The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-01-20
RAILWAY DISASTER.
Terrible Accident Cn the Hudson Rir.
ef Railroad,


| jammed together by the Tsrrytown local train,
near Spuyten DuyYn creek, last night. The
wrecked cars were set on fire, and nine persons
are known to have petished In the flames. Il
is believed that ct least three Others must have
been burned.
State Senator Webster Wagner ia supposed
| to have been crushed between two Of his own
drawing-roorn cars, and to have persisted with
| the other victims. The Atlantic express left
Albany at 500 p. M nearly three-quarters of
an hour behind time. The train was heavy
one comprising thirteen cars Next 70
| the locomotive were two mail cars and q
baggage car. Behind them were three
ordinary passenger cars. Five Wagner
| drawing-roOm cars completed the train
| They we're the Red jacket, Sharon, Vanderbilt,
/ Minnehaha and Empire. The Empire was the
rear ear. At Greenbush, on the opposite side
| of the river from Albany, the Wagner drawing
room car Idlewild, from Troy, was coupled to
| the engine and became the last car of the train
| The train was IN charge of Conductor George
| Hanford, an old employee on the road. The con-
| ductor of the drawing groom cars was Mr. Taylor.
| Two stops were made-one at Hudson and the
| other at Poughkeepsie. From this last point
| the train began to make up some of the lost
| time. A speed of at least forty miles an hour
| Greek Station WAS reached Here the en-
gineer slowed down, and the train suddenly
| came to stop about midway between that
| station and the Kingsbridge Station. Some
| thing, it was said by the train attendants was
| the matter with the air brake. For some reason
| it failed to work. 1t was then few min=
| utes past o'clock. The delay must have
| continued between FIVE and ten minutes. Sud-
| denly one shrin blast from q locomotive was
heard, when the sound of grinding wheels
| from the rear grated harshly on the ear. The
| next instant there was shock which shivered
the Idlewild TO splinters, drove its heavy frame
| like telescope into the Empire, and COM
| pletely wrecked that car in an instant. Two
minutes later the Idlewild was on
fire from the stove in the forward
end, which had been thrown over by
| the shock The flames leaped upon the
| splintered Empire, and that, too, was filed
with fire and smoke almost before the occu-
| pants could escape. At least dozen
| persons who were in the Idlewlld were cut
| off from escape, caught by the jagged TIM
bers. and there held to be slowly roasted alive.
In the Empire were the following persons, al
| of whom managed to save themselves, though
| number who were in the rear end had Mi
| raculous escapes from the swift advancing
| flames State Senators John c. Jacobs and
| John ". Browning, Assemblynlan Alfred G.
| Chaplin, DR.. J. w. Monk, of Brooklyn;J. Hamp.
Js
| tello, John McNanus and Edward G. Sheehy, of
| New York-the turee last Tammany men; Com
| missioner of Police Sidney Nicholas Mr. Ed
| ward Kearney, Maurice j. Holahan, Commits
sioner OF Emigration Ulrich, Mr.. Edward Ca
| hill, CHARLES Swan, Messrs. Joseph Doyle and
| Augustus Abel, two ladies, A. W. Lyman, cor
| respondent Of the New York Su1l, and the
| Times Albany correspondent.
| The first indication that the Empires passen-
| gers had of danger was the single whistle of
| the locomotive of the local tram the Tarry-
| town express. The shock hurled them from
! their seats, and they were flung along the car
| floor. The swivel chairs, wrenched from their
| fastenings, were thrown after them AMI lay
| piled on top of the struggling occupants.
| A shower of glass came down from over
| head, and the roof of the Empire was crushed
in upon them by the weight of the Idlewid's
! roof, which seemed to have been lifted bodily,
| and shot forward upon that of the Empire. To
add to the confusion the lights began to glirn-
| mer and the darkness to deepen. Nearly all
the occupants found their way out through
| windows whose sashes had been shattered by
| the shock. The ladies were buried in heap of
| debris, and were extracted without having re-
| ceived any severe bruises. Assembiyman
Monk was pinned between timbers close
| to the roof. The roof was spried off, and
| he was with great difficulty released.
