The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-02-10


but later heavy fog settled on the sea and
increased in density hourly. The engines of
the Cimbria were kept at half speed for a
time, and finally were run very slow. Short
ly after o clock whistles were heard, and a
moment later the British steamer Sultan,
freight and passenger boat, was seen headed
directly for the Cimbria. She struck the
Cimbria abaft the first collision bulkhead,
heeling her over on her side. 1t was seen at
once that the Cimbria was going to the bot
tom. Lifebelts were hastily distributed, and
spars were cut loose for the passengers to
cling to. A few minutes later the ship went
down, leaving hundreds of men and women
struggling in the water. One by one they
were drowned. Some of the passengers and
crew crowded into the only three lifeboats
that could be cleared away, and rowed along
the coast until picked up by passing steamers.
Less than hundred were saved. Mean
while the British steamer went on her way.
When she arrived at Elbe she reported the
collision. Survivors of the disaster describe
the scene at the sinking of the Cimbria as
terrible. The air was filled with the cries of
the hundreds who struggled until benumbed
by the icy water and then sank from sight.
The steamer Sultan was seized by the police
on the 22d. Her Captain then claimed that
he had waited twelve hours at the scene of
the collision.
The calamity on the Southern Pacific Rail
road in California was due, according to the
verdict of the Coroner's jury, to neglect on
the part of Conductor Reed and Brakeman
Patten. The overland express train which
left San Francisco on the 18th stopped at
Tehichipa to take out an extra engine which as
sisted in pulling upthe Tehichipa grade. By
some means or other the train got away, and
started backward down grade of 120 feet to
the mile. The train consisted of two eng ines
and eight or nine cars, some of them sleepers
filled with passengers. The train went whirl-
ing down the grade at frightful speed for a
distance of four miles. Then a curve was
reached, and two sleeping cars and the mail,
baggage and express cars jumped the track
and went down an embankment fifteen feet
high, where they lay piled in shattered
heap. They caught fire and passengers, who
were imprisoned in the wreck, were burned
to DEATH Many of the unfortunate victims
were held down by pieces of timber or heavy
iron. They struggled to free themselves, but
could not move, and the fire finally put an
end to their sutferings. Others manned and
injured, lay upon the snow, and were unable
to render any assistance to those who were
vainly endeavoring to escape from the fire.
The passengers in the sleepers were awaken
ed by the fearful velocity of the train, but in
a few seconds, and before there was time to
do anything, the crash came. Thousands Of
splinters, bits of iron, glass, and debris flew
in the air, and the luckless passengers were
buried under the wreck. Then the fire burst
out and the smoke from the painted wood
swept over it all. A fierce wind was blowing
along the mountain side, and the weather was
bitterly cold. Those within the first car
struggled vainly. Only one man was dug out
alive from under the heap of ruins of the first
car. There were sixteen lives lost.
California had another accident that day
besides the railroad horror. The Atlantic
Giant Powder works, near Oakland, was the
scene of five almost simultaneous explosions.
Nearly forty men were preparing twenty-five
tons of powder for shipment to Portland,
Oregon, when the explosion occurred. The
men were blown to atoms. The shock OF the
explosion was felt seven miles away, where
the people ran from their houses, thinking it
was an earthquake. Houses for distance of
half a mile from the scene of the explosion
were shattered, and many men painfully
wounded.
On the same day the ship Norwarts was
sunk off Iibau, and eight persons were
drowned.
The day following witnessed the death of
another famous man in France. GuStave
Dore,
The same day three coal trains, consisting
of three engines and sixty nine cars, became
unmanageable on the George Greek and
Cumberland Railroad, near Cumberland, Md.
All were coupled together, and when they got
in motion their momentum was so great that
it was impossible to stop them. They went
down the steep grade with frightful rapidity,
until one of the engines jumped the track,
and the rest of the train went crashing down
an embankment. An engineer, a fireman,
and three brakemen were killed, and several
others MORALLY injured
The sinking of Il considerable portion of
the city of Wilkesbarre, on the 24th day OF the
month, not only caused panic i'll that town.
but seriously frightened thousands of people
who live in the mining districts Nearly one
hundred acres Of the ground on which the
city stands caved in and hundreds of houses
were unsettled and many rendered unsafe.
The structures must'be rebuilt, as they are so
badly raeked that it will be impossible to re-
pair them. Huge assures in the earth extend
across large tracts of land. The disaster was
caused by the removal of the natural props in
the Delaware and Hudson Coal Company's
mine underneath the city. The scenes at the
time were extraordinary. There was a loud
roar, then rumbling sound, and the earth
shook violently and the houses rocked.
Then came a crash, and the people rushed
into the streets as their houses began to fall
about their ears. The ignorance of the
scared inhabitants concerning the nature Of
the impending disaster added to their alarm.
The miners living in the quarter of the city
that was shaken rushed about the streets not
knowing what to do, and women sprang from
their beds and fed out of doors. Nobody
stopped to dress, and they almost froze in the
piercing wind but were afraid to return into
their lettering houses for more clothing. So
they waited in the streets for sunrise. The
people of Wilkesbarre are yet living in daily
alarm. The whole city is undermined, and !
another disaster is feared. Relays of watch
ers have been organized, and system of
alarms arranged. The people are moving
away as fast as possible from the district that
has caved in.
On the 26th, the steamer Agnes Jack was
wrecked near Swansea. She went ashore on |
a reef, and was just out of range of rockets, |
and utterly out of reach of boats. The people ,
on shore saw twelve of the crew clinging to /.
the mast of the ship. One by one they were
his clothes, plunged into the waves, and |
swan for the shore. He too was drowned.
Fierce and disastrous storms aQd floods be-
gan in Great Britain on the 25tA and continue
as the month expires. High Withstand heavy
rains have blown doWp Buildings and flooded
all the low-lying lands, The storm has ragged
for several days, and snow has also fallen
heavily. The towers of the new Law Court
buildings have rocked so that pedestrians
we're warned away from the vicinity, and the
gale has done great damage to buildings in
Drihield, Preston, and Fleetwood. The
mails were delayed, and the sea wall at
Bridlington was seriously damaged. Rivers
oyerlowed their banks, and much Of the low
country in Ireland was inundated. People
nave been obliged to fee from their houses
md great distress prevails. Terrific gales
wept over the Severn valley during the night
If the both, and the sea has been so high that
idings of disasters to steamers are looked for
hourly.
On the 3Oth of the month great snow
ldes swept down the mountain sides of
colorado, and hurled miners and their build
ngs to destruction. One slide started at the
op of Ruby Peak, near Irwin, and rushed
With terrific velocity down toward the valley.
t travelled mile and half, carried away
Il of the shaft houses and machinery belong
ng to four mines, and buried eight men. In