Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-06-08
.ATbrilling Experience.

4 Thrilling Experience.
On Monday week misplaced
switch at Bear Swamp, station IL
New Jersey, on a railroad leading
from Trenton to New York City
threw the three hind cars of a tran
of five cars off the track: The en-
gine and the first two cars passed
safely over the fault in the switch
The third passenger car was torn OF
its trucks and considerably broken
The two hind cars were lying side by
side. entirely demolished Two per
sons were killed and many were
wounded.
MIR. p. II. Deacon, one of the
wounded men, came on to Phladei-
phia, and was interviewed by a re.
porter Of the Philadelphia Times
He said:
We left New York at twenty min
utes past three. 1t was the fast ex-
press. We were due in Philadelphia,
/ understand, at ten minutes of five.
The train had four passenger cars
and baggage car. First was the
smoking car, then a Pullman parlor
car and after that two regular pas
senger coaches. I was In next to the
last. There were about thirty in this
car. 1 sat on the right-hand side
front, on the seat next but one to the
front door. Directly opposite me sat
a gentleman and his wife and baby.
1 remember these passengers partlc-
ularly, because the baby, pretty lit
tie thing, in a white lace cap, was
being danced up and down on Its
mothers knee, while the father kept
teasing it, as we came along. Directly
behind this family sat an old lady OF
about eighty. Directly behind me
sat an elderly gentleman, a German,
1 think. 1t was about ten minutes OF
four when we began to get near Tren-
ton. I remember / looked at my
watch and thought We had been trav
cling about an hour. I began to feel
sleepy and braced my feet against
the aisle end of my seat and my head
against the car window and had
closed my eyes when l heard a
woman scream. Before 1 had time
to learn what it meant the car was
thrown violently to one side, careened
over like, in the direction of the man
and his wife opposite me. With my
feet braced against the end of the
seat and my body leaning the other
way I could not, of course, so in that
direction, but was thrown with my
head against the window, which
caused it to go crashing through. l
wore stiff black hat, and that, l am
satisfied, is all that saved my life.
The pane went crashing to pieces,
and when the car kind of regained
its balance my head came back inside
again. And Just now was the most
singular part of my experience As
the car was pitched back kind of into
position again the little baby was
thrown square into my arms, while
the father, who sprang to catch it,
seized hold of the little lace cap as
the baby went flying to me and tore
it off its head and retained it in his
hand. The woman was thrown kind
of aslant across the aisle past me,
toward the car door. The reaction
came in an instant, when the car, with
a quick, sudden, sharp jerk, more
violent than before, careened over.
This time felt myself going with it,
when the strong hand of the passen-
ger in the seat behind jerked me back
toward the broken window, and / felt
myself, baby and all, going out. I
knew no more till I found myself
lying in a swamp about three feet
below the railroad track, and the
baby in my arms. 1t was not hurt.
My head almost to my eyes was buried
in mud. One shoe was missing from
my foot, which was likewise imbed-
ded in the mud. The shoe had
caught between the seats when they
came crashing together, and being
easy to draw had slipped off and left
my boot free.
Oh, my God it was fearful when I
opened my eyes and looked up. Our
car had been smashed like an egg
shell. 1 can't compare it to any
thing else. As it careened over the
second time the hindmost truck
wheels of the car in the rear, which
had jumped the track and ran right
alongside ours on the opposite side
from which 1 had been thrown out,
until it had turned a complete somer-
sault on end and dropped its hind
truck, wheels and all, as it were, from
the air-as our car careened over the
second time this heavy truck came
crashing down on the roof, right
overhead the seat where the man had
sat with the wife and baby. The first
thing l saw after 1 got up was the
woman running about, wringing her
hands and crying for somebody to
save her husband. The German who
sat in the seat behind me when the
accident occurred came up to where
l was and took the baby. 1t was not
hurt. 1 rushed to the other side of
the car, and there saw a sickening
sight. The father had his body half
way out of the window when the
trucks came crashing down on him,
smashing in the roof like an egg
shell and falling right across his
waist. His brains were oozing out,
blood was streaming all over his head
and face and he was quite dead. 1
don't think he lived ali instant after
the trucks struck him. In one hand
he held his baby's little lace cap, and
it could not be gotten out Of his fin
gers. The wife was rushing wildly
about, screaming for somebody to
come and get her husband out. 1t
was not until two or three passen-