The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-01-11
THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
The Horrors Of the Dreadful Affair as
Related by the Fortunate Survivors.

The following is the statement of
Capt. Chas H. Tyler, of st. Louis,
made before the Coroner's Jury;
SETTLEMENT OF CAPT. CHAs H. TYLER.
While the train was At Buffalo he en-
amined the coaches and was satisfied
that fully 200 persons, or 70 more than
the conductor stated on the day previ-
Gus, were on the train. He said he bad
been a captain 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 ~
passengers in his car, named the Pala-
tine. The train was going at the rate
of Is miles an hour when tue beii-rope
snapped, breaking and extiDgulShmg
three of the lamps. Ten seconds later
he felt the coach going into the
river. The car was enveloped in
u ter darkness, and the anguish OF the
moment was horrible in the extreme.
The abyss was passed, the suspense
over, and the terrible crash at the bot
tom came. Across the rear part of the
Palatine fell the City of Buffalo, crush
ing two men in the Palatine, who were
killed. He thought that every person
in the Buffalo was destroyed, as in
climbing over that car to a place of
safety he was unable to discover any
signs of life within. The other Cars fell
together, and scores of persons lay in
the wreck, giving vent to the most
frightful means, which seemed as if
they could be heard for miles. The
fire broke out in three places almost
simultaneously. If water had been put
on the flames even as late as 9, some
persons who were burned might have
been saved. He did not know whether
or not any order was received from the
railroad authorities not to put water on
the burning wreck.
MISS sHEfARp's STATEMENT.
Miss Marion Shepard, of Ripon, Wis,
one of the survivors of the Ashtabula
catastrophe, arrived in Chicago Sunday
afternoon and related her terrible expe-
rience to a Times reporter, from which
the following are extracts. She was an
occupant of the sleeping car Palatine,
and when the first crash came she says
"Some one cried out, We arg going
down. At that moment all the lights
in the car went out 1t was utter dark
ness. stood up in the center of the
aisle. l knew that something awful
was happening, and having had some
previous experience in railroad acct
dents, l braced myself the best
knew how. l felt the ear floor sink
ing from under my feet. The sensa-
ton of falling was very apparent.
thought of great many things, nd
made up my mind that l was going to
be killed. For the first few seconds we
seemed to be dropping in silence.
could hear the other passengers breath
ing Then suddenly the car was fill
ed with flying splinters and dust, and
we seemed breathing some heavy sub
stance. We went down, down-oh, il
was awful. 1t seemed to me that we
had been falling two minutes. The
berths were slipping from their taste
nings and falling upon the passengers,
We heard an awful crash.
As the sound died away we
heard heavy groans all round US. Ii
was as dark as the grave. How fell
lis more than can say. A gentleman
had fallen across me, but we were both
on our feet in a moment. Every one
was scrambling and struggling to get
out. l heard some one say, Hurry
out; the car will be on fire in a minute.
Another man shouted, The water is
coming in and we will be drowned.
The car seemed lying partly on one
side In the scramble q man caught
hold of me and cried out, Help me
don't leave mel A woman cried from
one corner of the car, 'Help me; save
my husband He was caught under q
berth and some seats.
was feeling around in TIE
dark, trying to release him, when
some men at the other end of the car
said they were all right, and would
help the man out. CROPPED along to
Che door, crawling over the heating ar
rangement in getting to it. The fire
had not yet broken out in our car.
While was getting out through the
door the others were climbing out
through the windows. On the left the
cars were in blaze. On the right a
pile of rubbish, as high as l could see,
barred escape. In front of me were
some cars standing on end, or in a
slopiRg position. l followed man
who was trying to scale a pile of
debris. l got on to a coach
which was resting on one edge of the
roof. The side was so slippery and
icy that I could not walk on it, and so
l crawled along over it. The car was
dark inside, and on, what heart-rend-
ing groans issued from it. 1t seemed
filled with people who were dying. Two
men, a Mr.. White, of Chicago, and
Mr.. Tyler, of St. Louis, helped me
down from the end of the car. Then
l was in snow up to my knees. Mr.
Tyler was badly gashed about the face,
and was covered with blood. You see
Ito the reporter) this stain on my sleeve.
That was blood from his wounds
Right under our feet lay man, his
head down in hole, and his legs IN
der the corner of the car.
He asked us to help him, and
Mr.. Tyler and Mr.. White released bis
legs somehow, and some other men
carried him away. 1t was storming
terribly. The wind was blowing a per-
feet gale. By this time the whole scene
y 4 1. 81 sv1r