The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1877-01-12

man who was trying to scale the pile
Of dtbris. get on 10 coach which
was resting on the edge Of the roof.
The side was so slippery and icy that !
could not walk on il, and so
IcRAwLED ALONG OVER 1T.
The car was dark inside, and oh, what
heart-rending groans issued from IL. II
seemed filled with people who were
dying. Two men, a MIR. Whitc,of Chi
cage, and Mr.. Tyler, Of st. Louis,
helped me down from the end Of the
car. Then | was in the snow up 10 my
knees. Mr.. Tyler was badly gashed
about the race and was covered with
blood You see ito the rcporter) this
stain on my sleeve. That was blood
from his wounds. Right under our
feet lay man, his head down in a hole
and his legs under the corner Of the
car. lie asked us to help him, and MIR.
Tyler and Mr.. White released his legs
somehow and some other men carried
him away. IL was stormIng terribly.
The wind was blowing perfect gale.
"Were you able to see any thing, or
were you still cropping in the dark ?"
asked the reporter.
by this time the whole scene was
lighted up by the burning cars. ! could
see that the bridge had
BROKEN orr EVEN WITH THE ABuT-
MENTs.
The abutmcnts looked as high as Mag
ara. Away above US | could see a
crowd of spectators. Down in the
wreck there was perfect panic. The
people were beside themselves. Some
were SO badly frightened and panic
stricken that they had to be dragged out
Of the cars to prevent their being burn
ed up. l don't want to appear invidi-
Gus, but must say that the women, the
few who were not killed outright, be-
haved more courageously than the men,
as rule.
"Before we got out of the chasm,"
continued Miss Shepard, the whole
train was in blaze. The locomotive,
the cars and the bridge were mixed up
in one undistinguishable mass. From
the burning heap came shrieks and the
most pitiful cries for help l could
hear, far above me, the clangor Of
bells in the village, alarming the
citizens. We climbed up the steep side
OF the gorge, laundering in snow two
feet deep. They took us into an en-
gine-house, where there was big fur
mace fire. The wounded were brought
in and laid on the floor. They were in
iured in every conceivable way. Some
had their legs broken, some had gashed
and bleeding faces, and some were SO
horribly crushed that they appeared 70
be dying. Two ladies-Mrs. Graham,
OF New York, and Mrs. Bingham, OF
Chcago--were laid on the floor. An
other lady, whose name could not
learn, had sustained terrible injuries.
HER BABE, WHICH HAD BEEN CRUSHED,
lay on the floor in another part Of the
room, and its sobs and cries nearly
drove its mother to distraction. She
begged me To lay the child on her
breast, but they would not let me. The
4 clothes on the wounded were frozen
stiff Ii was half hour, / would guess,
before the physicians came.
"After little while, :" said Miss Shep-
ard, "we left the engine-house and
climbed up long, slippery flight Of
stairs, 10 the top Of hill, and were
taken in omnibuses TO hotels and pri-
waite houses. The wounded were well
taken care Of. At the Fiske House,
among the wounded, was Frenchman,
from St. Louis, who, in addition to be.
ing horribly crushed, was unable tc
make himself understood, as there was
no one present who could speak French
There was much talk among thewound
ed about suing the company for dam
ages. A Mr.. Lyon, Of New York, who
wasn't much hurt, said his trunk, with
$4,000 worth Of goods in it, had beer
burned up, and the company would
have 10 make good the loss"
"Did you hear any body censuring
the railroad company" asked the re-
porter.
"Thc people at the hotel told me tha
the bridge had been condemned yea
and half ago. They also said tha
there were several tanks OF water neal
the bridge, and that the hose attached
10 the locomotive which got safely owe
might have been efficiently used 10
ward cxtinguishing the fire below. Th'
railroad men were certainly doing nj
in their power for the relief Of TIL
wounded and the recovery Of the bodie
Of the killed"