght in his seat calmly awaiting the
flames, which soon claimed their victim.
The loss to the company by the de-
struction of the bridge is about $4,000,
and some of the cars were the roads
property. Trains will be running again
in 10 days, and meanwhile the company
have to carry passengers around the
gap in sleighs.
Capt. Charles w. Tyler of st. Louis.
commission merchant, appeared as
witness at the cOroners inquest, with
his face terribly bruised and his right
hand injured. He was in appearance
and in his answers exceedingly intelli-
gent. While the train was at Buffalo
he examined the coaches, and was sat
isfied that fully 200 persons, 20 more
than the conductor stated, were on the
train. Mr.. Tyler said he had been cap
tain of steamboats, on the Mississippi
river for "a years, and was competent
to judge of the number on board from
experience. He had also travelled a
great deal. There were 10 passengers
in his car, named the Palatine. Sever
al card-parties were formed, Just before
the accident. The train was going at
the rate of Is miles an hour, when the
bell-rope snapped, breaking and extin-
gushing three of the lamps; 10 sec
onds later, he felt the coach going into
the river, and the car was envelOped
in darkness. The anguish of the mo-
ment was horrible in the extreme.
Then the abyss was passed, the sus-
pense was over, and the terrible crash
at the bottom came. Across the rear
part of the Palatine fell the ''City of
Buffalo," crushing two men, all in the
Palatine who were killed. Witness
thought that every person in the Buff
falo was killed, as in climbing over
that car to place of safety he was nm
able to discover any signs of life with
in. Other cars fell together, and scores
OF persons lay in the wreck, giving
vent to the most frightful means,
which seemingly could be heard for
miles. The fire broke out in three
places almost simultaneously. If wa
ter had been put on the flames, even as
'oeC DO u oCIOCh- SOl1e persons Unat
were burned might have been saved.
Witness did not know whether or not
any order was received from the rail-
road authorities not to put water ON the
burning wreck.
One man leaped from the wreck with
his clothes all ablaze, but he proved
himself stark mad by running with all
his might instead of throwing himself
into the snow. The crowd shouted to
him to throw himself down, and when
he did not obey, some body pushed
him into the snow; but he wasn't to be
defrauded of his horrible death, so he
Jumped up, ran back to the burning
wreck and plunged in. That was the
last ever seen of him.
Miss Mary Birchard of Fayetteville.
VT, cousin of Gov. Hayes, who was
on her way to Elyria, O., to take DOS
session of $4,000 worth of propertv
that had been willed to heYbv the same
uncle that gave the governor most of
his fortune, is among the missing.