The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1878-02-06
CRASHING THROUGH 4 BRIDGE.


A RaIIroad Trnin In COnnccticut, Breaking
ThrOuEh bridge Many KILLED and
Wounded.
The recent railroad accident near
! Hartford, Conn, by which over thirteen
persons were killed and fifty wounded,
| is described as follows The special
which left Hartford at nine o'clock p. NJ,
had two heavy engines and eleven cars,
containing about six hundred pass
engers. It passed through Tariffville at
ten o'clock, and two minutes later Il
terrific crash was heard in the direction
OF the Pennington river. But one ex-
/ PLANTATION was probable-the train had
gone through the bridge. White-faced
men, hurTying back into the town few
minutes later, announced the catastro-
phe and aroused the citizens to hasten
to the rescue. "Both engines and four
cars filled with passengers are in the
river, they cried, "and strong and
willing arms are wanted" The news
was telegraphed to Hartford and Win
sted, with calls for wrecking trains and
surgical aid, and the people hastily
dressed and hurried in the piercingly
cold wind to the bridge.
The entire western span was wreck,
together with four passenger cars, the
other seven remaining safe upon the
other span. The leading engine was up
side down upon the river bank its
companion upon its side, half buried in
/ shattered beams and twisted iron work.
The baggage car (Which had been occu-
pied by passengers) was a dismantled
wreck, ,and having broken through the
ice had nearly filled with water. Next
to it was the first passenger car, also
sunk and shattered to pieces. while the
second and third rested their forward
ends against it with bodies tilted to a
sharp angle and the rear ends resting
against the center pier. The remaining
cars, striking against these, had kept
upon the track. The passengers in the
second and third cars had been tossed
rudely together in the lower ends, and,
bruised and jammed by their fellows,
fearing the firing of the cars from lamps
and stoves. Another and greater
danger presented itself to the occupants
OF the first passenger and baggage cars,
which, sinking to the bottom OF the
river gradually, let i'll flood of icy
water waist deep. Assistance arrived
none too soon. The passengers were
rescued, many uninjured, more badly
bruised or cut. From the torn front of
the first passenger chr, and through the
broken roof of the baggage-car, one
after another was taken ont, many of
them wet through and suffering intense
ly in the wind, the thermometer being
far below the freezing point These
unfortunates were wrapped in overcoats
stripped from the shoulders of their
rescuers and carried to the uniniured
cars. The wounded, numbering thirty
or more, were taken to the same COM
Portable quarters, drawn upon rude
sleighs devised for the occasion.
Two hours of hard work sufficed for
the saving of all who were living. Then
search was begun for the dead, report
ed in the excitement OF the moment to
be fifty or more, for it did not seem
possible that many of the occupants of
the baggage and first passenger cars
could have escaped. Yet these aIpre-
tensions, happily, were ill-founded.
The corpses found were placed in car,
and the train was then pushed into the
village, car by car, by the men at the
work. Medical attendapce was obtained,
the people of Tariff file threw open
their houses to the 5ttferers, and soon
afterwards relief trains arrived from
Hartford and Winsted with physicians
and men to help the villagers. After
the badly wounded had received atten-
ton, the excursionists resumed their
homeward journey via Hartford, Plain
vile and the Canal road to its junction
with the Connecticut Western line,
beyond the broken bridge.