St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-11
Narrow Escape Of the Whole
Train From Going Into the
Mefrimac River.
A Public Aims House in Con-
necticut Burned to
the GPOnnd.
Three of the Inmates Meet a
Horrible Death in the
Flames.

HAVERHILL, Ma S., Jan. 10.-Ihe
Portland express, which left Boston for
Portland at O'clock, met with serious
accident this afternoon between Brad
ford station and the Haverhill bridge
over the Merrimac river, caused by
rails spreading near frog on a curve
where the turn is made to run Oh the
bridge. The train consisted of an en-
gine. two baggage cars, smoking. par
lor, and three passenger cars. The en-
gine passed safely, but the smoker and
two cars left the track. The smoking
car ran on to the bridge and turned
over. One coach smashed into the tank
house and the other through the sleeper.
The crash was fearful and the cries of
the people terrible to hear. The Haver-
hill fire department came out, but the
cars did not take fire. Six persons are
known to have been killed; several
others are expected to die, and many
others are more or less seriously in
jured. The train was on time, running
at the ordinary speed. Physicians were
summoned and the wounded and dying
were rapidly cared for. Several of the
bodies were disfgured beyond recogni-
ton.
THE LIST OF KILLED.
as far as can now be ascertained, is as
follows:
JOHN O'BRIEN. of Bradford.
JOHN MADDEN, section boss, of Brad
c. P; GOODWIN, wife and child, of Ken
nebunk, Me.
WILLIAM TAYLOR, section hand.
A. L. WALKER, OF Harrison, Me.
Of
'JPi J6sEPH Fl H SHAW, of Boston.
An unknown man, having a card in his
pocket with the name of j. HAZELTON.
The smoking car lies upset on the
bridge and two passenger cars are badly
smashed. The scene of the accident is
an awful one. The Bradford depot has
been turned into temporary hospital.
Huga A. LettengrelI, of BrOckton. was
in the smoking car and escaped with
broken leg. A little boy. BERTHE Allen,
was EN- route for Exeter and received
terrible scalp wound. He will proba-
bly, recover. Attorney General o. ID.
Baker, of Augusta, Me-, was on board,
but was uninjured. ZenaS Thompson,
carriage manufacturer. of Portland, in
jured about the head and back, also arm
broken. Mrs. l.. A. Rowe, of Lowell, is
badly shaken up. Fifty-two passen-
gers in all were wounded, some badly.
Part Of them have been taken to the
city hospital. In the station the scene
was terrible one. The men were laid
on the floor. In the ladies' room were
five or six ladies, and these were suf-
fering terribly. Many of the injured
were taken away by friends, and it is
impossible at this time to learn the
names of all the injured. As far as
known they are;
oF D-oo,o,, Ioo5
tured.
HUGo SLITTENGREN, of Boston, back and
leg injured.
W. T. KIMBALL, of Boston, fracture Of leg.
and scalp wound
Mrs. JOHN P. FELT, of Warsham, Mass, in
1uries not serious.
Miss ETA OWEN, leg and hand badly
bruised.
JOHN KELLOGG. Of Boston, scalp wounds.
McKEoN, of Louisville, newsboy, head cut
and internal injuries.
REBECCA MCKEE, of New Brunswick leg
broken, head cut.
BERTIE ALLEN of Exeter, head cut.
w. f. KIMBALL, leg broken.
FRANK WILLIAMS, of Boston, head cut
G. G. WENTWORTH, head cut.
DENNIS SHANNON of Bradford, both legs
broken.
GEORGE H. ODELL, of Boston. face cut.
CALVIN MckENNA, of Auburn, Me-, head
cut and injuries about the body.
One of the saddest sights was the
death of Mrs. G. p. Goodwin and little
child, of Kennebunk. She was riding
in the second passenger car with her
little child in her arms. Both were in
stantly killed as was her husband.
Frank Litchfield, of Portland, who was
in the smoking car, in an interview with
a reporter, relates his experience as fol-
lows: 81 was riding in the forward end
of the smoking car in conversation with
another gentleman
about entering the abutment of the
bridge over the Merrimac river was
suddenly thrown over two seats and
rendered partly unconscious, and knew
nothing for several minutes, but upon
regalning consciousness crawled out of
the window" He escaped with several
cuts and was injured about the body,
his clothing being torn in shreds.
The first passenger car, which ran
into the water-tank and section house,
was ground almost to atoms, the heavy
tank crashing through the monitor top.
crushing it like an eggshell. In this
car there were six killed, and nearly ALI
the passengers received injuries, mostly
of severe nature. The passengers in
the car next to this received a had
shaking. but, as far as can be learned.
none of them received serious injuries.
The two rear coaches jumped the track
and ran about 100 feet, when they were
stopped by the automatic brakes. All
of the passengers in these two cars es-
capped without injuries, although they
were badly shaken up by the cars run
ming over the sleepers. A large number
of those slightly wounded continued to
their destinations. and their names
could not be learned. The name of the
man reported unknown is Jo-
sephus Shaw, of Boston. Ernest
Hatch, of Haverhill, the fireman,
got hurt by the corner of the building
falling upon him. He will recover. The
people of Haverhill are doing every-
thing possible for the wounded. The
accident is supposed to have been
caused by switch rod breaking after
the engine and three forward cars had
passed over the switch. The switch and
its connections were so badly broken
that it is impossible at present to ascer-
tain the exact truth. The train was one