The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-01-31
The Train ON the Tay.

The London Telegraph of the 30th
ult., contains this description by an eye
witness of the Tay catastrophe:
/" Enjoying the cosy comforts of my
own parlor tireside on Sunday night, l
listened to the fierce clamor of the
storm without, and felt deep sense of
gratitude for the security l possessed,
mingled with feeling of compassion
for the poor sailors on the sea battling
with the storm. The children had gath
cred around me for their usual Bible
stories, and with an instructive sense of
fear they nestled close to my side as
they heard the wild efforts of the blast
to batter in the easements of the win
dow. l chose the story of st. PauPs
shipwreck on the Island of Melita,
thinking the storm without might help
me to impress upon their young minds
the terrible nature of the dangers to
which the Apostle was exposed as the
ship lay riding helplessly upon the
waves with four anchors between it and
certain destruction. While thus en-
gagged blast of wind more furious than
before had caught the chimney tops of
house almost opposite my parlor win
dows, and brought them down to the
ground with laundering crash that
startled every one of us to our feet.
Stepping over to the easement gazed
out upon the street, and just then a
blaze of moonlight lighted up the broad
expanse of the Tay down below, and
the long white sinuous line of the Tay
bridge came into view. l looked at
my watch and saw that it was exactly
seven o'clock. The Edinburgh train
will be due immediately l exclaimed
to my wife; come and let us watch to
see if it will attempt to cross on such q
night So saying we turned down the
gas in the parlor and prepared to await
the appearance of the train. The light by
this time had become most fitful. Great
masses of clouds were sweeping across
the expanse of the heavens, at times to-
tally obscuring the light of the full
moon. There she comes cried one of
the children, and. at that moment, the
slowly moving lights of the Edinburgh
train could be distinctly seen rounding
the curve at Wormit, and passing the
signal-box at the south side, entering
upon the long straight line of that por-
ton of the bridge. The train once on
the bridge seemed to move along with
greater swiftness, and when the engine
entered the tunnel like cloisters of the
great Orders my little girl exactly de-
scribed the effect of the lights as seen
through the lattice work when she ex-
claimed Look. papa, isn't that like
lightning?' All this takes some
time to write down, but to the eye
it seemed as if almost simultaneous
with the entrance of the train upon the
bridge. A comet-like burst of fiery
sparks sprang out as if forcibly elected
into the darkness from the engine. In
a long visible train the streak of fire
was seen till quenched in the water be-
low. Then there was absolute dark
ness from the bridge. A silence fell
upon our eager group at the window.
Then, with stunning force, the idea
broke upon my mind. 'Heavensp l
cried, L fear the train is over the
bridger' With growing horror L
try if l could see the train pass that
point, but as several minutes passed
and no moving object broke the con-
tinuity of the bridge at that point 1
snatched up my hat and hurried down
and across the Magdalen green, to meet
several individuals all bent upon the
same errand as myself.
"The terrific nature of the gale at
this time may be inferred from the fact
that descending the slope of the green,
l had to crouch down upon the grass to
prevent my being blown bodily away,
1t seemed as if the wind had become a
solid compelling power. One gentle
man was blown against another on the
green, and both tumbled together. The
massive signal-post beside the signal
box on the north end of the bridge was
bent by the wind like willow wand,
and on entering upon the esplanade, the
sand and pebbles were dashing about
with such force that the hands and face
were sore with the violence of the inn
pact. My hands held behind my back
for a minute were completely filed
with the drifting sand and pebbles.
Looking toward the river nothing clear
ly could be made out. The water from
the broken Newport water-pipe on the
bridge was pouring into the river and,
being caught in its descent by the wind,
was lashod into a misty spray that
helped to veil the gap that had by this
time been made in the iron highway.
GA number of gentlemen having now
collected below the bridge on the es-
planade, one of them climbed up into
the signal-b box above and there learned
from the man stationed less than mile
from the scene of the great catastrophe
that he knew nothing more of what had
happened than that the train signaled
to him as having entered upon the
bridge fully fifteen minutes before had
never reached his station, and that all
telegraphic communication with the
other side had ceased. What had in
reality happened the public know now
as well as they will ever be likely to
know. An entire train with its living
freight had been swept into the bosom
of the Tay. The rest was left to the
imagination. In the clear sunlight of
this morning have again visited the
spot, but so calmly was the river then
rolling onward toward the sea that,
save for the incontestable evidence of
the great gap in. mid-river, it was diff
cult to think that the significant scene