Morning journal and courier., 1886-09-15
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. DEATH ON THE RAIL, A Fearful Crash At Silver
 Creek.
 FOURTEEN LIVES ARE LOST And Many Passengers Seri-
 ousIy Injured. ARRRAH = R
THE RACES AT SPRINGFIELD. D.
New Hampshire Republi-
 cans In Convention.
AN EXCURSION TRAIN WRECKED.

l cans ln convention.
 | AN EXCURSION TRAIN WRECKED. l Run Down by a Freight Train the l Smoker is TeIescoped and Fourteen | Persons Killed and a Number In- l jured.
 | BUFFALO, N. r., Sept 14.-A Niagara l Falls excursion train on the Nickel Plate | under the management of J. w. Butler, ex- ] cursion agent, collided with local freight 1 in the cut on a curve just east of Silver 1 Creek at Ii o'clock this morning. Engine | No. 159 Lewis Brewer engineer, on the ex- I cursion train, engine No. 6, William Harris l engineer, on the freight, drew the trains. Both engineers and fremen were saved by l jumping. The train consisted of one bag gage car, one smoker and eleven coaches. l Only those in the smoking car were hurt, | which was completely telescoped by the bag gage car. There are various causes given for 1 the fatal wreck. Engineer William Harris of the freight train is blamed. It is said he had orders to meet the excursion train at | Irving. He failed to obey the instructions I and was running at full speed when the col lision occurred. Train men will not talk regarding who is to blame. A gentleman who was on the train said the freight train had orders to go to Silver Greek and the pas senger train to Irving and it was those orders that caused the collision. The passenger and excursion train consisted of fourteen coaches. The excitement on the train among those who escaped was intense. The scenes in the smoking car can hardly be described The first warning was the jar caused by the heavy pressure of the air brakes. Some of l the passengers braced themselves in their l seats seemingly apprehensive of danger. l Then came the terrible shock followed by the 1 smashing of windows and the roof of the car l and all was Q mass of bleeding and struggling l humanity. Men were locked in each others l arms, covered with blood while underneath l them and on all sides lay the poor unfortu- l mates who were instantly killed, crushed out l of human semblance. The sight ter | rible one and it required the stoutest nerves | to induce one to take 8 second look. The l wounded were assisted to neigh boring houses. l People brought bedding on which to lay the | dead and dying and all that could then be done to await until help, which had been immediately sent for, arrived.
 Mrs. J. H. Sigel, of Erie, Pa., passen- ger on the ill-fated excursion train, on her way to Buffalo. She arrived here safely this afternoon. In an interview she said: "I
 was on the first coach. The passenger train was a large one and carried large number of excursionists we'll as regular passen- gers. The first we knew of the col lision was terrific crash like explosion. Nobody was hurt except in the smoking car. not look at it. Not a single car was thrown from the track, but the smoker was completely telescoped. It was 8 mercy that our car was not crushed. One young man in the smoker saved himself by dropping on the floor and escaped with few bruises. I did not learn the cause of the accident, but we were going very slow while the freight was coming at high rate of speed. We were just one coach length off the trestle when the collision occurred"
 The people of Silver Creek were very kind and did all in their power. The ladies turn ed out and set up bedding. Some of the wounded were taken to different houses. In one coach the dead were placed. Most of the excursionists remained at Silver Creek intending to return home. The regular pas
 sengers for Buffalo came on this afternoon on another train.
 The following is list of those killed:
 William Reynolds, Dunkirk, N. Y.; Aaron Parkhurst, Mayville, N. Y.; Stephen Culver son, Waterford, Pa.; John F. and Henry
 Gebhart, John Seeder, Pittsburg; W. w. Loomis, Adriel Heideler, David s. Harp, Ja-
 cob Roslatter Charles Husick, John Seifert,
 Johnny Meyers, Erie, and one dead body not
 vet identified, making fourteen in all. Fol lowing is a list of the injured Henry Huyck,
 of Steritina, Pa, both legs crushed, very se-
 rious; Samuel Tracy, Erie, head and shoul-
 ders seriously; William Zimmerty, Erie; Lou
 is Linse, Erie, badly hurt: Martin Rossletter, shoulder and leg; Arch. Campbell, Erie, serious; Edwin Marble, Erie, legs
 broken, serious; Charles Schindler, Erie,
 Erie, right leg broken and head cut; J. P. Harrington, Erie, badly injured; Joseph | Taffer, Summit, Pa.,.. badly bruised; Philo | Loutter legs crushed; = Coburn, Titusville, 1 slightly injured.
 BUFFALO, Sept. 14.-The following spe-
 cial to the United Press gives additional par
 ticulars of the wreck on the Nickel Plate | road to-day:
 The accident happened at Silver Creek, a
 small station just east of Dunkirk. Here l the engineer received word to run ahead re-
 gardless of local freight No. 6, which the | order stated would side track for him. He l
 accordingly pulled his train of eleven cars | loaded to their utmost capacity and had gone l as far as the sharp curve two miles below the l station when he saw smoke floating over the | hill tops around which the curve went. The l locomotive sounded warning whistles, but it | was too late. The local freight, running l thirty miles an hour to make the Silver | Greek siding collided with the passenger l train, causing one ot the worst accidents ! since the Ashtabula horror. As soon as the l engines came in collision the shock lifted l the baggage car of the excursion train from l it's trucks and drove it backward into the | smoker filled with passengers. Starting in | at the forward end it literally | moved down the seats and crushed the occu- | pants or ground them into unrecognizable | masses on the floor. Out of the thirty-five | occupants of the car but two escaped with | slight injuries. The scene of the accident | was in deep cut. The shock aroused the l passengers in the rear cars and the sound of l steam aroused the neighborhood. In ten ! l minutes five hundred men besides the pas | sengers were on the ground. The Lake | Shore and Nickel Plate roads upon receipt 1 of the news of the accident sent special ! | trains from Buffalo and Erie with physl- l clans. At the wreck the scene was horrible. l 1 The smoker had been burst by the telescop- l ] ing and from the cracks in the corners and seams in the floor oozed blood in streams,
 making large pools on the track. One boy
 about eighteen saseopne ysese Ga car eaug apd
 the casing, his body half protected into the air through the window. His legs were crushed to jelly between the
 cars and he called piteously on the bystande1s
 to put him out ot ms misery. ron e .t ali parts of the car came the moans of the poor 1 wretches. A large number of men using l trimmed fir trees as levers worked faithfully | for two hours before even the first 1mprlson- 1 ed man was released. Their entrance to the l car was gained, but the progress toward the interior for the purpose of getting out the
 dead and wounded was slow. The entire | woodwork had to be chopped away. The dead were crushed almost beyond reoogni- tion, some of the bodies being crushed into
 space of few inches. Brains and blood covered everything. It was literally death
 trap. As the work of carrying out the dead
 wsra w;tnessed In one- place at the
 center of the car David Sharp,
 of Erie, was riding with his
 fen year old son. When the collision oc-
 cured it seems as if they were paralyzed and
 unable to get out: They were cauen' ana
 crushed together in heap.
 Charles Mcsparren, prominently connected
 with the Stearns Manufacturing company of
 Erie, had most marvellous escape. He was
 picked out of his seat by the draWhead Of the
 baggage car, thrown along the top of the , sesfs- his clothing torn from his body and was forcibly thrown out of the car window, - alierht hrI1iaaS William