Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-01-05

suy.rate. have two Of their tickets her,
with me. I am certain at any rate tina;
got OF at Silver Greek Tue number o.
passengers who got on tue -traiH at SiIvel
Greek, I think. was 2. The day NJ
stormy that We did not do any lscal busi
ness. The two Who got on at Silver Creek
only went to Dunkirk Our next stop wa,
at Dunkirk, where IA passengers got on
besides the two who got on az Silver
Creek-making 16 in all who got Of the
train at Dunkirk. One passenger got on
at Dunkirk for Ashtabuls. There we're 10
persons in all Nho got on the train at Dun
KIRK. Our next: stop was at Broeton.
There we're 10 persons who got OF from
the train at Brocton; and none got on
the train at that pOiut Oar next stop
was At North East. where 5 persons get
Of from the train und 3 got on. Our
next stop was At Erie. where u passengers
got Of from the train and passengers
GOT on. The next stop was at Girard,
where got Of from the train and none
got on. This was the last stop / have here
ali the tickets that were taken up on the
train; and the only way in which I can
get at the rest Of the number Offt1e pas
senRers is by estimation. took up all
the through tickets, giving my checks for
those which ! took up. have no record
Of passengers for points west Of Cleveland.
do not know how many checks issued.
I did not count the passengers at any time
after leaving Buffalo. The ordinary coach
will hold abort 81 or 56, or somewhere In
that region. The coaches on that train
were not very well filed. Several of the
b seats we're empty Travel now Is very
light On leaving Erie the tram was
thinly filed, as It was all the way through
We had only coaches and q smoking car
on the train, and drawing room and
'sl4epers. I dio not state to any persou
Immediately af;er the accident, that We
had nearly 400 passengers- / may have
stated to some one that We had about 16O.
was In the rear end Of the smoking car,
next to the draving-rOOm car, at the time
Of the accident. There we're only cash
paying passengers who are net counted in
the above statement-One from Buffalo
and one from Dnnkirk. As ] have figured
upi there were about 127 to 131 passen-
gets on the train at the time Of the acci--
dent-should call il 127 as nearly a. ] can
tell, though figuring shows 131 besides
employees and children. There were only
eash-paying passengers going beyond
Ashtsbula one from D1nkirk and one
from Buffalo. My tickets do not show
any passengers going beyond Cleveland.
The first notice l had of anything wrong
with the train when we appro lched Ash
tsbula-I was standing in the rear ead of
the smoking car-suddeuly one of the men
with whom l was talking said, ''We are
of the track first grabbed the door
knob and the bell-rope, aud tipped over
backward, as was facing east at the time
was doubled up. and something hit me,
somewhere The stove went by me, aud
something else went by with g crash on
the other side. Handed about the center
of the car; and everything seemed to he
splintered mp. One side Of the car was
open. I tried to climb mp, and slipped
back twice, and becsme faint. Am told
that Mr.. Reed pulled me ont. When /
got out, on top Of the car, the air revived
me. The roof Of the car seemed whole
then. There was no car on top of the car
when I got out, but it may have been on
top Of another car. don3 know where
the car lay when / got ont. hallOoed,
" For Gods sake, SOMEBODY put ont the
fire." The fire was then burning at two
or three different points and the car 1
was in was on fire before got out.
When / first knew snything, after l got
out, it may possibly have been two or three
minutes before saw the fire. went up
on top of the bank. There was another |
train coming, and that was in my mind. |
hallooed to somebody TO stop that train. |
Some one helped me up. them went down |
again to the wreck, and took an ak and |
tried to break open the drswing-room car,
but some man took the ak from me. / got /
on top Of the drawing-roOm car, but the /
fire drove me back. Some man who was /
with me looked in, and said he could not |
see any person in the car, and thought |
there was no one in it. After this fell in
to the creek, and some one helped me out, |
and helped me up the bank again. Before
left the wreck the fire was blazing out
largely Hll over; and ! was there but a
short time. l don't know of any orders at
all about putting out the fire. | did not
see any fire apparatus or anything Of the
kind. When l left, heard few persons
crying or hallOOing from the wreck. Don't
know how many were taken out or left. l
do not known anything about the con-
dition of the bridge previous to the acci-
lent. except that it was an iron bridge, and
N n - it well spoken Of At the time
seIior at Laent, when asked about the
Acknowledgements, said about 16O.-
s.l,lfs o Ine sSdssssg car, think, was heated by
:. at each end; the other cars
FeIe heated by hot water, with furnace
lext the door IL each car for heating the
Velter. They were Baker & Smith heaters,
nth sheet-irOn around them. The stoves
n the smoking car were our regular style
II wood stoves for cars. No other car but
he smoking car was heated by wood stoves,
o fHr as l know. Am not certain that
here were no stoves in any other ear. At
he time Of the accident Was either stand
Rg or sitting in the rear end OF the smok-
Rg car, which-was the fifth car from the
ear. There were II cars in all on the
rain. The Company furnishes blanks for
making up my report of the train. l have
lot yet made out my regular report of the
rain. | carry duplicate in my pocket,
efone making out the regular report. Be-
ore felt the fall, the crash and break and
yerything seemed to come all together, !
Tithout second Of time between. On ,
saving Buffalo, the Louisville sleeper had
passengers on that train; and i. has not
versged over in the last month. The
ext car had 18 passengers, the next le, !
nd the drawing-room car 8. The last time |
went through the cars before reaching !
was after leaving Girard. /
eRt through from the front end of the |
ain. As nearly as | can tell, there were 4
that time in the first coach pot over % t
! 30 passengers. Don't remember how +
lany double seats there were in the car, '
ut there we're 30 or 35 at any rate. Don't c
liuk over one passenger to a seat. In the 10
ext coach there were about 25 passengers. {
! the smoking car don't think there .
ere then more than Is or 16, or there t
BOUTS. We always havetO have on start | 3
e out from Buffalo, generally two coach Q
:; but the sleeping cars run anyway. We E
dn't drop the unnecessary ear at Erie, be- I
Iuse it was in the tpsin and might be s
anted. Don't remember that / went !,
trough any Of the sleeping carson the u
rawing- esE4this side of Girard, "A
low it is tha,eustom to THRt7sIhNsG so many y
eeping cars anyway, whether there are t
or not; but this is something q
ave nothing to do with. After the aeci- i
ent did not tell anybody here that the t
'aches were all full. Ny estimate Of pas I
myers, as above given, includes alllthe
on the train, so far as | know. a
figured it out as closely as possible. e,
axe, up my memorandum on the train | b
tes eounting the passengers, and make II
. my regular report from this memoran- v
lic. If any person had got on the train II
is side Of Buffalo, with ticket for some n
)int vest of Cleveland, this count which "
E have made, as above, might or night bl
It show II, according to the nature of the AT
cket. The speed of the train as We an an
haA h, 4