The Portland daily press., 1888-01-11

shaking the Pullman badly, threatening to
throw II from the track. While all this was
! happening they were swiftly approaching
the high bridge over the Merrimac. "All
our car and wait. just before we went on
to the bridge the smoker seemed to break
| away from our car. / saw 1t Jump TO one
| side, hit the little outlook or house by the
side of the track, knock 1t into the river,
then rush right against the slanting support
of the side Of the great iron bridge. UD this
support 1t seemed TO slide. then It shot off,
not into the river below-awful it would
have been il it had, for the bridge is high
/ above the river ed,-but over onto the rails
Of the second Of the two tracks that cross
the bridge. There 1t lay on its side, while
| its passengers, daZed, stupefed or wild with
terror or excitement. crawled out the win
| dows. But didn't pay much attention TO
them. | had also seen the great breaking up
that had happened among the three cars be-
] hind the smoker, and 1t seemed to me that
| the whole Of that part of the train had gone
to destruction. | saw cloud rise from the
ruin; II was dust, as l afterwards found out,
but thought 1t smoke. One Of the employees
Of the road was about to run to Haverhill
| for help. Shout frel irev / said to him,
and he did so as he ram The result OF this
was that the Haverhill fire department were
on the spot Immediately. ran back TO
where the passenger ears had run into the
water tank. pulled out seven persons, all
more or less injured. One man lay with
car stove on him. Another was pinned down
and covered with blood. He was fainting
and put snow on his forehead and breast
He revived and asked him how he felt.
Elegant said he. AS there we're several
pieces of car roofs. part Of the water tank,
and don't know how much else on him, 1
think his courage was pretty good don't
remember that there was much shrieking or
groanlng. There were some outcries at first,
as all those wounded and able to talk seemed
to have horrible dread that they would be
burned alive. When we assured them that
there was no danger Of their being burned
they quieted down, as l remember it. But
my memory is not wholly trustworthy, as /
tainted away soon after | helped my last
man out. 1t was so horrible that could not
stand 1t"
WILLIAM Y. POMERoY's STORY.
Mr.. William Y. Pomeroy, agent for Clark's
spool cotton, who lives on Cushman street,
in this city, was among the passengers who
occupied seats in the smoking car. Mr..
Pomeroy sustained severe bruise on the
side Of his head, and had his back severely
strained. Mr.. Pomeroy was able to come to
this city with the train, but was too III last
night to see the. reporter. He, however, told
his experience to the members Of his family
From them 1t was learned that Mr.. Pomeroy
first knew that something was wrong by the
irregular motion Of the cal. which was shak-
ing violently up and down. Then the car
ran on to the bridge and was thrown violent
ly over ON its side toward the water. Mr..
Pomeroys first thought was that the car
would plunge into the river and its occu-
pants be drowned. He was thrown forcibly
from his seat and, as he fell, one Of the
heavy cushions struck him on the side OF the
head. Lying half unconscious, Mr.. Pome-
roy was aware that the car, still ON tits side,
was sliding along over the ties. He said
that it seemed to him the car would never
stop, but finally the motion ceased and at
once the passengers commenced scramble
to escape. Mr.. Pomeroy had not sufficient
ly recovered consciousness to help himself,
and did not leave the car until all the others
had gotten out. Then he made his way out.
The air revived him. and finding himself
with neither coat nor hat, Mr. Pomeroy
again entered the car, went back to where he
had been sitting, secured them, and, upon
again getting out, walked across the bridge
to Haverhill, where he secured the services
OF physician. The doctor upon looking at
his patient, exclaimed. you've had narrow
escape. If the blow had been an inch lower,
you would not have been here to tell the
story"
Mr.. Pomeroy said that the escape Of the
-
Had the car been dragged much further out
on the bridge, he believes 1t would surely
have toppled over the side into the water be-
meath, or. had the car in the rear kept on
over the ties, he thinks the smoker would
have been telescoped. Mr.. P0mer0y did not
| 90 back to the wreck and was too badly hurt
to pay much attention TO what went on
around him In the car. He thinks that the
smoker was dragged on its side for several
| hundred feet.
Last evening Mr.. Pomeroy was suffering
| considerable pain, but his physician did not
| think his injuries would prove serious.
CONDUCTOR LITTLEFIELD's STORY.
The parlor car conductor, Mr.. Z. A. Lit
tefeld, told the following story:
1--WE had just left the Bradford station and
were running at the usual rate Of speed and
| were on time. had just left the smoking car
when suddenly there was tremendous jerk
from behind which threw me violently down.
| The smoking car left the track, spreading
the rails and thus letting the three rear cars
of. The smoker hung on and was drawn
several car lengths until we reached the
bridge against which it struck with a crash
and fell over upon the other track, looked
back from my car and saw what had hap
pened and rushed across the bridge, hat in
hand, to Haverhill, shouting FIRE. At once
ON reaching Haverhill pulled in an alarm
and soon the fire department was on the
| spot A line Of hose was run across the
bridge to the place of the disaster.
"In leaving the track the three rear cars
struck the water tank. under which there
| was a room occupied at the time by mum
| Der Of section hands, two Of whom were killed
| outright The tank, with its contents, fell
upon the cars and the wounded and dying
passengers within. The Weymouth saloon
car No. 403 was the one most demolished.
| The passengers in this car suffered more
than those in the other two. Soon the hook
and ladder company was at work upon the
wreck. The surgeons and physicians of
| Hayerhill responded promptly and as the
fremen removed the wounded they dressed
their wounds and sent them in hacks or am-
/ balances to the hospital. The ladies OF
| Bradford also assisted at the depot. which
was converted, for the time being. into a
/ hospital. All was confusion, the greatest
excitement prevailing. The city being near,
a crowd soon gathered, and there were
/ plenty OF workers to assist In removing the
/ dead and the dying from the ruins.
| The groans of the injured were
| heard on every side and IL was i'm
| possible to tell a section hand from well
/ dressed lady when they were first taken from
No. 403 was drenched with water from the
tank and covered with mud. / saw one lady
| taken out from the debris who wore a fine
silk dress. She was covered with mud and
drcnehed with water Her clothes were
torn and her face and hair were red with
| blood. / do not know how many were
killed but it Is safe to say that there were at
least six or eight who lost their lives. l saw
four dead bodies myself and also 10 wounded
sent to the hospital.
"Just before leaving Boston lady came to
| me with a little boy, BertIe Allen OF Exeter,
and requested me to care for him on his
journey and see that he got off at the right
station. l agreed to do it. After the acci-
dent began to search for him and after a
while he was found only slightly Injured As
lead him from the wreck a shout. Hes
found, he's found" burst from the crowd
which stood near. They had heard Of the
boy and were anxious to know If he would
be found among the living. and when it was
| discovered that he was only slightly injured
they could not refrain from a shout of Joy.
'sThe smoking car was full of passengers
but none OF them were badly injured. The
train men all escaped without injury except
the news agent who received quite severe
wounds about the head and it is feared cam
not live, and Grant Holman, the water boy,
who was somewhat bruised about the head
Nobody now can tell what caused the ae-
cident but future investigations may throw