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

time of the accident. Did not hear the con-
ductor say that night anything about the
number Of passengers he had on the train,
though heard an expression from the con-
ductOr Of the sleeping-cars in reference to the
smoker; he said ''On account of the storm we
have been Eeeping on every thing we could,
put when we get out here little ways we
snail take on a smoker
To Mr.. sherman: There was a sleeping car
oehlnd, which they said was a Cincinnati
SdI, Whlcn dfd not go in; there must have
oeen four sleeperS with that. and a palace car
a. supposed, though ! did not mind any,
Sriiis "a, apou. TINS sleeper being on behind.
W "liu lhefe was an engine behind US:
there were Two coaches and "a sTnoker went
into On!y one ofthe coaches, and Thought thar
was nor quite SO Wen filled as the smoker /:
my ATTENTION was called 20 the number in the
smoker directly from the fact that | was tTv-
ing 10 md Vacan seat; and had no occasion
particularly 10 notice the number in the 9TH
er car; so do not wish to be understood thar
would be correct in my estimate of The
number of persons in the other cars
Daniel Mcclure called aud sworn. and testified
as follows; l reside in Erie. am eng ged a.
locomotive engineer, on the L. 5. NJ = road.
Erie division. and WAS so engaged on the night of
the 29-h, oi December last. on the engine SOcrarer
train No 5, going west This was the train to
which the accident happened. We left Erie al
about O'Clock p. m. as nearly ] can tell
Th"Fe were two locomotives on he train; | Could
not tell what other cars there were, of my own
knowledge The engine Socrates was ahead; my
fireman was James Hunt. who lived In Erie. The
engine next behind me was the Columbia. the
engineers name waS G. D. 3. Folsom. and hiS
nreman : name was Peter LiventrOe who lives in
Cleveland. 7 he only thing I know about the
bridge was. as / was within two car lengths of
heing across he bridge; an average car length il
about iorty feel. shOlld think | heard Che
brit ge snap. a. supposed; pulled my trOtfle olit
and looked back and saw the engine C,iIum 81.
sink; then the COlumbia's draw-bar brpke. N =
engine run uD maybe one hundred and dfy fef.;
from the Hbuiment be ore 1 got her stOpped; be-
lore hearing that cracking which spoke Of
think there was part of the train of the track
] did not feel any jar or anything which would iu
dcate that anY car OF any part of car OFF The
track Ny tender did settle but | coull not say
how much; it srttl d so that when | was pulling
up IL did not strike the track. and INV tender
trucks came up and did not strike the rail. Il was
of the track; there are four pairs of wheels to a
tender; the whole Of the tender went with the
bridge, and swung with {; did not notice ary
humping or thumping.O Of the tender against the
ahlfDeDt until drew the Columbia up against
the abulment; and with the jar Of the Columbia
going against the allT5Rrut the train almost stop
ped; the train dropped down car EteF CAR very
slowly. ] might perhaps Of been more yearly
over the bridge than ! sAid hut thar II g. nearfT
as | could judge; should think the bridge gave
way somewhere near the center or this side of the
center; alter got across, and before the whole
train went Jwn into the gulf, the 'ime was not
OyeTa minu' Z; there a great crash: after stop
ping my engine jumped of and ran up to the
crossing ana sci eamed that the whole train was
off, and down with the bridge; then I went dOwd
to where engineer Folsom lay, OF sat up. next TO
the abutment; at that time when I reachtd the
wreck, cannot describe the position of the
wreck, or of any of the cars, a. l was 80 excited
AT that time there was fire / the nd car hl "
ing up pretty light hut could not tell now far II
had advanced on that car; there was fire in an
other car ahead. bur it had not broken ont yet
through the top: il was hut a very few rlinutes
before it was all in h1mes; after got down there
could hardly tell how long il was before any fire
broke out near the Locomotive; but IL was hut a
very short timei did not go NJ to the telegraph
office, but went and halOsd TO Mr. Manning. or
some othei man, and he went and tapped the bell;
and then went Immediately down 10 the VT ok;
cannot tell how long remained al the wreck: Tor
was wet through. and so nearly played out thet
l did not look at the time; remained there as long
a. | could do anything; when got up the hill /
can't tell what time it was, for did not look at
my witch, remained until all the persons wee
taken out alive; when left, the wreck was all in
a flame, but could not say how near iL was TO
being all consumed; should think | remained on
the fats perhaps two or three hours. from the
time when first arrived there. until the time
when the last persons We're taken out alive
could not say how long this time was: when
left large crowd had gatherd there; don't
know whether the Fire Department had ar
rived or not when 1 came up the hill didn't
see any of the fire department. From the
time when l discovered the fire in the hind
car until the fire reached the west abut-
ment could not have been over twenty to
thirty minutes at the outside. After arrived
at the wreck could not say anything how long
/ was until the last person was taken out of
the wreck alive, that know of, for l had too
much else to think Of without looking at the
time or thinking about it. Left my engine as
Ong as I could do anything below, for l
knew she was perfectly safe for an hour at
my rate, as she could not blow up while there
was water in her. The engineer of the other
locomotive, whom 1 found near the abut-
nent, got out by himself, or at anyrat don't
know how he got out. When / reached the
wreck l could not see more than three or
our persons don't know whether they eS-
,aped from the wreck or whether they came
lOwn there: don't know when Mr. Swift
,ame up the hill from the engine-house nor
when Capt. Tyler did, don't know either of
he gentlemen. The rate of speed at which
We were running at the time Of the accident, |
Is nearly as 1 could guess was ten miles an
lOur. any part Of the train had Jumped
he track, before the accident, I would have
elt the Jerk, the jump back. No part of the |
rain could have jumped the track at any |
ime before the accident without my feeling it |
md knowing it
In the case of a storm, perhaps might not i
lOtice it so quick, but at any ordinary time ! |
would notice it instantly-WOuld feel it.