| He was completely FRUSTRATED by the shock to
1
the Minnehaha. The correspondents had, per-
| maps, as narrow an escape as anybody. They
| were in the rear of the car, at the side of the
| car which was inside of the curve which the
track makes at this point A gentleman who
sat opposite them, and was consequent
| " ON the outside OF the curve, was
| buried beneath the debris and was only
released from his perilous position by the
! efforts OF his two neighbors across the aisle.
| The fire was creeping slowly toward him and the
| smoke was sitting, when he was pulled out and
pushed through the window. Whether there
were more passengers in one of the rear COM
| partments of the Empire cannot be determined.
AS the last newspaper man climbed through the
| window he heard the screams of two women
! and the shouts Of a man proceeding from
| the extreme rear Of the Empire Whether
! they were among that cars passengers,
or whether they were In the forward end
OF the ldlewild, which was launched far into
The three Tammany Assemblymen had Just
| left q compartment at the rear of the Empire,
where they had been making merry, and were
| going toward the front of the car when the
| crush came, which splintered the very compart-
ment they had just abandoned. Senator Web
| ster Wagner had just passed them ON bis way
| to the Idlewild. He was not ten feet from the
newspaper correspondent, and must have just
| stepped upon the rear platform of the Empire
when the Idlewild shot forward and telescoped
| the Empire.
| Che Empire, is not known. With the exception
| OF Assennblyman Monk, the occupants of the
| Empire before mentioned all escaped with
! slight cuts or bruises.
The noise of the collision was heard half
mile away. and the glare of the burning cars
| illuminated the counwy far around. A
| crowd of the residents of King Bridge
| and Spuyten Duyvll soon gathered. Axes
| were brought, and heroic endeayors to chop
| hole in the side of the Idlewild were made.
| Nearly all of the Idlewild's passengers were
| caught i'll the timbers, and were unable to move
hand or foot. Their shrieks were appalling.
| The flames We're gaining Roadway. and there
| was neither hose nor pals, nor water at hand
| to quench them. Water there was enough in
the creek, not 200 feet distant from the doomed
cars. but in the absence of vessels of some des-
| cTiption it could not be obtained.
Finally some Of the neighbors, whose dwell.
ings fronted on the railroad track, furnished a
few wooden pals. Valuable time had been
lost, and the flames We're now beyond control.
The villagers continued to throw water through
the windows nearest those spots where human
! voice could be heard until the heat drove them
| far beyond point where the primitive fre-ap-
paratus could be utilized.
| A new danger was meanwhile threatening the
| thousand persons in the vicinity. Tho Iocomo-
tive of the Tarrytown express was imbedded in
the wreck of the Idlewild, its headlight
| dozen feet within the car, a heavy head
| of steam was on, red-hot fire
was blazing in the fre-box, and there were
| grave doubts expressed by the engineer
and fireman about the boiler resisting the
| tremendous pressure brought to bear upon it.
| Weter to quench the fire was called for. Then
| r. lat shovelfuls Of snow were piled into the
furnace. The water-carriers ceased for 8 brief
space to empty their pals upon the burning
cars, and dashed their contents into the furn-
ace. The dying persons in the ruins had to
be abandoned to grapple with this danger,
which promised death to SO many of the
| living. The furnace fires were finally
| quenched and attention was once more turned
| to the two burning cars, whose more solid tim
| bers had by this time been eaten away by the
| fierce flames. Ten minutes had elapsed since
the accident The last sound from the IN
| tombed passengers had died away Nothing
was heard but the crackle of the fire and the
shouts of the villagers, half mad
| with excitement at the thought of
human beings dying before their ewes, and thew
unable to afford them succor. Suddenly the
| idea of throwing sncw on the burning cars was
suggested by somebody in the throng. Hun
dreds of hands began to roll up big balls. They
| were passed over the fence to those who.
Drawing the heat, ran alongside the fierv piles
and tossed them through the windows TO
be licked up by the flames Ladders were
| procured and efforts made to punch holes
/ through the car panels. Never did men work
with more desperate energy than did these
| Bpuyten Duyyn and Kingsbridge villagers,
]