Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-01-05
PRE- IS. FRIDAY


The Ohio Railroad Horror.
The Ashtabuls calamity is the most ter
rible railroad accident that has happened in
this country, baing approached in horror
only by the Angola catastrophe. on the
same road. several years since. in which
train was precipitated down an embsnk-
ment and burned, with q loss Of 90 lives.
AN ENGINEERS STATEMENT.
Daniel Mcclure. engineer Of the leading
locomotive, which broke loose from the
train and escaped, is the only unhurt man
who saw the whole of the affair. Mr.. Nc
CURE states that the train was running
slow at the time Of the accident. lie felt
the bridge give way when two ear lengths
from the west end lie felt it settle down.
lie had his hand on the throttle. and pulled
it wide open. The dIaw-bar connecting the
engines was snapped by the sudden jerk.
! The trucks of his water tank did Lot clear
| and settled down, but the opening wide ut
the throttle saved the engine, and the
trucks were pulled on. lie ran up the
track 100 yards, and gave the alarm by re-
peated whistles. lie saw the engine o.
lumbia sink with the bridge and turn bot
tom upward. The express, baggage, and
passenger cars followed in IL heap, the pas
senger cars landing On the express cars. All
went into the river. Tie fire first broke out
| in the last sleeper, which swung over to one
side and was soon in blaze. In two or
three minutes the entire wreck was mass
of flames. The shrieks Of the living and the
groans of the dying were terrible to hear
but their voices were soon hushed as the
flames embraced them. lie says;
81 WAS one of tho first at the wreck.
pulled several out of the ice, and helped to
extricate some from the debris. Ono woman
was pinned down by her legs on burning
| car. Her cries for help were piteous, and
in despair, as the flames circled around her.
she shrieked Take an axe and cut Of my
legs' But it was impossible to reach her
and she was consumed. The paint on the
burning cars snapped like powder, soaring
many workmen. | cannot estimate the
number burned, but think 100 persisted by
fame and water. Many were killed out
| right A husband and vile in the burning
wreck were held down by distractions. and
calmly awaited their fate. Their lips moved
as if in PRAYER. Neither pen nor tongue
can describe the horror OF the scene. In
20 minutes after the fire started it was in
possible to extricate passengers.
Charles 5. Carter. Of Brooklyn, N. Y,
says be was sitting in the palace car with
three others. engaged in game of cards.
Suddenly he heard the window glass break
ing, and the car began to tall. lie was
seated with his back toward the front, and
as no went down be sat as quietly as he
could and held on. When the car struck at
the bottom OF the rsvine he found himself
lnoot nphurf althnuuh nna nf tho ganflo-
men playing with him, whose name he did
not know, was killed instantly. while
another. Mr.. Shepherd, of New York had
q leg broken. The front of the car was
much lower than the rear, and the
flames in front began to eat their way up
ward and spread with great rapidity. lie
turned to the assistance OF Mr.. Shepherd,
and with great difficulty succeeded in get
ting him out. Carter returned 10 the as
sistance of woman calling for help at the
front of the car. lie got her out, and, as
she was quite :hinly clad, gave her his
oyercoat. Another man saw a woman
struggling for life and wsnt to hor assist
ance. He carried her to the solid ice. then,
urged by cries Of the mother. went back to
the rescue of her daughter, a sweet child of
three or tour years of age. The wood in
splintering had caught the child in its
grasp and the fire completed the horrible
work. The man was compelled to SEQ the
child enveloped in flames, to hear her ''help
me, mother" ringing out IN the agony of
death, while her mother. in helpless agony,
fell to the earth in q swoon. There was on
board family named Bennett, on their way
from New York State to Jefferson. Ashta-
bula county The father and mother got
out of the wreck; the children were only
saved by being tossed from the arms Of ono
man to those Of another over pile of burn
ing woodwork. One Of the four was seri-
ously injured, and all scratched slightly.
On Saturday morning the mother, who was
snciente. gave birth to q child, the event
being FASTENED by the excitement she had
undergone.
Another case was that Of young lady
who was fastened in the wrecked timbers
up to her waist. Half dozen responded
to her appeal for help, but their joint et-
forts for some moments promised to be
unavailing. The fire that was rapidly ad-
vancing toward her rendered her almost
frantic, and she screamed to the men to
persist in their efforts to rescue her and
they finally dragged her forth, her clothing
from her waist down and her shoes and
stockings being torn from her, and in this
way she wsded knee deep in snow nearly
half mile 10 place of safety.
A man escaped from the wreck with his
clothes all ablazs, and ran as if mad.
The crowd On the bank yelled to him to
throw Himself into the snow, but he took
no heed, and then some one shouted to
those near him to knock him down. He
was showed down. but, rising instantly,
turned his face toward the burning wreck,
plunged into it. and was lost. IL was q
case of utter frenzy.
Nr. A. Burnam states that he did not for
moment lose his consciousness, and real
ICED that the car was falling. 1t seemed an
age before it struck. Feeling about he
found that he had been thrown among a
mass Of debris. beneath which were two |
men. He got up, and upon examination |
found both men were dead. Mr.. Burnam |
heard 9 cry for help from under pile of |
shattered timbers, and turning back he |
found man struggling to free himself from |
the broken and splintered mass that held |
him firmly down. Mr.. Burnham endeavor-
ed to get hold Of him. but found it impcssi-
BILE to do 50, as the advancing fire was now
flashing in his face and making rapid pro-
gress toward him. lie was compelled to
leave the unhappy man to his :ate and
clam bered out Of the remains Of the smoking
car on " the bottom of another car. Here
he saw two men with their heads protruding
from u mass Of debris. and who appealed to
him for help. lie pulled the one nearest to
him out. and helped him away. the mans
leg beiug broken tho other succeeded in
eItricating himself Mr.. Burnham then
got out himself. and now first being fully
conscious Of his hurts. sought place of
safety. He is fully convinced that the smok-
ing car was of the track before the bridge
gave way, and probably the rear locomotive
and several other cars, the breaking Of the
bridge being in consequence Of the heavy
pounding.
1t is supposed that Mr.. C. P Bliss, the
evangelist and author of Hold the Fort"
with his wife and children. were on the ILL
lated train, and that they were either
burned up or included among the unrecog-
1ized dead.
Among the killed was A II. Washburn.
IF Cleveland, who had been Rector of
Grace Church, in that city. for more than
II years and was widely respected.
The Grand Trunk Railway Strike.