The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1877-01-11
VIRGINIA, JANUARY II. 1877.
cars, the br, saking of the bridge being in con
sequence of tSl,c heavy pounding thus created

cars, the br. saking of the bridge being in con
sequence of .l,c heavy pounding thus created
n REsC UING THE SUFFERERS.
Another ca se was that of a young lady
who was fasten ed in the wrecked tmDers
up to her waist Halt Il dozen stalwart men
had responded to her appeal for helr, but
their joint efforts Tor some moments prom
ised to be unayailinrg- The fire that was "a
pidly advancing tow xrd her rendered her al
most frantic, and She screamed to the men
to persist in their efforts 10 rescue her. She
was finally dragged for tl,- her clothing from
her waist down and her shoes and stockings
being torn from her, and in this way she
waded knee deep in snow 10, nearly Hall
mile to place of safety.
Another incident was that of a man VINO
escaped from the wreck with his clothes all
ablaze, and ran Us if mad. The crowd on
1.-the bank yelled to him to throw himself INTO
4 the snow, but he took no heed, and then
Esome one shouted to those near linn to knock
4 him down. He was showed down, but, rising
instantly, turned his face towasd the burn
ing wreck. plunged into it, and was lt'st. IL
was a case of utter frenzy.
THE AUTHOR OF HOLD THE FORT Krra LED.
A telegram received here from Mr.. On. l..
Moody, Of Chicago. asks the President Of Nthe
Young Mems Christian Association to- obts IL
and forward the remains of Mr.. c. P. Bliss
the evangelist and author of Hold the Forth
! who, with his wife and children, were on Tho,
| Inflated train. Diligent search has been
| made, but no trace OF the bodies can be
found No one here knew Mr.. Bliss OF his
OF the train they were in. They are either
burned up or included among the IN -ecog-
nized dead.
A reporter of the Cleveland Leader was
sent to Eric, Penn, to interview Daniel Nc
CURE, engineer of the leading locomot.'y
train and escaped the fate of the other engihNe
and cars. He is the only unhurt man whtp
saw the whole of the affair, and under the
most favorable circumstances. Mr.. Mcclure
| states that his engine was ahead of the Co.
lumbia. All stations between Erie and Ash
| toUukh3 hith tHC CACCpGlOl VI UIlEcG, WcIC
| stopped at. The train was running slow at
the time Of the accident. He felt the bridge
give way when two car lengths from the
| west end. He felt it settle down. lie had |
his hand OIL the throttle, and pulled it wide |
open. The drawbar connecting the engines |
was snapped by the sudden jerk. The trucks
of his water tank did not clear and settle
down, but the opening wide of the throttle
saved the engine, and the trucks were pull
ed on. He ran up tie track 100 yards, and |
| gave the alarm by repeated whistles and |
ringing of the bell. lie saw the engine Co.
lumbia sink with the bridge and turn bottom
upward. The express, baggage, and passen-
ger cars followed in heap, the passenger
cars landing on the express cars. All went !
into the river. The fire first broke out in |
the last sleeper, which swung over to one |
side and was soon in blaze. In two or |
three minutes the entire wreck was a mass
of flames. The shriets of the living and the
groans Of the dying were terrible to hear;
but their voices were soon hushed as the
flames embraced them. He further says:
II was one Of the first at the wreck. !
pulled several out Of the ice, and helped to |
extricate some from the debris. One wo-
man was pinned down by her legs on |
burning car. file cries for help were piteons
and in despair, as the flames circled around
her, she shrieked: take an axe and cut off
my legs!' But it was impossible to reach |
her and she was consumed. The paint on |
the burning cars snapped like powder, scar
ing many workmen. I can not estimate the
number burned, but think 100 persisted by
flame and water. Many were killed out
| right. A husband and wife in the burning
wreck were held down by distractions, and
calmly awaited their fate. Their lips moved
as if i'll prayer. Neither pen nor tongue can
describe the horror of the scene. In, 20 min
utes after the fire started it was impossible
to extricate passengers.
The engineer of the Columbia, ''Pap'' Fol-
som, Of Cleveland, says his engine turned
bottom upward He was thrown violently
through the window of the cab, and was
badly cut. Mcguire helped pick him up,
bruised and bleeding. His first words were,
sAnother Angola horror, DAM The train
was running at the rate Of ten miles an hour
at the time. The bridge was considered
safe. Passenger train No. 8, with two en-
| gines, had passed safely oyer it about
O'Clock. His train struck the bridge at 1882.
| He thinks frost AMI weather and the heavy
train snapped:the bridge. Six engines had
tested the bridge without straining it. At
the time of the accident the storm was at its
height. He could not see two cars length
ahead OF his engine, and this rendered it
next to impossible to give immediate assist
| ance.
HOW GREATER HORROR WAS AvERTED.
Mr.. Mcclure thinks no one would have es-
capped from the doomed train had not his en-
CINE been saved, thus enabling him to give
the alarm. Terrible, indeed, would it have
been had the Socrates gone over in the blind
ing, furious storm. No one would have
known Of the disaster, and the next train
due at Ashtabula would perhaps have shared
the same fate and been thrown into the riv-
er. He has been in the service of the com.
pany since 1853, and never saw such storm
before.
Enthusiastic Democrats are in the llab it
of crediting Mr.. Tildsn with a half million
majority on the popular vote. In point Of
fact, his majority on the popular vote, as far
as ascertained, is l56,56l. 1t is needless to
say that without the excessive niajorities Civ
en- him in nine Southern States he would be
in Il pitiablc minority. Arkansas gives him
10000 in round numbers. Georgia $4,000,
Kentucky G., 900, Mississippi 60, 900, Missouri
$4,000, North Carolina 1900, Tennessee
$4,000, Texas $4,000 and Virginia A, 900; Til
denis aggregate majority in the above named
States is 457, o00 If we add Maryland 10 ,000,
Delaware 1000. West Virginia $4,000, we
find that r;lGen's majority in She late slave
| holding STATES is 4S9 OO0--verv nearly Iolf