New-York tribune., 1884-12-17
A TRAIN OF CARS IN FLAMES.
A LANDSLIDE ON THE WEST SHORE ROAD.

Il
| cut on the New York West Shore and Buffalo Rail.
road, ont half a mile north of Highland, at
! about ) o'clock this morning. Five cars were
burned to ashes, engine was completely
wrecked. and several persons we're Iniured-one,
! the fireman. probably fatally. The train was tho
through Atlantic Express No. 81 on the time table.
1t in charge of Engineer John Dignan and
! Conductor Decker, and had eight cars, one bag
gage, one smoking car. two coaches aud four sleep
ing cars. There a large number of passengers
aboard and many of them fast asleep when
| the crash came. There several narrow
capcs from instant death and after the train struck
many passengers were helped oat Of the broken and
burning cars. The spot where the accident oc-
CURED has high rocky ledge towering above tho
sOuth-bound track on the west From the top of
this about ton Of small slate rock and earth slid
| by telegraph pole aud completely covered the
! southbound track. Not stone nor shovel of
! earth struck the north-bonnd track, and BILLY"
| TAYLOR the watchman for that section, says that
| when he passed Herring Point only about five
minutes before the train along, there
were no signs Of any description to anticipate the
slide. Taylor lives across the river in Poughkeep-
sic and is said to be a careful young man. One Of
his duties IS to walk over the track between tho
passage of trains, and this he claims to have done
this morning before the Atlantic express camo
along.
HOW THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED.
The train left Kingston at i:l0. 1t was on time
and was running at the rate OF twenty-eight or
thirty miles an hour schedule time When the
engineer first put his eyes on the obstruction his
train was within about thirty or forty feet of il.
The gray hours of the early morning had not yet
passed away, and 1t was impossible for him to SEQ
far ahead, notwithstanding the slight curve does
not obsruct the view of the track in daylight for
several hundred feet. As soon the heap of stone
and earth was discovered Engineer D.gnan. who,
by the way was one Of the engineers in the collis-
ion at Orangeburg about year ago. threw his re-
versIng lever and applied the air brakes with
full force. The momentum OF the heavy train was
50 geat however, that it could not be stopped and
when the pilot of the engine struck the mass of
rock and earth the latter flew in
all directions. The engine was pushed
forward after baving left the rails with great force
and landed on its side on ths north-bound track.
The engineer aud fireman were both thrown out on
the river side down small emhankment, landing
within three feet of each other. The tender be-
came detached from the locomotive and turned
over ON the track it was running 90.
The baggage. smoking ear. two coaches aud
sleeping ear left the rails aud bounded to the right
side. They struck into little sort of guilty be-
tween the railroad tracks aud the high hill Witch
nvcfnnls tho tracks un the vpst aud the nrat rat
brought ~ utp a roadway hHNonl Five nl the
cnia rauahi iiie aud wrlc hnu'h ~ ne tinnhn.
The unt ears saved wpp the thirr slpunine pais 80
ihr trar pnil ni the iaii he smnhina eAt turned
upsitr Il VII anl tho iis tlei ainip ui the diuNst
rlaannarfs knew ~ thh accident was Mhrn thpv
iuNnd themselves Walhhs nh lhh tnrl ~ the rtt
Tho overturned stoves spl tao a,luhs
lAa eaf eh Ile fnnat .,s, was ,,qiientqi.
iErowH ion tEe t,aci a d niraed IL that position,
LOOMING AfffH rnf iNjrHtn,
/
the accident said that he heard tie crash and
rushed down to the rack 10 give assistance IN
getting the baggage and passengers out of tho
cars. IIo says that there was great excitement for
a short time, and the women especially were in
frenzied sae of mind The engineer who.e only
phvsica injuries are a scratch on his forehead soon
recovered from the shock aud went 10 work 10 caro-
for his fireman. James German. OF Ncw-Durham, y.
j., who is probably fatally hurt. Engineer Dgnan
extricated German from the wreck and took HIM
10 the house of John EI.yea. cmpoyc of tho
road. The engineer and Conductor Decker then
set 10 work rescuing he passengers. The smoking
ear. which was in n bad position aui burning. was
well filled with paSseng =, ana u Is shd tnal q
number of them escaped through the windows
while the car was upside down, line Inc
part OF the side of the car had to be torn
away 10 allow some of the people TO escape. The
engineer and fireman were thrown thirty feet down
the embankment toward Willow Do. H." a small
structure near the wreck. The fireman, who ls
badly hart, has a acompound fracture of the right
leg, just above The ankle, and flesh wounds on the
chin and right temple. tie has also sustained Sc
we've injuries to his back, which indicate serlons IN
ternal injuries. New-iork phvsicIan who was
the train attended 10 the fireman, ana aitcrwaId
Dr. LemoreuX. OF Highland. was cent FOR. lhey
think there are feN chances fer thc fireman TO re-
cover. The express messenger on the ifain' Hr.
Taylor bad his shoulder dis0oatcd. The only pa -
cnger seriously hurt VAS soldier, desertcr from
the Array. who was III The custody 9t SQUAD OF
..f.; .;,..rs il Va ~ 1 Fart
had three RIBS broken and VAS sent back to hos
pital at Kingston. Jersey city woman had one
of her legs aud hand severely cut aud bruised.
George Hour, a German from Buffalo, had his Knee
sprained
the tram was removed before the baegage-car was
reduced to ashes. Some 0f the baggage caught IN
The flames belonged 70 Ecw-for,t travelling IA es-
man and consisted o. SAMPLES The wreck was he
largest and most serious The West ShOre Road has
had siuce IL began running. Extra pre- luton had
been taken TO guard against land-shdes, ana ia
several instances accidents nave been averted by
tnc iorcthoughi OF tlic managc'nent II ls thoughs
b. some that the train itself shook the stone aud
earth down in this instance. aud ihat II could not
possibly be avoided. II viii cost the company
from : ~. 900 to 500, 900 10 renalr the damages
Wrccking trains from Weenawken and Kingston
were soon on the ground as was aSo the Hudson
River Division Superintendent, {, W. bradley.
Both tracks were blocked for seven hours. the iirSt
train getting by the wreck at - o'clock, bound
sJuth The passengers on the Atlantic express
were Transferred TO a train from Cornwall and sent
Tnrineor Dirnnu. who WAS seen digging about
the wreck looking Tor something he ha1 lost. saii
that he didn't know how he escaped When tho
locomotive was turned over on rs sld" after nav
ing ploughcd up the cari he and his fireman found
Themselves thrown several feet from the engine ON
the river slde aud down an cnhankment about
eight feet i'm height A. soon as Ice recovered from
he shock he lifted mp his fireman rs ienaerly as
he could and removed him 60 % house near by.
where lc was cared for. He said that he was run-
ming on schedule time The obstruction was not
seen ~ time 10 avert the disaster. bat every effort
10 do 50 was put fcIth rs quickly as possible.
TERRIBLE SCENES At TIE WRECK.
Conductor John Decker and his crew came 10
I'm nn-ll nn wont ONT nn l-r -c.nnI rln n