Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-01-05
HORRIBLE RAILROAD DISASTER.

. TRAIN FALLS THROUGH A BRIDGE IN
OHIO-THE CARS CONSUMED BY FIRE
ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN LIVES
LOsT-GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE
ACCIDENT.
SC, &C, sc.
On Friday night last a passenger train
containing ia passengers just after leav-
the station at Ashtabula, Ohio, fell
through an iron bridge Sc venty feet high
into the water. The following dispatch
to the Cleveland sLeader' gives a graphic
picture of the scenes and events on SaJur-
day:
THE VALLEY OF DEATH.
The haggard dawn which drove the
darkness out Of this valley of the shadow
of death seldom saw a ghastller sight than
was revealed with the coming OF the morn
ing. On either side of the ravine frowned
the dark and bare arches from which the
II eacherous tinbers had fallen, while at
their base the great heaps of ruins covered
the hundred men, wOnen and children who
had SD suddenly beer called to death. The
charred bodies lay where they a been
placed in the hurry and confusion OF the
night. Piles of iron lay on the thick ice
or imbedded in the shallow water Of the
stream. The fires smouldered in great
heaps where many of the helpless victims
had been consumed, while men went about
in wild excitement seeking some trace OF
a lost one among the " ounded or dead.
On the arrival Of the Cleveland train the
surgeon of the road organized a corps of
assistants and made a tour of various no
tells where the wounded were attended to,
such help being given to each as was pos
sible. The people of Ashtabula lent wills
ing hands, and all that human skill could
do to save life or ease pain was done. The
train which came from Cleveland for this
purpose was Immediately backed into psi
tjon, and long before daylight the. persons
least wounded were being prepared for
transportation to Cleveland to be sent to
be sent to hospitals or totheir homes. The
scene among the wounded was almost as
suggestive of horror as The wreck in the
valley. The two hotels nearest the station
contained a majority of the wounded.
They we're scattered about on temporary
beds on the floors of the dining room, par
lors and offices, in one place a man with a
broken leg would be under the hands of a
surgeon, who rapidly and skilfully per-
formed his work. Another man, covered
with bruises and spotted with plasters,
looked as though he had been showed upon
except where the dark line of blood across
the face or limbs told a different story.
In another corner a poor woman moaned
from the pain she could not conceal, while
over all there brooded the hush Of awe
which always accompanies calamities of
this character. Toward morning the cold
incre ased and the wind blew d fearful gale
1,hiato with tho nnu that hnH dr1tfn6
waist deep at points along the line of the
road made the work extremely difficult.
At 6 o'clock the beds in the s~leeping-car of
the special train were made up. and such
of the wounded as could be moved were
transferred to the car.
THE FALL OF THE BRIDGE.
All the witnesses SO far agree as to the
main facts of the accident; 1t was about s
O'Clock; the train was moving at a moder-
ate rate of speed, the Ashtabula station
being Just this side Of the ravine. Sud-
denly and without warning the train
plunged into the abyss, the forward loco
motive alone getting across in safety. Al
most instantly the lamps and stoves set
fire to the cars, and MANY who doubtless
were only stunned, and who might other
wise have been saved, fell victims to the
fury of the flames.
Charles s. Carter, of Brooklyn, New
York. says he was sitting in a palace Car,
with three other persons, engaged in a
game Of cards, when suddenly he heard
The window glasses breaking in the for
ward part of The car, and almost i'm
mediately the Cal began to fall. He was
seated with his back toNa ards the front of
the car, and as he went down he sat as
quietly as he could, and held on. When
the car struck the bottom of the ravine he
found himself almost unhurt, although
one of the men who was playing cards with
him, whose name he did not know, was
killed, while another, a Mr.. Sheppard, had
his leg broken. Mr.. Carter says the front
of the car was much lower than the rear,
ana that the flames il front began to eat
their way upward, and spread with great
rapidity. He turned to assist Mr.. Shop
pard. With great difficulty he succeeded
III getting him out. When Mr.. Sheppard
was fairly out, Carter returned to the as
sistance of q woma who was calling for
help at the front end of the car. He got
her out, and as she was quite thinly clad
he gave her bis overcoat. After reaching
a hotel he found himself severely bruised
in several places.
In the great peril of the hour a man
rushed down to the scene of the disaster.
ready to help in rescuing, he saw, a woman
struggling for life, and went to her assis
lance. He cfrried her by main force to
solid ice, and then, urged by the erie. of
the mother, went back to rescue her
daughter, a sweet child of three OR four
years. The wood of the splintering car had
caught the child in its grasp and the fire
completed the horrible work. The man was
compelled to see the child enveloped in
flames, and to hear her, "Help me,
mother" ringing out in an agony OF
death. In a moment she was lost, swept
out by the sharp tongue Of fire, while the
mother in helpless agony fell to the earth
in a deadly swoon. There was on board a
family n med Bennett, on their way from
New York to Jefferson, Ashtabula county.
The father and mother got out of the
wreck, and the children were only saved
by being tosseu from the arms Of one mar
TO another over the pile of burning wood.
One Of the four children WAS seriously in
jured, and all were slightly scratched.
This morning the mother, who was en-
ceinte, gave birth to a child. the event
being fastened by the excitement she had
undergone. Mrs. Frame, Of Rochester, who
was SO badly burned about the lower part
of the body, is in a critical condition, and
Las but a slight chance for life. Sheppard,
whose rescue was described, had one leg
fearfuliy crushed, necessitating it's ampu-
tation, and he is now doing well. It seems
that the train had just about covered the
bridge when it fell, as fragments lie across
the raYine, touching the base OF the abut-
ments on either side, When one stands at
the foot of the ravine and looks up it seems
an utter impossibllity that any man could
take a leap from SO great a height and live,
yet a number escaped comparatively un
h .roa1 and 1,o6 If NOT hOan for tho fro
probably not one-tbird would have been
lost. The water in the creek is only about
three feet deep, and it is thought by some
that when it is dragged anumber of bodies
may be found.
THE KILLED AND WOUNDED.
The work of removing bodies from the
wreck is still going on. 1t is impossible to
Identify more than three of the bodies. All
the rest are burned, charred and blackened
beyond recognition. The dead list can
only be as~cerfained when it becomes grad