New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-12-28
FILING DOWN A STEEP BANK
WRECK OLA BOSTON EXPRESS TRAIN.
ENGINE, TENDER AND MAIL-cAR BREAK FROM lnN
coACuEs-THE FIREMAN KILLED.

The Springfield "owl" train on the Ncw-York'
New-Haven and Hartford Railroad whlcn lei'
Rost.n at 1890 D. m. on Saturday and was due IN
This city at 6:25 a. m. yesterday, was P"i''""9
,v,ecsed ot Pelhamvie. little station sixteen
niles from New-York The engine, tender and mall
car were thrown down an embankment seventy
6vc feet high Eugene Blake, the fireman, was
killed: Riley Phillips. the engineer, mlraculously
ESCAPED, though not unhurt; and SIX mall clerks
were injured, three of them seriously, "hie
the ninety passengers were more or less oIuiscu'
Running along the west track, which is tho one
need nv incoming trains. on the south side of the
Pehamville station. was platform 1eet wioo
and 100 feet long. 1t was made OF heaVy oahen
boards laId crOsswise on two stringers. OIe u
the stringegs rested on the ground by the sioo VI
the track while the other rested on locust po'.o
driven in the sloping side of the bank. Inc poS'S
were about two feet out of the earth III oruci ~
make the platform level with the tracks iV hoN'l
oocprred 70 the builders of the platform that the
;rd vrouId he sufficiently strong to lit up hea'y
weight like the platform, SO they ala not
fosten the stringers TO the locust posts. 10 thls
oversight was due the accident that occurred yes
terday. The wind blew from the northwest wllh
terrific force on Saturday night. Those VINO were
ont in tbs neighborhood of PelhamvIlle say that
they rarely felt 1t have such velocity Inc loiIh"-
ton of the country about Pelhamvlle Is such 'hat
when the wind is from the northwest 1t
is caught between two hills ana sweeps
down on the high embankment which crosses
creek below the station The bank slants the wlhd
toward the station house where it crosses the track
like some proiectile from piece of ordnance. The
buiIders of the platform did not take this topo-
graphical formation into consideration.
Abont three seconds before the "owl" train
reached the spot yesterday, at 5:55 a. m the wind
hfted the hundred feet of platform from the locust
posts. turned it completely uplide down and de-
nosited il in the middle of the track in the pain OF
The train which was laundering down the grace aJ
the rate of forty miles an hour. Inc engine
knocked the platform INTO millions OF pieces Inc
tracks for two hundred feet after the passage oI
the train looked as If shower OF toothplckS
and kindlng-wood had fallen on 1t. Parts OF the
heavy stringers were sent spinning a hundred and
fifty feet over into the valley But the force OF the
shock flung off the track the entire tran consist
ing of a mai-car, baggage-car, smoker, one passel-
ger coach, the Mann boudoir-car Martina ana
two Pullman sleepors. They went whirilhg "ions
the edge of the bank p,ouehng up tie red DIRT tor
a hundred yards below the station when at the
steepest and highest part of the embankment, the
engine twisted itself at right angles and plunged
down the bank, turning over and over
until il Law on its hack near the
the bottom. The tender broke loose from the
engine and went down the bill, jumping over the
top of 1t and stopping IN the dltcn at the bottom
The mail car broke loose from the tender aud, n.y.
ing past it, lodged lengthwise on the BANK ana
turner over on its side. The other cars brought up
without going after the engine and tender thouRh
they came perllously near dong so. Nothing out
the stout coupling evented the TWO fuiiinal
sleepers from going down the bank. As it was
A. Ia in ha q
and toppled over the edge, lying partly on their
side
Tur ENGINEER SAVED PROM A FIERY DEATH.
There was great confusion among the ninety
Messengers who were rudely awakened by the
shock and crashing of the wheels over the ties.
They poured out in the darkness, men, women ana
children in all descrlbabe conditions of clothing,
bnt the cold blasts sweeping down the valley drove
most of them, with chatteTlng teeth, back 10 the
warm coaches they had left Those VINO dld not
90 back Joined the train hands, who with lanterns
in their hands. went TO the rescue OF the victims.
The hero of the hour was the water-boy taxing
bis lantern ne slid down the frozen bank to where
he could hear the grOans of the engineer kIIey
Pbillips He found Phillips lying partly under his
engine with his foot against the firebox His shoe
was buroing and his overalls were On fire. The
1va,crboy dragged the dazed and helpless engineer
down the remainder of the bank and rolled himsin
the ditch. thus putting out the blazing clothing
and saving Phillipss life The icy water brought
the engineer to his senses. ' Has any body sig
nailed the express7" was the first thing he said to
the boy.
The Adams express train, which left Springfield
ten minutes behind the owl train, was due at PeI-
bamyille in fifteen minutes and If 1t came along
then no words could picture the consequences
Phillips sent the boy up the bank to tell Conduc-
tor Holcomb to signal tho express. The boy told
Holcomb who started back with his red signa.
Then the water-boy returned TO the engineer aud
together the two began TO search in the darkness
for Eugene Blake, the fireman. They found HIN
hanging out Of the cab OF the
locomotive pinioned by his legs He was
unconscious but breathing stretcber was
passed down the bank and with the aid of some of
the passengers the poor fellow was carried up to
the station and laid the floor of the waltlngrOom
IL was evident that Blake was seriously injured
His breathing short and labored. Stimuianis
were produced but he could not drink. He drew
mn his legs once or twice and rolled his head about
on the stretcher If in great pain. Several
passengers collected and the tralnmen, hearing hat
he was diving. crowded into the station. Among
the passengers well dressed, hne-ioOk
ing woman who pushed, her way through
the crowd and knelt by the side of the dying fire.
man. Her white hand, with diamonds glittcrlnR
Oh her fir gers, was pressed to his griny forehead
as tendery as if she had been sister to him. The
trainmen in their soled uniforms looked III wonder
as the la ly bent down TO try to catch something
that the dying man was saying. Presently Blake
opened his eyes and looked about him Then he
called out:
"oh Jenny, take this heavy weight from oil
mep
One of the trainmen told the crowd that Jenny
was the name of Bake's wife, He had been mar
med only five months. Twenty minutes after
he had been laid in the depot,
the fireman died. Depot Agent Merritt
was on one side of him and the well-dressed wom-