New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-01-14
A TALK WITH r. H. STILLWELL.

Tammany friends safe. Senator Wagner killed"
A TALK WITH r. II. STILLWELL.
r. II. Stillwel. of Oswego was on the TaTytown
local He was found last night at the Grand Union
Hotel by TRIBUNE reporter.
"When we were at TaTytOwn," he said fhe
train from Albany passed us 1t was running FAST
and there seemed TO he a wheel on fire. ] spoke 10
one of the men in the depot and he said: Those
brakes are down. After leaving TaTyto"h
we ran along smoothly for some time. INC
first intmation had OF danger was feeling that the
air brakes had been suddenly put on. lett thaI
there was something coming, and | braccd myself
against the seat. Then came the crash The men
and women in the car thrown headions over
the seats. The stove was upset and so was the
water cooler The excitement was intense for 1cW
moments The women screamed ana the men
sworc. Two or three men were burnt severely
8lthOugi not dangerously. some were cut by the
glass
Every one got out of the cars Immediately and
went forward to the Albany train. There were
three passenger coaches or train aud was IN
the second supposed that a number OF the men IN
the first must nave been hurt. As l went for
ward I saw that the rear palace car. the ldlewiid'
! think was badly damaged. The back part was
on nrc and il had apparently been completely tee-
scoped by oar engine. Everyone In the
Albany train seemed TO be ont OF it,
except some in the back of the rear
dr. In some way ten or twelve persons seemed to
he held in the back part OF the car, which was all
in flames. ! suppose that the shock tor" the car al
TO pieces and that they caught in between the
broken seats.
" could only see ono woman at fr>r. aud she was
lying down, with the stove on one leg and one arm.
Her shriclis were horrible. The conductor on our
train who was The only one around that had his wits
about him. Immediately broke OF the
windows Of I~y car, ard two men
were helped in to try to get her out. None Of the
other passengers who were held IN the ears was III
such dangerous place as she was and the hrst
effort was to get her out Some wooden
bars were handed to the men and they
made one desperate effort to get the woman
ont. Then the flames swept around them and the
two men jumped ont of the car windows.
In the meantime everyone in the two
trains had gathered around the last cars
and all were looking M the scene. The
conductor again came to the rescue and he shouted
to the crowd to bring water and TO roll snow-ballS
and To throw them upon the flames. And everyone
on the train went 10 work. On side of
the place where the accident happened
the river; the other large hill.
Up this the men ran and gathering little snow,
would start down the hill BY the time they
reached the bottom they had large snOwballs in
their hands These they throw on the flames and
they checked them for time. But in the mean
time the cries of the poor woman under
the stove had ceased Another party OF men had
procured ladder and this was put up against the
side Of the car While some men were pouring
water and snow on the flames, others clambercd
in the windows. Bat it was with the utmost diff
Guilty that the people could Dc got ont
of the ear. They were wedgcd in be-
tween the pieces of seats that they had to
be pT.ed out. The first person taken ont was the
poor woman; she seemed to be dead, hut |
did not get near enough to her to tell
certainly. Then, with great difficulty
two more women and two men were
taken out OF The cars. | coud not tell what their
condition s but | think they were fatally injured
without doubt
There were several more people caught III the
cars. but did not stay to see how they were got
ont While was walking through the crowd saw
one poor woman going through the crowd with baby
in her arms The woman had been badly cut by
the glass. and the blood was dripping over her
child She had been in the forward part of the rear
parlor car and had narrow escape
cone man who was standing on the rear of the
parlor ear saw the TarTytOwn train coming and
Jumped of just in time TO save himself.
passengers on the train Il don't know who they
were. and we went over t0 kingsbudge and arrived
here about 1890 O'Clock. The accident was without
doubt due. | think, to the caIelessncss of the
man IN charg" Of the Albany train. Everyone there
at the accident said that II had no danger signal
ouf and that the first intimation our engineer had
of the danger was when he saw the lights of the
drawing room ear about fifty feet In front OF HIM.