St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-01-20
Death on the Rail.
TERRIBLE DISASTER ON THE HUDSON
RIVER ROAD - SEVERAL PERSONS
KILLED AND woUNDED-vERMoNT
Frs AMONG THE PASSENGERS.


A serious railway accident occurred
on the Hudson River road, at Spuyten
Duyvil, last Friday night, which re-
suited in the death of eight or ten per-
sons and the wounding of many more.
The express train, which left Albany
at 2.4O p. m, containing a large num-
Der of state senators and assemblymen.
was run into by Tarrytown special
local train. The rear cars of the AL
bany train, consisting of three drawing
room cars, were telescOped by the
other train. At Spuyten Duyvil Jnnc-
ton, heated axle compelled the ex-
press to stop awhile. The conductor
ordered brakeman to signal the Tar
rytOwn special, which left TarrytOwn
at OBS p. m, and SpuNen Duyvil sta
ton ut 7.07. The brakeman apparent
ly did not signal properly, and the
TarrytOwn special, which ran at the
rate of % miles an hour, came round
the curve and struck the rear palace
car Idlewild, in which were ~ passen-
gers. The engine ran under the plat
form into the car and drove the Idle
wild into the car Empire with such
terrific force as to render it necessary
to cut it out with saw and AK. The
stoves and lamps in the parlor cars
were upset, and they ignited the wood
xK-nply ar,H unlA1Starxr Tho
were .iammed between the seats and
the sides of the car and held while the
flames rose around and envelOped
them.
Among the killed were Senator Web
ster Wagner, aged 10 years, and wide
ly known in connection with the Wag-
ner drawing room car company. Park
Valentine, of Bennington, and his
bride were on the train, Ell route to
Florida on their wedding tour-having
been married at Bennington the day
before. They were both burned to
death. The bridegroom was the oldest
son of Maj. A. b. Valentine, the we'll
known manufacturer of Bennington,
and nephew of Hon. II. w. Park.
His wife was the daughter of w. H..
Gaylord, Esq, of North Adams, Mass.
Major Valentine was also on the train,
but happened to be standing on the
rear platform of the last car and saw
the coming locomotive in time to jump
and save his life. Lieut-Gov. BarstOw
of Vermont was on the train, but in a
forward car, so that he escaped unhurt.
Miss Mary Daniels, of New York, who
had been visiting her mother in Yer
mont, was badly burned. Some thirty
Others were more or less injured.
There were at least 500 passengers
on the train, and the horrors of the
calamity were increased by the two
rear ears taking fire, some of the occu
pants being roasted to death in the
sight of hundreds. The occupants of
the houses in the vicinity of Spuyten
Duyvil at once came to the assistance
of the wounded, and tried to quench
the flames with water. Two women
were seen clasped in each others arms
and jammed between the frame work
of one of the cars and the cOlliding en-
CINE, and the flames quickly over
whelmed them. Frederick Mack and
wife, of Hinesburg, VT, and Mrs. c.
Mack of Burlington, were on the train,
but were not hurt. Hon. Geo. William
Curtis was among the passengers, but
is safe.
A THRILLING DESCRIPTION.
Mr.. Cahill of Boston relates his eX-
n.r;anca o+ +bo 1iSoStar % fnlInu-S
''The first person 1 met after getting
out of the Empire was a gentleman,
without his hat or coat, who exclaimed:
My God can you give me some help?
My son and his wife, who have just
been married, are in section of the
last car and are screaming for help
Neither myself, Commissioner Nichols,
Mr.. kearney nor any of our little party
could render any assistance, as there
was nothing at hand to break the car
with, and we were forced to stand by
and see the occupants perish. We
even tried to pull off some of the Stats
with our hands. In going about from
place to place, outside of the burning
cars, | heard a voice, which | thought
at the time was Senator Wagner's and
said so, but a number of his friends re-
marked that he was safe, as they had
seen him since the collision. | am
now satisfied that the voice was his.
He was crying piteously for help,
which we were unable to render. We
saw a lady in the Idlewild, who had
been caught by her feet, and was hang
ing head downward. Two gallant fell
lows, whose names do not know, got
a ladder, climbed to the top, and with
water and snow for time kept the
flames from her, but were unable to
rescue her. There we stood and saw
our fellow passengers burning up, and
we pOwerless to aid them. Commits
siOner UlriCh, who was in our car, had
a remarkable escape. How he got out
God only knows. When he reached
the track we saw that he was badly
scalded about the head and shoulders,
and he was completely dazed from the
shock. Assemblyman Sheehy, who
was also i'll our car, was badly burned
and | think seriously. He was nearly
stripped of his clothing, and laid per
fectly helpless on a sofa in another car,
where we conveyed him. His coat and
vest, watch and chain were completely
stripped off. We were delayed by the
accident nearly two hours, and when
we left the ears were still blazing.
SEVERE COMMENTS BY THE TIMES.
The n. Y. Times, whose reporter
was on board the train, says 1t is
the old story of collision and ire,-the
first due to imperfect signalling the
second to the use of coal stoves to heat
railroad cars, and both being direct re-
suits of the greed of railroad directors.
1t is nothing short of a piece of crimi-