News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-02-15
THE HORROR IN THE SIERRAS.
Train Robbers Charged with Causino t,o
AcCidcmI.

A dispatch from San Francisco SAYS
The railroad officials state that. from
some Of the evidence given at the in
quest over the victims, and from infor-
nation obtained by detectives, they are
now convinced that the accident was not
due to carelcssness on the part of their
employees, but was the result of an at
tempt to rob the express car. They
claim that the handbrakes were properlv
set by the brakemen before getting off
the train. They say that one of the
brakemen escorted a lady to the station
and returned toward the train, which
was still in position; that his lamp went
out, and that, after he had re-entered
the station and re-lighted it, he found
the train gone.
They mold that on such a grade the
train could not have stood a moment if
left unbraked, and, furthermore, that
the engines and air-bra1es could not
have been disconnected unless the train
had been held by the hand-bral1es to ease
the strain. They express the belief that
the brakes were tampered with. It is
known that when the train drew into the
station two men were seen there who
were subsequently found dead in the
wreck and who are as yet unidentified
and these men, it is thought, were part
of Il gang that attempted to rob the train,
and in order to effect their object let off
the brakes and stnrted the train down
the grade in order to get it away from
help and in position where the express
car could be robbed Being inexpem-
enced they lost control of the train and
the accident occurred. Further evidence
is adduced that no tramps were on the
train before reaching Tehichipa, while
two were found amidst the wreck and
two more on that part of the train that
kept on the track.
A dispatch from Los Angeles states
that on january 22d Dr.. Ross COM
menced the work of carefully examining.
for the first time, the bodies which had
been picked up at the wreck, the word
"bOdies," as here used, signifying pOr-
tions of the human form, in many in
stances handfUls of whitened bits of
bones, being all that remained of what
had been human form, and he quickly
made a thrilling discovery.
Some of the boxes, in which had been
placed what was supposed to have been
human remains. contained charred and
cooked flesh, either of beef or mutton.
After his careful examination he con-
cluded that six of the supposed bodies
possibly contained no human remains,
and of one other he was in such doubt
that he and DR.. Krutz, ON January 23d, to-
gether made another examination of the
supposed remains. This resulted in their
pronomcing absolutely that they were
not of human flesh.
\ duplicate chart Of the passengers
and sleeping cars shows that every one
who took passage is accounted for. The
remains of Charles r. Pierson, Wright,
the porter; Ferdinand BrrmfoId, Thomas
Kegan and the two discharged soldiers
were readily identified, as their bodies
were not disfgured or mutilated. The
remains of Colonel Larrabee, Miss NJ.
E. SQuires, Mrs. Downey and Lawrence,
the porter of the through sleeper, have
been positively identified, and enough
has been brought to light to identify the
remains of L. Wetherel and Fl. A. Oliver.
These, added to the recognized remains
OF Mr.. Sehlinghyde, who boarded the
doomed train at Fresno, make the num-
Der of dead accounted for twelve. Two
bodies still remain unrecOgnized. The
cIaws for their Identification are so slight
that it is possible they never will be
known. These remains may be those of
the tramps who were stealing ride on
the train. At all events every one on
the chart Of the sleepers has been ac-
counted for as either living or dead.
The supposed bodies of seven persons
have been pronounced, as stated above,
burned flesh and bones of other than
human forms; and what strengthens the
position thus taken by the medical men
is the fact that the remains, which were
pronounced human, were taken from the
ruins of the express and baggage cars.