The New York herald., 1878-01-18
THE RAILROAD CRASH.
Vivid Picture of the Scene at the
Place of Slaughter.
CLEARING THE WRECK.
No Additional Victims Brought to
Light During Yesterday.
r. E l. IC H u N Il E r. s i.
r. E LILO H U N t E r s.
The Disaster the Result Of
Stingy Management.
OBSEQU1Es OF THE DEAD.
[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD

TARIFFvILLE, Conn.,. Jan H. 1878.
Chow in the world was anybody saved in this dis
asterP' was query which was yesterday on the lips
OF almost every spectator at tho OF the wreck
The TariGvlle bridge calamity will indeed rank among
the marves Of the time. The baggage and three
passenger which plunged into the river, not
TO speak OF tho two engines must havo contained, at
the very lowest calculation $50 out OF the 500 passen
gers on the train, and out OF these 1870.
only fourteen whose names | have already sent,
are thus far known havo beeh Killed. The search
to-day having brought to light iurther bodies, aud
noinquiries having been made for any missing people
TINS place, II is now assumed that the above num-
bcr Will embrace all those who lost their lives the
accident, unless some OF those that were severely IN
jured should die OF the latter only one or twoare
supposed to be IN such condition as TO render this
contingency probable; but ASSUMING, even, that
further discoveries OF corpses and deaths OF the
wounded shonld bring the total loss up from
fourteen to twenty, tho saving OF life tails scarcely
short Of the miraculous. 1t becomes all the more so
examines the irghtful wreck from which these
unfortunates were so happily rescued. lhe main
cause probably lies in the TACT that the ut this
point was SO shallow. or course If the two other
cars of being tilted up against the bridge with
heads downward mad completely fallen the loss OF lie
would have been much greater, aud SO II would also
have been had tho accident occurred at tho first span
where the water is much deeper.
THE SCENE THE BRIDGE
Although men wero ut work all day Yesterday In re-
moving the d6bris such slow progress made to
produce but htle change In the appearance OF the
wreck until late IN tho afternoon. While newspaper
reporters, In chronicne these sickcnng spectacies
are often charged with scusaonasm nearly every
declared hnt in this instance at least description had
fallen far short Of the awful reality. Here tho
tt,tn .hae laath
snapped right at the beginning of the second
span. The veriest tyro IN engineering could
judge at glance how lily adapted 1t was
10 carry train OF two thirty engines and
eighteen ton cars, o total weight of $50 tons. The
rear ends OF the and third passenger
still tilted up high against tho truss bridge, with their
fronts placed headong fifteen or twenty foet below
in the ice OF tho Pennington. AS you crawled along
tho bridge TO the point where II still sustained these
tho spectacle a. tho moment whom all
these passengers wero hurled down 10
tho head OF the cars, which, WIN their
burning hot stoves, were stepped IN tho Icy river,
while the front oil one OF the cars-tho secondhand
fallen straight down from the bridge which SIN
seemed hold It's rear in It's rotten. tangled wood
work as If by magic. Tho head OF the other car had
falen fifteen twenty leet TO the right, although II
had struck straight behind its predecessors. show
dia they get it into this extraordinary positons
a question frequently asked by the crowd OF
sphtsecrs sliding over the frozen river and occa-
sonaiy getting their legs wet their boots crashed
through treacherous ice. The question Increased,
evcn intensity IN viewing the nrst passenger car,
winch lay right across the other Two, and buried be-
meath both the Ice and the front Of the second
passenger car that had evidently passed straight ovor
STRANGE PLIGHT oP THE CARS.
