The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1877-01-12

bridge was feared by employees. Up
at the hotel l heard some of the rail
road men express themselves as hav
ing always been fearful of the
bri ige, and one who had passed
over it two hours before the acct
dent, said 1t occurred to him that
the bridge was too light.
ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
Charles S. Carter, of Brooklyn, N
Y, says he was sitting III the palace
car, with three others, engaged in q
friendly game of cards. Suddenly
be heard the window glass In the
forward part Of the car breaking,
aud almost instantly the car began
70 fall. He was seated with his
back toward the front. and as he
went down be sat a. quiet as he
could and held on. When the Car
struck at the bottom of the ravine,
he found himself almost unhurt, al
though one of the gentlemen play
ing with him, whose name he did
not know, was killed instantly
while the other, Mr.. Shepard, OF
New York, had leg broken. Gar
Ter says that the front of the car
was much lower than the rear, and
that the flames in the front began to
eat their way upward and spread
with great rapidity. He turned to
the assistance of Mr., Shepard, and
with great difficulty succeeded in
getting him out, the broken leg i'm
peding their advance. When Shep-
ard was fairly out, Carter returned
to the assistance of q woman, who
was calling for help at the front of
the car. He got her out, and as che
was quite thiniy clad, he gave her
his Overcsat. After reaching q ho-
tel he found hi nself severely bruised
in several places. In this great per-
ii of the hour, a man rushed down
to the scene of the disaster ready TO
help. He saw a woman struggling
for life, and went to her assistance
He carried her by main force to the
solid ice, and then urged by the
cries of the mother, went back to the
rescue of the daughter, sweet child
of or 4 years of age. The treach-
erour wood. in spliatering, had
caught the child in It's grasp, and the
fire completed the horrible work.
The man was compelled to see the
child enveloped in flame, to hear
"Help me, mother !" ringing out in
the agonies of death and on the ears
of the cruel night. In q moment
she was lost, swept up by the sharp
tongues of fire, while her mother, in
hopeless agony, fell to earth in a
deadly swoon.
CAPTAIN CHARLES II. TYLER,
of st. Louis, a commission merchant.
He had his face terribly bruised and
his right hand injured. He was in APP
pearance and in his answers exceed
ingly intelligent. While the train was
at Buffalo he examined the coaches,
and was satisfied that fully 200 per-
sons, seventy more than the conduc-
tor stated on the day previous, were
on the train. Mr.. Tyler said ne had
been a captain of steamboats, on the
Mississippi river for twenty-tour years
and was competent to judge of the
number on beard from experience.
He had also travelled a great deal.
Several card parties were formed just
before the accident occurred. The
train was going at the rate of fifteen
miles an hour when the bell-rope
snapped, breaking and extinguishing
three of the lamps. Ten seconds later
he felt the coach going into the river.
The car was enveloped IN utter dark
ness. The anguish of the moment was
horrible in the extreme. The abyss
was passed, the suspense over, and the
terrible crash at the bottom came
Across the rear part of the "Palatine"
fell the getty of Buffalo," crushing
two men, all in the "Palatine" who
were killed. Witness thought every
person in the "City of Buffalo" WAS
destroyed, as in elm bling over that Car
to a place of safety he was unable to
discover any signs of life within. The
others fell together, and scores OF per-
sons lay on the wreck, giving vent to
the most frightfnl means, which seem
ed as if they could be heard for miles.
The fife broke out in three places al
most simultaneously. If water bad
been put on the flames even as late as
8 o'clock some persons that were
burned might have been saved. Did
not know whether or not any order
had been received from the railroad
authorities not to put water on the
burning wreck.
FOSTER e. SWIFT,
hotel proprietor at North Adams, Mass,
was also in the Palatine, and cnrrobO-
rates the statement of Captain Tyler.