The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-01-05

car would be on fire in minute, and we
must hurry out. Another said, "The
water is coming in and we will be
drowned" On my way out, a perfectly
uninjured man grabbed me as i CROPPED
nay way along on hands and knees, and
said: "Oh, help me; don't leave me;
save me" and ever so many such things
as that, but couldn't see his face. A
woman wanted me to help her husband
who was jammed in between the
floor and q berth. / tried to get
him out. but could not. Some
men called out and said they
would come and help him. Then went
to the door, walking over the furnace in
my course. There was no fire caught in
our car. How to get out alive could
not imagine. The cars around me were
either ablaze or covered with such masses
of rubbish AS to almost completely hem
me in. But saw q man climbing up
the rubbish, and followed him. got
on to the side of the car, which had
turned over, and crawled along on il. 1t
seemed to be filed with people, jammed
together, screaming and crying for help.
| There was another man behind me, and
both tried to help me along, but it was
too slippery, and / found i could do
better crawling along by myself. When
we got to the end of the car these mem
Mr.. Tyler, of st. Louis, and Mr.. White,
of Chicago-helped me down. When
got down found myself in the water,
snow, and ice up to my knees. Mr..
Tyler was bleeding about the head, face
and hands, with dreadful cash over
his eye. Mr.. White was unhurt, and
told me it was his eighth railroad acct
dent. Under the corner there was
man whose head lay lower than the rest
of his body, and his limbs were all
crushed by the car. He asked us to
help him, and we did so as best we
could, until others came and carriee
him away, suffering intensely. do not
know who he was. Ali this time the
Ashtabula fire-bells and the bell of the
engine that had passed over were ring
ing furiously. The binding snow fell
around us, illuminated by the light of
the fire which had attacked the wreck.
The banks looked as high as
those near Niagara, at first. The
bridge had broken off short at each
end, leaving nothing but the abut-
ments. by this time there were plenty
of men around to help us, but there was
perfect panic, very few having any
presence of mind at all. Many who
could have saved themselves as well as
not had to be dragged out of the cars,
to they would have been burned to
death. The women really showed the
most courage, yet there were few of
them saved. We were helped up the
hill to the engine house, pushing through
the snow and ice, and clambering up the
steep, rugged banks of the creek. The
injured were brought in, some
of them horribly mangled, but very
few of them unable to speak.
There were four ladies there-a
Mrs. Graham, of New York, Mrs. Bing-
ham, of Chicago, another lady, and
myself. My escape was most remarka-
BILE, my only injury being no more than
scratch upon my wrist. Mrs. Graham
was only slightly injured. Mrs. Bing-
ham had her left leg and spine hurt,
and the other lady, whose nane don't
know, was also terribly injured.
Before we had got up the hill the
whole train was on fire; we heard the
shrieks of the wounded and dying, and
the whole scene was bright as day.
Men were working as hard as they could
to help the sufferers out of their fiery
prison. A physician came in about half
an hour, and we took buses and went to
the village. We were drenched through
and through, and our clothes frozen 10 us.
The Heroic Porter.
Jerry Stewart, the porter of the sleeper
Palatine," says he was near the state
was running, at the time of the accident.
The first thing he knew was the snap
ping of the bell cord. Then the forward
part of the Car struck on the ties. The
car ahead of her had then left her, and
the trucks had left her. She was the
first sleeper next the engine and the
third from the rear. Directly she
plunged forward on the bridge and went
down through the bridge. The "Pala-
tine" fell on the parlor- car and smashed
through it. They could not find any
one that came out of that parlor-car.
My car, he continued, fell on her side,
and the two sleepers behind fell by
themselves. That IS what saved those
sleeping-car passengers.
There were four passengers in the
parlor-car, man and his wife and two
children. There were besides the porter,
| Charley Kane, of Cleveland, and the
sleeping conductor, Harry Wagner,
of Syracuse. There were, as 1 counted
them, twenty-five passengers in my Car.
After we struck, shouted to my pas
sengers: "All Of you get out of these
upper windows. All of them, as far as
l know, got out. I helped an old gen.
tleman cut of the window and got
out myself and went up the en-
bankment. I turned around and
went back to help q woman out of