Tho explanation given by railroad men present was
that "whcn the first engine had turned over In the
air, in its leap Tor the opposite river bank, and
landed with its bottom side up, when the second engine
iumbied in It's side, behind 1t, and the bag
gage car mad rolled also its sde the three
passcnger cars precpuatcd below In their queer
santing and fashion, in this w!se:-Ihc first
passenger car upon the bottom OF the RIVER,
here only seven ieet deep. with crash. This
clean fall and as tho second car drove against II with
terrific force, tho first car turned completely round
from the front end back, and thus landed crosswise
the bottom oi the river while tho second car piled
r,gnt top OF IT, The third car tnen. crashing
perpenaculary by the tangled and broken tim Dors OF
the BRIDGE rebounded and iell OF on The sde but tho
rear end still resting upon the bridge
WONDERFUL ESCAPES
"But how could the people ever got out p' was
duery which was asked again ind agan. Here Was
tue car which had been broken into two, living Ut
tho bottom OF the river, complete wreck, with
another pIlod on tho top Off, and yet most OF the
passengers supposed to have been saved. III herc
are any OF bodies s IN the wreck, Is gen
orally admitted they must bc i0uud IN this broken
car escape from which appears almost inconcevaDe.
The ponderous engine that had turned comp
somorsnut and lay bottom up. with us front bused
the ground to the right OF the trestlc work, but
showing It's tremendous proport ems IN this uncouth
position was u subject OF general wonder. Here's
nice .s jump" .Whal DO you thin. o, 8 sa,s little
S
clamations heard on ali sides
OFFICIAL EXAMINATION.
.Shutting the stable door when ihe colt Is gone" Is
u saying that would seem u apply not only
10 Norses, Out also to broken bridges The Railroad
Com mission oi Connecticut, whose duty II IL 10 cx-
anime all tho raroad bridges of the Stale car,
were supposed to have performed their tuncuon at
1arilvillo They then found 'notnng the mattor''
with bridge. ana this morning two OF these care.
fuI ofiicals, Mr.. George H. Woodruff, lawyer, ana
MIR. j. W. Bacon, an engineer, appeared ut the scenc
of the ruins. Mr. Woodruff, who Is The leading
NJ TIM M WAS OnI
appointed 10 n vacancy alter the
last examination OF tho bridge had been
made-gavc IT as his opinion that the strength OF the
bridge, which was calculated 10 carry only an ordi
nary local country train on small local road Ike tho
Connecticut Western, had been overtaxcd by putting
two engines and ten cars upon IT, Residents OF Tar
rfvlle and the oighborhood declare that these cx'
aminations by the Railroad Commissioners are litto
better than II farce. Tue Commissioners p'casantly
CHAT with tho superintendent In that functlonary's
car then take a NICE lunch with him, aud finally
promenade cisurely to the br.ogc where they sound
The timbcrs with a lew taps OF the aud
then declare everything Is lovely. superintendent
Jones' as well as all the other officials OF the road 49,
OF course unwilling TO conccde that there was any
wrong IN sending this Tremendous IRAN over so iight
Il structure. Mr.. Jones declared this morning 10 mo
writer that he had even sent three engines at the
same time across, as though this would make tho
crime OF thus jeopardzing precious lives smaller IN
ONLY SMALL RAILROAD.
But, on the other hand weighty excuses are onered
In benali Of the railroad company. You sce," SAID
one respect able resident OF Tannvle this evening,
.tne railroad Is only a small, one-horse concern
only sixty two miles; has never paid yet, aud
- bankrupt now. You can't expect such road TO put
up anything but choaP bridges"
ssrhc worst OF IT'S" remarked another, 'thnt the
relatives Of these people that have boon killed will
not even be able TO procure dollar of damages from
this bankrupt company"
CLEARING UP THE WRECK.
The Ice being still strewn with the broken tmbcrs
from the bridge, they were slowly cartcd away
Yesterday, and the other debris was also removed
last as possible. Here lay pile OIL broken and
cushions torn out OF the cars by tho shock. On the
west bank OF river, whore tho trssts work. rotten
In many places, as everybody saw who examined Il
declared, extends almost intact huge bonfire was
buging all day, at which the workmen employee In
clearing the wreck, The curiosity seekers anu band
OF journalists tried TO warm their almost frozen
limbs and thaw their Sun trousers after numsr-
ous slips through the ice.
HUNTING RELICS.
Great was the general eagerness for ''relics''
About hall dozen buxom, fresh, country girls, VINO
arrived early In the morning, wero particularly per-
sislcnt In this respect. They boldly trpped across
tho tmbers scattered the Ice. close the shat
tered cars, and there their admirers were kept busy
IN providing them with Interesting memcnt0cs.