The Newtown bee., 1880-10-13
Terrible Railroad Disaster.

The Twenty eighth street crossing of the Pennsylvania railroad at Pittsburg, Pa., has again been the scene ot trighttul disaster, which was attended with almost as great loss ot lite as were the famous riots there in July 1877. It was the last day of the exposi- tion, and thousands of persons focked to the city to see the closing exercises In addition, the Democrats bad & demonstration which brought marching clubs from all the surround ing country After the parade wps over, just before midnight, the first section of Walls accommodation train, going east left the Union depot crowded to it's utmost capacity. The back platform was so full that the signal lights were hidden from view. When the train reached Twenty street it stopped to allow the special train, which was block ahead, to get out of the way. Ten minutes alter the first section left the depot the second section started out at the rate of ten miles an hour. Owing to the crowd on the back platform of the first section the signal lights were obscured, and consequently 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 8 collision, and the engine went crashing into the rear coach of tho first sec- ton. The engine buried itself to the very cab windows among the screaming, suffering men, women and children, mangling all who were in its course. The boiler head oi 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 eroans rent the air, and mingled with the hissing of steam from the disabled locomotive.
 Atelephone n message was sent to the mayors office tor wagons, and in 6 short time corps ot physicians, the mayor and a squad of police were on the spot to render all the assistance they could Nine persons were killed ont right and nineteen more died in the next twenty -four hours. The wounded reached thirty five, of which twenty were not expected to recover. The wounded were carried to the West Pennsylvania hospital, short distance from the scene of the disaster.
 Some ot the scenes at the hospital were heartrending 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 the train, two boys and a girl The younger boy and his sister were lying in the hospital, shocsingly burned and disfgured by the scalding 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 their sufferings, her frst-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 ii the rules had not been disobeyed the accident would not have occurred.