Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-01-05

nearly every car. The alarm was quickly
given, and soon as possible the fire depart
ment OF A~htabula was ON its way TO the
scene of the dissster. Friday's storm had
been so severe at Ashtabula that very few
business places wero kept open after four
or five o'clock, and there was, therefore,
considerable delay in getting relief meas
uros organized. Aid from Cleveland was
at once telegra2hed for, and a train was
sent out with surgeons, stieichors and 9th
or appliances for tho relief of the victims.
The train was drawn by two engines, but
it was two hours in making 80 miles on ac-
count Of the snow on the track.
The seven passenger coaches altogether
contained about lGj adults besides a num-
Der Of children. In the drawing-room car
bound for Cleveland were nine persons, all
OF whom are supposed TO have persisted by
drowning or fire. In the two sleepers
bound for Chicago were ihirty-fiye passen-
gers. Most of those in the forward car
were saved with injuries more or less Sc
we're. Frank Belknar, who was one OF the
earliest at the scene, says that the piteous
cries for help from all the victims were
tHOuSi " ulsllbtA Aut stuultNl uGdll lltIt
was young and finely dressed girl of about
ten years Of age, struggling in vain to re-
lease her hips from tie weight which was
crushing her slender form, aud close be-
hind her were the flames shooting out their
fOrked tongues, and in another instant they
had wrapped her in their furious embrace.
Near by was a gentleman of middle age
oil In Epll npri,Ybi in Lie npnl,ln In
oxtricutc himself. There were dead bod
les floating out from the wreck and others
were attempting 10 make their way to the
shnie. y crowd soon made their way 10
The burning debris, aud with axes aud ropes
many were cxtricated and placed on
stretcheis aud taken To- the top Of tho bill
where assistance awaited them. The hotels
al the depot were som filled. and private
houses were thrown open throughout the
town. The surgeons OF the town rendered
all the assistance in their power, but many
persisted, Notwithstanding the hes of care,
during The might.
GRAPHIC SKETCH OF THE TERRIBLE
TRAGEDY.
The New York Times despatch says:
The disaster was dramatically complete /;
no element of horror was waiting. First,
the crash Of the bridge, the aGonizing mo-
meuls Of suspense rs the seven laden cars
plunged down tn the icy bed Of the river !;
then came the fire 10 destroy all who had
been left alive by the crash the water CUR
gej up from beneath the ice and offered
another form If death, aud finally the Bit
t,,.. IL. Iul "a I, a l.
nnmbed those who had escaped water and
lire. Ii was an ideal tragedy. Tho scene
of tho accident WAS tue valley OF The creek
which flowing down past the eastern mar
gin of AshtaGula village, passes under the
railway 200 or 400 yards east of the station.
Here for many years after the Lake Shore
Road was built there was long wooden
treste work, but when The road was i'm
proved, about ten years ago, this was SUI
perscded with an iron Howe truss, built at
the Cleveland shops, ard resting at either
end upon high stoue piers, nanked by
heavy earthen entertainments. The iron
structure was a single span or 1853 feet,
crossed by Il double track, 20 feet above The
wafer, which at that point is from three to
six feet deop, and covered with eight inches
of ice. The descent 10 the valley on either
side is PERCEPTIONS, and as tho hills and
slopes are piled with heavy drifts
of snow there was no little difficulty
in reaching the wreck amer the disaster be-
came known.
The bridge has been regarded as one of
very best of its Kind in the country. 1t
has been tested with six locomotives, and
trains frequently crossed on both tracks
simultaneously without causing more than
slight detection of the structure. 1t was
intended 10 be as strong as iron and mason-
ry could make it, and ii requireda sight of
the wreck TO convince the Chief Engineer
of the road that the bridge had fallen I'M
der the weight of a single train. The Gisas-
ter occurred shortly before eight o'clock.
1t was the coolest winter night of the year.
Three hours behind its time, the Pacific ex-
press, which had left New York the eve
ming before, struggled along through the
drills and the binding storm. The eleven
cars were heavy burden for the two en-
| gines, and when The leading locomotive
broke through the drifts beyond the ravine
and rolled on across the bridge, the train
was moving at less than len miles an hour
The head lamp threw but short and dim
flash Of light in front, SO thick was the air
with the driving snow. The train crept
across the bridge. The leading engine had
reached the solid ground beyond, and its
driver had just given il steam, when some
thing in the undergearing of the bridge
snapped. For an instant there was a con-
fused cracking of beams and girders, end
ing with tremendous crash as the whole
train, except the leading engine, broke
through the framework and fell in heap
Of crushed and splintered ruins at the hot
tom. Notwithstanding the wind aud storm
the crash was heard by people indoors half
mile away. For moment there was ST.
lenee, a stunned sensation among the sur
vivors, who, in all stages of mutlatlon, lay
piled among the dying and The dead. The
few who remained unhurt fastened to es-
| cape from the shattered cars. They crawled
out into freezing water waist deep. Men
women and children with limbs bruised
and broken, pinched between timbers, and
transhxed by jagged splinlers, begged with
their last breath for aid that no human pow-
er conld give.
Five minutes amor the train fell, the fire
broke out In the cars piled against the abut-
ments at either end. A moment later
flames broke from the smoking car and
and first coach, piled across each other near
the middle of the stream. In less than len
minures after the catastrophe every car in
The wreck was on FIRE, aud the flames fed
by the dry, vanished woodwork and fam
ned by the icy gale, consumed the ruins as
Though they had been Under Men who in
The bewilderment of the shock sprang out
! and reached the solid ice, went hack afier