Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-01-25
THE SLEEP OF DEATH.
Survivors Stories of the Southern Pa.
cific Disaster.
san Francisco Dispatch, s9d,

sun GFANctScO CtSlDutcNs ESu.
The Gail publishes the following inter-
view with Mr.. Howard TiltOn, of Yale,
British Columbia, the Freight Agent of
the Canada Pacific Railway Company.
who was on board the Southern Pacific
Railroad train at the time of the disaster.
He says:
Il was asleep in a lower berth when the
accident occurred. / was awakened by
the terrible speed and the rocking of the
cars. l threw up the curtain and looked
out of the window and perceived that the
train was dashing down grade with fright
ful rapldity at rate of probably seventy
miles an hour. / realized that disaster
was imminent, and laid down again to
wait for the inevitable with the feeling a
man must experience when he is standing
on the scaffOld in expectation of the fall of
the trap. 1t seemed only an instant when
the crash came, and l was hurled from
my berth. / had been sleeping on the left
side of the car, which fell on its right
side, and / was covered TO my waist with
mattresses, woodwork and debris, but
found no difficulty in freeing myself.
Smoke passed through the car, Civ
ing timely token of the i'm
pending peril. To the right, and in
my rear L saw Mr.. and Mrs. Porter
Ashe perfectly free, but Miss Petersen,
the maid, was buried under about six feet
of debris, on the top Of which was a water
cooler and wash basin. Mrs. Ashe was
endeavOring to eXtricate her. and l as
sisted in clearing away the rubbish, soon
succeeded in pulling her out. They were
the only persons in sight. l pushed up
the window ON what was then the top of
the car, and found it to work perfectly,
not pane having been crushed / crawled
through and drew Miss Petersen out.
and Mrs. Ashe followed. l asked Porter
Ashe to throw out some blankets, which
he did, and then crawled through himself.
Mr.. Ashe, Miss Petersen and myself had
only our underclOthing on, but Mrs. Ashe
wore a sealskin sacque. The cold was in
tense and we shivered, even though
wrapped in blankets. Deep stiffness fol-
lowed the crash, and we heard only one
scream while we were in the car.
''As l emerged from the car l saw Mr..
Hatch and his mother climbing out of an
other window. ran along and found we
could reach the ground by means of the
platform, / lowered Miss Petersen, Mr..
and Mrs. Ashe leaping to the ground.
The upper part of the car by this time was
in flames. Passing along by the sleeper /
saw the legs Of a man prOtruding from the
car. He was piteOusly calling for help.
He appeared calm and thoroughly con-
sciOus of his position. L succeeded in
partially eXtricating him, when train
man came to my assistance, and we
saved him from a horrible death. He
proved to be John +. Cassell, of San
Francisco, and he was the last person
taken alive from the ruins. All human
efforts we're of no further avail, as the
sleeper was in a sheet of flames. We left
the spot and limped down to the bottom of
the ravine, some fifty feet below, where we
found Ex-Governor DoWney, Mr., Cassell,
Mr.. and Mrs. Ashe, Miss Petersen, Cap.
tain Watterhouse and daughter, and a
feg other persons scattered about shiv-
ering ia the cold blast. Among the rocks
on the steep side of the slope lay Wright,
the pOrter wounded to death, and beg
ging piteOusly for help. At this time there
were some big, strong men, fully dressed,
parading up and down, who were appealed
to for aid by the injured, but who took no
notice whatever of their cries of suffering.
] attempted to assist Wright, who was
dying, but, being worn out, lcOuld do but
little. 4 brakeman named Mckenzie did
all i'm his power for us. A locomotive
from Tehichipa soon came to our assist
ance and conveyed us to the station,
whers we arrived two hours after the
accident OccarTed. Here we were kindly
cared for by railroad officials and others.
Medical aid was rendered and everything
done to relieve our necessities. The loco
motive then returned to the scene of the
disaster and brought to the station the
injured passengers.
EsMiss Squires. who was killed. had Occu-
pied she berth opposite mine. In front of
the berth Of Miss Squires, Mr.. Oliver, the
County CLERK On Lake county, was sleep
ING. He was bntGed 10 death. His wife
was not vii. him. The Bext berth con-
tanned Mr.. and Mrs. Cassell. He escaped,
but she was killed. A physician occupied
the next berth, whose name is unknown.
He was burned to death, but his remains
were identified. All ON my side OF the
car, with the exception of Mrs. eX-Goy.
Downey, were saved. Porter Ashe, wife
and maid, occupied the drawing room
car. In the dining sleeping car were
lady and her daughter, who, / believe.
were Mrs. and Miss Brown. Captain
WatteThOuse, his wife and two
children We're also in this car. There
were only a few persons in the dining car
who escaped, and they were more or less
injured, One of the tramps, who was
killed, Jumped from the train while it was
moving at lightning speed, and the other
was crushed horribly in the wreck. j, W.
Searle and Captain t. II. Thatcher, who
were reported among the injured, escaped
unhIrt. Both were on the coach which
kept the track. / do not know the cause
of the accident and can give no reason for
il. The engineer and fireman OF the extra
locomotive deserve great credit for their
untiring efforts in assisting the wounded"