The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-10-14
Railroad Horrors at Pittsburg.

The Twenty-eighth street crossing of tn,
Pcnnsylvania railroad at Pittsburg, Pa.
has again been the scene OF trIghttul disaster
which was attended with almost as great 9
loss OF lite as were the famous riots there il
July, 1877. 1t was the last day OF the exposi
ton, and thousands of persons fiocked to the
city to see the closing exercises. In addition
the Democrats bad demonstration which
brought maj ching clubs from all the surround.
ing country. After the parade wvs over, ius
before midnight, the first section OF Walls
accommodation train, going east, left the
Union depot crowded to its utmost capacity
The back platform was so full that the
signal lights were hidden from view. When
the train reached Twenty-eighth street
it STOPPED to allow the special train,
which was block ahead, TO get out OF the
way. Ten minutes after the fl st section left
the depot the second section started out at the
rate OF ten miles an hour. Owing 10 the crowd
on the back platform of the first section the
signal lights were obscured, and consc quently
the engineer OF the second section did not see
the train ahead OF him until he was so near
it that his train could not be checked in time
to prevent a collision and the engine went
crashing into tho rear coach of tho first Sec
ton. The engine buried itself to the very cab
windows among the screaming, suffering men,
women and children, manging all who were
in its course. The boiler head OF the locomo-
tive was burst off by the shock, and the scald-
ing water and steam poured over the occupants
OF the car, as though bent on completing the
horrible work that had gone before. The
scene that followed beggars description.
Shrieks and groans rent the air, und mingled
with the Kissing of steam from the disabled
locomotive.
Atelephone message was sent to the mayors
office Tor wagons, and in a short time a corps
OF physicians, the mayor and squad OF police
were on the spot to render all the assistance
they could. Nine persons were killed out
right and nineteen more died in the next
twenty-tour hours. The wounded reached
thirty-f1ve, of which twenty were not expected
to recover. The wounded were carried to the
West Pennsylvania hospital, q short distance
from the scene OF the disaster.
Some OF the scenes at the hospital were
beaitrending. One in particular was peculi-
arly sad. Hurrying back and forth from
one ward to another, pushing through the
crowd of anxious persons was an aged woman
named Hetzel, from the East End. She had
three children on the train, two boys and a
girl. The younger boy and his sister were
lying in the hospital, shockingly burned and
dis6gured by the scnlding steam. The broken
hearted mother could scarcely leave the bed
SIDE OF one long enough to weep over the
other, and while she was striving to alleviate
the suiferings, her first-born boy lay crushed
and dead in the round house, and she knew it
not. She only knew that he was missing, and
she looked with tear-dimmed eyes into the
face OF every newcomer, in the hope that she
might find him living
k Robert Pitcairn, superintendent of the road
says il the rules bad not been disobeyed the
accident would not have occurred.