The Portland daily press., 1882-01-16
THE NEW YORK HORROR.
Details of the Accident as Told by
an Eye Witness.
CRIMINAL CARELESSNESS AND
HEARTRENDING SCENES.

NEW 1Okk, Jan. lf.-Mf. OHulll, VI tulS
city, relates his experience at the Spuyten
Duyvil railroad disaster as follaws:-'.The
first person / met after getting out of the EN-
pire was 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 a section of the last
car and are screaming for help Neither my
self, Commissioner Nichols, MI. Kearney nor
any of our little party could render any assist
ance, as there was rothing 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 voice, which l
thought at the time was Senator Wagner's,
and said so, but 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 lady in the Idlewild who had been
caught by her feet and was hanging head
downward. Two gallant fellows, whose names
do not know, got 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.
Commissioner 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
was also in our car. was badly burned, and I
think seriously. He was nearly stripped of his
clothing and laid perfectly helpless on a sofa in
another car where we conveyed him. His
coat and vest, watch and chain were complete
ly stripped off. We were delayed by the acct
dent nearly two hours, aud when we left the
cars were still blazing. There was a great
deal of indignation expressed by the passen-
gers, and one of them said that high official
on the road had stated to him that the engi-
and franan offan IN alaau at their
posts, feeling SO confident that no accident
could possibly occur on the roar. He predict
ed that some day an accident would occur from
this overweening sense of security that would
make them realize their responsibility to the
public"
Lieut.. Gov. Barstow, of Vermont one of the
party, going South with young Mr.. and Mrs.
Park Valentine, was in the secondscar from
the rear, one of the two which were burned.
He believes that the persons who did not es-
cape were either so stunned by the shock as to
be helpless, or pinned down by the heavy
pieces of the debris. He himself escaped with
few slight bruises not worth mentioning.
The most horrible feature about the affair to
him was to have to stand helpless and see peo-
pie burned to death within few feet. To at
tempt to pry out some of the injured persons
would have only made matters worse, as, in the
darkness and confusion, it was not known un-
til the fire grew bright what harm would be
done in pulling at pieces of the wreck which
seemed to hold down the wounded persons
The first thought seemed to be to put ont the
fire. The river was within stones throw,
but no buckets were to be had. Before the
wounded could be touched the fire must be
prevented from getting at them. The efforts
to check the fire did credit to every one of the
workers who attempted the apparently hope
less task of quenching the fire with snow balls
and mud Before this could be done it became
evident that the whole wreck was taking fire,
probably from live Goals or oil scattered under
it. Then the situation was more horrible than
ever, for the poor victims, who conld not move,
felt the heat and Shrieked with horror as they
realized that they were to be burned alive. 1t |
is hoped that most of them died from suffoca-
ton.
Thomas Maher, of Kingsbridge, who per-
formed noble work in the rescue of Miss Dan |
iels from the wrecked Idlewild, said that Mr.. |
and Mrs Valentine could have been saved had |
it not been for the heroic devotion of the bride.
"We reached them both, - he said, "and found |
young Valentine wedged in between the seats, |
but she prevented us from bringing them out |
by clinging to him until the flames drove us |
away. have seen some terrible sights, but / |
never witnessed such devotion in the face of |
death as in this instance When taken from |
the car the couple were locked in death en-
brace"
The Times (whose reporter was on board the |
train) says:-It is the old story of collision and
fire; the first due to imperfect signalling, the |
second to the use of coal stoves to heat railroad
cars, and both being direct results of the |
greed of railroad directors. 1t is nothing
short of piece of criminal neglect that, with
in the municipal limits of the city of New |
York, it should be possible for one train to run
at full speed into another which was brought |
to a stand on the track, and it is no less dis
creditable to the richest railroad corporation in
the country that the loss of life attending such |
an occurrence should be increased by the pres
ence of coal stoves in its drawing room cars.
Mr.. Valentine, ST., was the only passenger
on the wrecked train who saw the impending
collision in season to jump for his life. He
was standing on the rear platform OF the Idle
wild A brakeman, with a red light in one |
hand, and, as Mr.. Valentine believes, with
white light in the other. was standing not ten
feet distant, looking up the track towards the |
Spuyten Duyvil station Of sudden the
headlight of the Tarrytown locomotive doomed
up the cut 200 yards away. The brakeman
started on run towards it and began to swing
his lanterns. Mr.. Valentine has just time to
leap from the platform and run across the
track when the locomotive plunged into the
Idlewild.
George Melius, the brakeman ON the train
who is charged with the responsibility of last
nights disaster, was arrested this afternoon.
He has been in the employ of the company rs
years. He states that he went back six or sew
en- car lengths and waved his flight, and thinks
there was time enough to stop the train, as he
considered that distance sufficient. He will be
taken before the coroner tomorrow.
BENNINGTON, VT, Jan. 15.-The bodies of
Park Valentine and his wife, victims of the
disaster, Friday evening, arrived
here dhis morning. The parents of the unfor--
tunate bride and groom-Major Valentine and
wife of this village, and W. FL. Gaylord and
wife of North Adams, Mass, are nearly dis
tracted, and the whole community heartily
sympathize with them. The fate of this
young couple was the general theme of CONVEX
sation yesterday, and the telegraph Office was
thronged with inquirers. Tomorrow after
noon, the clergyman who officiated at the we'd
ding Thursday, at North Adams, will attend
upon the obsequies here.
NEW YORK, Jan. 15.-Capt. Hooker of the
10Th sub-precinct, was at the coroners Office
to-day, having in custody George Melius, the
to whose carelessness the railroad
disaster at Spuyten Duyvil is attributed Me-
us was cool and apparently not at all distress
I'd by his arrest. He was permitted an inter-
view with his daughter, who called to see him
about noon. The coroner not being present
Melius was taken back to the lookup in the
Grand Central depot, the coroner having pre-
yiously announced he would not accept bail to-
lay. He will be re-arraigned tomorrow, when
pail will probably be accepted.
LIST OF THE KILLED.
NEW YORK, Jan. 16-The victims of the
Spuytan Duyvil disaster were all taken to this
,ity yesterday. naturalization already COM
)lete in most instances was assured in others
where it had been imperfect. 1t now appears
hat eight human beings were either crushed
,r burned to death in the shattered cars. Fol-
g. ,ad Mrc Mo- |