Daily Kennebec journal., 1878-10-11

by their friends and congratulated on then safety.
The first who appeared at the end of the for
ward car had q bandsged head and wrs supported
either side. He made his way slowly and pain
fully across the platform. Then came another
aud another, a sad procession, some hobbling
along unassi.stcd, some leaning on the arms u!
friends and others carried outright. Occasionally
q bandage would be cOlored by that terrible sig
nifcant red, the sight of which would arouse IA
murmur of horror in the crowd A. the well and
the wounded made their way out they were sur
rounded by anxious men and women, begging fer
the news which they dreaded TO hear. They all
did the best they could to remember an repeat
what they knew, and in a surprlsi singly large mum
Der of they were able 10 give definite ntor
nation. "Denny's all right" Mixes cut little
but he's gone home" "lIe's all right, ma 'am,
"Dont be afraid are samples of the phrases
wh ch struck the ear coming from all sides.
One poor soul, a wrnked, tatered old woman,
went about here and there, with clasped hands and
streaming eyes, wildly aud bllndly beseeching
everybody upon whom her eyes fell to tell her OF
her poor wild boy. Ten minutes after the arrival
OF the first tram second train came in and later
still a single car. All had mixed loads OF unin-
jured, wounded and dead. aud the ghastly process
sion continued. StTetchers were brought into
use, and des body would alternate with the
motionlcss figure of a sorely wounded man. Oue
poor fellow, mass Of bandages and sphns,
seemed to his bearers to be too feeble TO be car
red in their arms, and they proposed to put him
on a stretcher. But then the spirit Of hero
flashed up and found utterance in the homely
words Never mind II boys; I'm all right leave
it to fellow that needs it worse than inc." AT
length, the las, dead body mad been carried of.
the last battered figure had hOboled away, aud for
time quiet came upon the place.
The railroad irons now fully laid, and pass
ing trains use both of the track. Two or three
wrecked cars. which did not tall from the road
bed were pulled oil and dumped into the swampy
field to the right OF the rails. The railroad men
are working with a derrick car, removing the
shattered sides of the which the great bulk
OF the victims lost their ves and the two engine
which are piled together near the cars, being
taken apart and carried away.
The CAUSE.
The cause of the accident appears more and
more clearly to have been the misplaced switch,
As stated elsewhere in this report. The switch is
patent safety contrivance, which, If 1t had been
properly attended would never have caused such
a calamity as this. The theory of collision
with the reght train appears to have but little
foundation, for there is no part OF Il wrecked
freight car anywhere on the grounds.
A hundred hats and caps ol the frightened pas
sengers lie scattered over the marshy ground un-
der the young trees each side OF the track.
aud there is a most varied assortment piled IN tue
English coach where so many men met sudden
deaths.
To revert to the cause of the accident the fire.
man of Que of the engines is reported as saying
that he saw As the engine approached the switch
that something was wrong with the track, fol- the
patent switch didn't show any light at ALL Had
the switch been fully set one way or the other
some light must have been clearly visible, and
then the train would have passed safely along, a.
the peculiarly OF the switch is that even il set
wrong, it prevents the train from leaving the
tracks. This report corIoborates the assumption
that the accident is due wholly to the manag me ut
of the switch, and it not the result OF any
collision with the freight cars. The broken end
of the first rail past the switch, the bruised ties
and the broken bolts few feet further on show
that the train jumped from the rails at that polnt.
Now rs to who managed the switch, the matter is
in doubt The contrIvaDce does not looh IT it
could be worked out oil place merely by the pass
lug OF wheels over the frogs or rails but any one
can see by inspecting the contiIvance just how
the switch but half set, midway between two
rails could have, and did 10 all probability, cause
this fearful Disaster