Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-01-05

I Tifcu ht lie engine mouse, 0Ilef the alarm
was given, if suitable hose had been attach
ed 70 the valve in your pump, what do
you say as to whether YOU could have put
the -ire?" al should say that the whole
thingwas perfectly hopeless, for that matter.
The whole thing was in flames from side
to side, and it could not have been
half an hour by any means, though |
can't say as to time. Time was entirely
out of my mind" - At the time when
the last person was taken alive from the
wreck. to your knowledge, what do you
say as to whether or not the fire could
have been put out. if a proper hose had
been attached to the valve of your pump?''
tNo single hose could have put out the
fire at that time. The access to the valve
under the floor was immediate, and moth
ing would have had TO be torn up to get
at it, ).
To Mr.. Sherman: ''The distance that
that we have to travel from this engine
house to the pump-house, l should Judge
is about 500 yards; have no knowledge
whether we could have used any of the
hose here in this engine-hOuse on the eve
ming of the fire. The valve at the pump
house, as l was told when it was made,
was as I have stated; have no other
knowledge about its use except as l then
stated: did not then know of its being
there for the purpose of applying hose to
extinguish fire. Last evening brought the
cap that goes on the valve down there up
here and tried it on here, the diameter Is
the same, bnt the threads are different (;
could turn it; tried on the new ones;
could not get il on at all l;.On the older
ones could get it on perhaps thread and
one half, with my hands, without any
| .rrrffh - 4
! which Il might have been put on would de-
pend 09 the way the threads would stand
! itS-if the thread co9ld bear being thrown
out of place, it could be put on the whole
| distance; but if the thread broke, the screw
was destroyed altogether don't know
how many threads there were altogether; /
| find nnW,in trying to-day, that the cap
| fits the new hose; ] find also, that it will
go on the old hose, but think the thread in
the old hose is not an exact fit with it; it
will fit on the old hose so that | could
throw water through it, Mr.. Morrison:
ttWOuld there be any difficulty in using
it?'. .,.NO sir, there weuld be no difficulty
whatever" i understand you to swear
that you never knew that that plug at the
pumplng-hOuse was for any other purpose
than fora wash basin or fOuntain?' Il
said that the superintendent told me in an
swer to my question, What is the use of
putting that in here, as it is not likely that
any fire would be hereY He said, we shall
rISe it. perhaps, some time to make con-
nectiOn for a wash basin, or perhaps a
fountain, He never said anything to me
about its being used in case of fire; and
no one else ever did; no one could see il,
or know anything about it except those en-
ployed on the road, or putting it on. They
never gave me any other explanation. The
superintendent is Mr.. Tilden; he is one of
the wounded, and is now III hospital in
Cleveland. He was on this train"
Henry A. White called: | reside in
Wethersfeld, CT: my age is As and 1 have
been engaged in the produce business; was
on the train on the night of the 29th at the
time of the accident, in the City of Buffalo
sleeping car; called to my mind 1S per-
sons whom remember well were in that
car at the time of the accident, and should
think there might have been more; was not
acquainted With any of them except that
knsE The pane Of J; S; HaEeltOn, Charles
town; ILL.,; met him in Springfield; keeps a !
hotel. ! have also the name of D. T. Hale, |
of CharleStoWI, ILL.,, who was in the car at |
the time; l doil't remember the names of
any more-yeS, ! remember the name of |
Johnathan Rice. Lowell, Mass. These are
all the names l remember who were in that |
car. As nearly as / remember, without be- |
ing positive, had been asleep an hour and |
half, sitting in the second seat on left |
hand side, at the rear of the car, with back |
towards the engine, and the first that l |
heard or felt was jarring motion, chunk! |
chunk! as if the train was off the track; |
then l remember my head hanging over
backward-as if were perpendicular-but |
/ did not lose my position in the seat this
is all dreamy recollection, though | did |
not lose my senses; it was something like a
mans thoughts just before going to sleep.
1t seemed to me long time going down,
and the next | heard was a fearful crash,
and was thrown upward in the car; then
opened my eyes, but could see nothing; l
was wedged in completely in every kind of
debris-iron, etc., and doubled up into as
compact mass as / possibly could bel
think with my legs right under me. The
first thought that came into my mind was
that was dead; was not hurt at that time
but thought ! should he killed-that it was
no use for me to stir or try to help myself.
| waited in that position until heard two
more crashes come, when all was quiet; /
then tried to see if / could not raise what
was on and around me. and succeeded. [
opened my eyes and the first thing l saw
was the glass in the top of the door that
opened into the saloon at the rear end of
the car; l struck that Immediately with
my hand and thrust my head through it;
spoke then-up to this time there was not
a shrek or voice heard in the car that
was in-all had been stilled-and said, I'VE
can get out of this" some one under me
asked five could, and / SAID Eyes, am
out already" He said will there be a fire
is there going to be fire?' and looked
around the best l could III the situation.
and told him there would not be any. He
said, perhaps you can hel lp me, and asked
me if would take his hand; l told him |
would, and got back through the door,
don't hardly know what | did dO-at any
rate | succeeded in getting hold of the
mans hand. 1t was a fearful mess of stuff
there, and the debris seemed to fill every
thing. and yet there seemed to be hole,
through which put down my hand and
pulled, | guess, the best | could, and he
pulled. and worked his body and turned
and twisted, and then he let 90 of INV
hand | reached in and took his hand again
and told him though there would be no
FIRE, In an incredibly short space of time
there was fire; felt badly because had
told him there would not be any, and
reached for him again. did not tell him
there was any. He said, you can't get me,
take care of yourself l then went out and
,rawled up on the wreck and went the
length of one car and swung off from one
end. don't know the mans name whom
failed to save. ! did not know there were
my others there when | tried to save him.
Then | walked up to the pump-house5 at
hat time there was quite a little fire at
what / then thought was each end, but as
nearly as can make out it was where the
,ar lay that was in. The wreck then seem
d to be burning in two places, but the fire | ,
lad made hardly any headway think my
Judgment is poor as to how long it was af-
er got out of the cars till came to the
,ump-house-might have been minutes. | G
emained at the engine-house about 10 min
ties before going up the bank. At the
ime came up the bank | noticed the ra-
,idity of the fire.. but don't know that l
ould tell just how far it was burning, but
hould say that the whole wreck was wrap l
,ed in flames within 10 minutes after. the ;
rain went down. ,
Mr.. sherman: "Were the passengers on that
rain, in the car in which you were women Z
II children?"- would not say there were
boqt equally divided between men and wo-'
nen.
One child remember, but would not say I
here were notswo in the car. Remember be !
ng at Erie, when l spoke about the number :
4 passengers on that car, spoke about the a