The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1877-02-08

people, jammed together, screaming oDd
crying for help. There was anotbaa
man behind me, and both tried tn bnI-
me along, but was too slippery and r
found could do better crawling aIora
by myself When we got to the end %
the car these men-Mr. Taylor, Of g.
Louis, and Mr.. White, of Chicago-baln
ed me down. When I got down fonnd
myself in the water, snow and ice nm -
nay knees Mr.. Tyler was bleedinn
about the head, and face and hands VIII
a dreadful cash over his eyes NJ
White was unhurt, and told me it wos
his eighth railroad accident. Under +bo
corner there was a man whose head Low
lower than the rest of his body, and bis
limbs were all crushed by the car. h
asked US to help him, and we did ~ 9.
best we could, until others came and oar
ried him away, suffering intensely, ydo
not know who he was. All this time tbo
Ashtabula fir9-bells and the bell Of tho
engine that had passed over were rino-
ing furiousIy. The binding snow fell
around us, Illuminated by the light Of
the fire which had attacked the wrcck
The banks looked as high as those near
Niagara, at first. The bridge had broken
off short at each end, leaving NOTHING
but the abutment. By this time there
were plenty of men around to helm us
but there was
PERFECT PANIC,
very few having any presence of mind at
all, many who could have saved them
selves as well as not had to be dragged
out of the cars; or they would have
been burned to death. The women
really showed tie most courage. and vet
there were few Of them saved. We were
helped up the hill to the engine-h house
pushing through the snow and ice, and
climbing up the steep, rugged banks of
the creek. The injured were brought
in, some Of them horribly mangled, but
very few of them unable to speak. There
we're three ladies there-a Mrs. Graham.
of New York, Mrs. Bingham, of Chicago,
another lady, and myself. My escape
was most remarkable, my only injury be-
ing no more than a scratch upon my
wrist. Mrs. Graham was only slightly
injured. Mrs. Bingham had her left leg
and spine hurt, and the other lady, whose
name | don't know, was also terribly
injured,
Before we had got up the hill the
whole train was on fire; we heard the
OF THE WOUNDED AND DYING,
and the whole scene was as bright as day.
Men were working as hard as they could
to help the sufferers out of their fiery
prison. A physician came in about half
an hour, and we took buses and went to
the village. We we're drenched through
and through, and our clothes froze to us.
| was taken to the Fisk house. Three
men we're brought in badly wounded,
one Of them, a Frenchman from St.
Louis, most horribly. Nobody around
there could speak French, and we could
not learn his name. He mOaned most
piteously all the while.
Our car, the Palatine, was better pre-
served after the fall than any of the rest.
The others we're mass Of splinters, iron,
pieces of glass, etc, and fragments and
sections of the bridge were all mixed in
with the cars. There was no assistance
whatever from the fire department, but
[ was told that there were tanks of
water there at the engine-hOuse which
could have been used by the fre-engine,
and we wondered why they were not
Used. only saw one of the company's
officers there, but he was doing every
hing he could to assist the wounded.
Our car was the third from the last,
md, from the easy way it fell, judge it
vas fairly on the bridge and fell with it.
The last car fell down endwise, the rear
md resting on the abutment. think
he second car was the one | climbed
,ver, and think everybody init must
rave persisted.