The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-01-21
A TERRIBLE RAILROAD ACCIDENT.


New YORK, January IL.
The Atlantic express left Albany at
800 p. M. nearly three-quarters of an hour
behind time. The train was a heavy
one, comprising thirteen cars. Next to
the locomotive were two mail-cars
and baggagecar. Behind them were three
ordinary passenger-cars. Five Wagner draw
ing-room-cars completed the train. They
were the Red jacket, Sharon, Vanderbilt, Min
nchaha and Empire The Empire was the
rear car. At Greenbush, on the opposite
side Of the river from Albany, the Wagner
drawing room car Idlewild, from Troy, was
coupled to and became the last car OF the
train. Two stops were made-one at
Hudson aud the other at Poughkeepsle From
this last point the train began to make up
some of the lost time. A speed of at least
forty miles an hour was maintained until the
Spuyteu Duyvil Creek Station was reached.
Here the engineer slowed down and
the train suddenly came TO n stop about
midway between that station and the
Kingsbridge Station. Something it was
said by the train attendants, was
the matter with the air brake. For some rea-
son it failel to work 1t was then few min
utes past seven o'clock. The delay must have
continued between five and ten minutes. Sud-
denly one shriil blast from locomotive was
heard, when the sound of grinding wheels
from the rear grated harshly on the ear. The
next instant there was a shock which shivered
the Idlewild to splinters, drove its heavy frame
like telescope into the Empire, and COM
pletcly 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 spntered Empire, and that, too, was
filled with fire and smoke almost before the
occupants coudescape. At lea"t a dozen per-
sons who were in the Idlow were cut off
from escape, caught by the jagged timbers,
and there held to be slowly roasted alive
Three Tammany Assemblymen had Just LETT
compartment at the reac 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 COM
partment they had just abandoned. Senator
Webster Wagner had passed them on his way
to the Idlewid. 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. The first indication
that the Empires passengers had of danger
was the single whistle of the locomotive OF
the local train, the Tarrytown 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 and 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 Idlewd'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 glimmer 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 a heap Of debris, and were ex-
tracted without having received any severe
bruises. Assemblyman Monk was pinned be-
| tween timbers close to the roof. The roof
was pried off, and he was with great difficulty
released.
Nearly all Of the Idlewilds passengers we're
caught in the tiInbers, and were unable to
move hand or foot Their shrieks were APP
palling. The flames were gaining headway
and there was neither hose, nor pals, nor
water at hand to quench them. Water there
was enough in the creek, not two hundred
feet distant from the doomed cars, but in the
absence of vessels of some description it could
not be obtained. Finally some of the neigh
bors, whose dwellings fronted on the railroad
track, furnished few wooden pals. Valua-
bic time had been lost, and the flames were
now beyond control. The villagers continued
to throw water through the windows nearest
those spots where a human voice could be
heard, until the heat drove them far beyond
point where the primitive fire apparatus
could be utilized.