Milford chronicle., 1883-02-02
DASHED TO DEATH.
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION or THE DIsAs
TER On THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC.
strong Men who Refused TO aid the Injured
and DyImg-Buried Under the
Mass Of Rubbish.

/ strong Men who Refused 70 aid the Injured
and Dying Buried Under the
Mass Of Rubbish.
The San Francisco call publishes the
following interview with Mr.. Howard
Tilton. Of Yale. British Columbia, the
freight agent of the Canada Pacific Rail
way Company, who was on board the
Southern Pacific Railroad train at the
time of the disaster He says: " l was
asleep in a lower berth when the accident
occurred. was awakened by the terri
ble speed and the rocking of the ear. l
threw up the curtain and looked out OF
the window and perceived that the tram
was dashing down grade with tughttul
rapiditv at rate of probably seventy
miles an hour / realized that disaster
was imminent. and laid down again to
await the inevitable, with the feeling
man must experience when he Is standing
ON n 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.
Il had been sleeping on the left OF
the car. which fell upon its right side,
and 1 was covered to my waist with mat
tresses. woodwork and debris, but found
no difficulty in freeing myself. Smoke
passed through the car, giving tlmely
token of the impending peril 10 ihe
right and in my rear l saw MI. ana
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 endeavorlng to
extricate her. and l assisted IN clearing
awav the rubbish. We soon succeeded
in pulling her out. They were the only
persons in sight. Ipushed up the win
dow on what was then the top of the
car and found it to work perfectly, not
n pane having been crushed l crawled
! through and drew Miss Petersen out,
and Mrs. Ashe followed. ! asked Porter
/ Ashe TO throw ont some blankets, which
he did. and then crawled through him
4 self Mr.. Ashe. Miss Petersen and my
self had only our mderclothing on, but
/ Mrs. Ashe wore a sealskin sacque. The
] col1 was intense, and we shivered, even
though wrapped nil' tiilS.sk g., crash and
"Deep stiffness followed the = 49, ''are
we heard only one scream while we woo,
in the car. / saw Mr.. Hatch and his
mother climbing ont Of another window
I 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 l saw the |
legs of a man protlUding 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 a tram
man came to my assistance, and we
saved him from a horrible death. He
proved to be John F. CasseD, of San
Francisco. and he was the last person
taken alive from the ruins. All human
efforts were of no further avail, as the
sleeper was in a sheet OF flames.
1--WE left the spot and limped down to
the bottom of the ravine some fifty feet
below. where we found eX-Gov. Downey,
Mr.. CasseI Mr. and Mrs. Ashe, Miss
Petersen. Can't WatteThOuse and
and few other persons
scattered about shiveriug III the cold
blast. Among the rocks on the steep
side of the slope lay Wright, the porter,
wounded to death and begging piteously
for help. At this time there We're 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 suffer
ing. I attempted to assist Wright, who
was diving. but being worn out l could |
do but little. A brakeman named
did all in his power for us
A locomotive from Tehichipa soon came
TO our assistance and conveyed us to the
station. where we arrived two hours after
fhe accident occurred.
Here we were kindly cared for by
railroad officials and others. Medical aid
was rendered and everything done to re-
ieye orr necessities. The locomotive ]
then returned to the scene of the disaster
and brought to the station the jured i
passengers. Miss Squires, who was
killed, had occupied the berth opposite
mine. In front of the berth of Miss
Sauires Mr.. Oliver, the County Clerk of
Lake county, was sleeping. He was
burned to death. His wife was not with
lim. The next berth contained Mr.. and
Mrs. Cassell. He escaped, but she was
killed. A physician occupied the next
perth. 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-Governor
Downey. were saved. Porter Ashe, wife
md maid occupied the drawing-room care i
'In the dining-sleeping car were lady /
md her daughter who, / believe, were 4
Mrs. and Miss Brown. Captain Waiter
louse. his wife and two children were
llso in this car. There were only few
persons in the dining car who escaped,
md they were more or less injured. One
# the tramps who was killed jumped
rom the train while it was moving at
lightning speed, and the other was
rushed horribly in the wreck. J. W.
,earle and Captain 7. H. Thatcher, who i
we're reported among the injured, ESCAPED S
lnhurt. Both were on the coach which .
.ept the track. 1 do not know the cause
f the accident. and can give no reason "
Or it. The engineer and fireman Of the t
xtra locomotive deserve great credit for
heir untiring efforts in assisting the a
wounded. "
A Loxe S11DE.-Con Sullivan, of St. t