The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-01-05
A Railroad Horror.

Following close upon the heels Of the
Brooklyn disaster comes another in
which the fire-fend plays conspicu-
Gus part. An express train, composed
of IL cars, on the Lake Shore Railroad
went through bridge near Ashtabula
Station on the evening of the 29th. The
dispatches give the following narrowing
particulars of the frightful catastrophe:
The 1Ti6une's special from Ashtabula
says: The proportions of the Ashtabula
horror are now approximately known.
Daylight revealed nothing save the fact
that two out of every three passengers
on the train are lost. OF l60 whom the
conductor reports as having been on
board, but SO can be accounted for. The
disaster is dramatically complete; no
element of horror is wanting; first the
crash of the bridge, the agonizinR mo-
ment of suspense, as seven laden cars
plunged down the fearful leap to the icy
| river bed, then the fire which came to
devour all that had been left alive by
the crash, then the water which CUR
gled up from under the broken ice and
offered another form of death, finally
the biting blast, filled with snow which
froze and benumbed those who had es-
capped the water and fire. The iron
structure was q single span, I59 feet
long, crossed by double track, 20 feet
above the waters. The descent into
the valley on either side was precipi-
tous, and as the hills slopes are piled
with heavy drifts of snow, there was no
little dit1culty iD reaching the wreck
after the disaster became known.
| q hoS
OF the very best of its kind in the coun-
try, and had been tested with six loco
motives and trains, which had fre-
quently crossed on both tracks, and sim.
ultaneOusly, without causing more thar
a slight DETECTION of the structure. The
disaster occurred shortly before s o. clock
1t was the widest winter night of the
year; the train was moving less thai
ten miles an hour; the head lamp threw
but short dim flash of light in front
so thick was the air with driving snow
The train crept across the bridge, tht
leading engine had reached the soliC
ground beyond, and its driver had jus
given 1T steam, when something in the
under gearing of the bridge snapped
for an instant there was q cracking O
beams and girderS as the whole trail
but the leading engine broke through
the frame work and fell in a heap O
crushed and splintered ruins at the bot
tom. Notwithstanding the wind storu
the crash was heard by people within
doors half mile away. For a momen
there was silence; then arose the erie
{ of the MANNED and suffering. Thos
who remained unhurt hastened to Is
cape from the shattered ears. The,
crawled out of the windows into freez
ing water waist deep Men, womeI
aud children, with limbs broken
bruised, and pinched between timbers
and transfixed by Jagged splinters
( begged with their last breath for al
that no human power could give.
moment later the flames broke from th
: smoking and the baggage cars, and tn
/ first coach piled across the other nea
the middle of the stream. In less tha
ten minutes after the catastrophe ever
t car in the wreck was on fire aud tn
e flames, fed by the dry vanished worE
licked up the ruins as though they ha
been tinder. The destruction was s
e swift that men who, in the bewildel
t ment of the shock, sprang off an
reached solid ice, and then went bac
again after their wives and children
e found them suffocating and roasting i
: the flames Neighbors resident, star
led by the crash, were lighted to the seer
by the contiagration which made eve
!, their prompt assistance too late. B
q midnight the cremation was completed
The storm had subsidized, but the win
blew very cold, even more intense.
e AS the bridge fell, the driver of tt
l. locomotive in front had given it quic
head of steam, which tore the dra
head from its tender and liberated Il
l. engine which shot forward and burit
IF itself in the snow; the other lOcomotiv
was drawn backward by the falliI
train, and tumbled over the pier al
d fell, bottom upward, on the express CT
,r next behind. Engineer Folsom escape
with broken leg. There is no deaf
ie list to FePort; there can be none unit
the list of missing ones who travelled /
h the Lake Shore road, on Friday,
70 made up. There are no remains tn
:, can ever be identified. Three charre
III shapeless Jumps were recovered up
noon to-day, but they are beyond 6
r hope of recognition. For the rest, the
- are piles of white ashes, in which gil
" ten crumbling particles of calcin,
s. bones; in other places, masses of blat
pt charred debris, half under water, whit
may contain fragments Of bodies, b
nothing of human semblance. It
E. thought there may be a few corps
ed under the ice, as there were women al
n. children who sprang into the water 81
sank, but none are thus far recovere
g. DR.. A. H. Washburne, rector of Gra
8. Episcopal Church, Cleveland, who we
- on board the train at Erie, cannot no
. be found. Thirty of the survivor
ne many of them wounded, were taken
E. Cleveland. The front of the car W
lg much lower than the rear, and Il
ID flames in front began to eat upward al
- spread with great rapidity. A lar
gang of men have gone down to Gle
Iy away the wreck and prepare for thro,
of ing a temporary bridge across Il
- chasm. 1t will be ten days before Il
te road will be opened again.