The Portland daily press., 1888-01-11

side, which alone saved it from being precip-
itated over the bridge into the river below
The first passenger car, by the action Of the
smoker, was thrown off the track and ran
into large water tank that stood close by;
The walls of the tank was demolished and
the water deluged the car, putting out the e
fires in the stoves, and, 1t is probable that 1t
caused the smoke which filed the passenger
| car In which was. The car also struck q
round-house close by the tank and killed
three men who were inside; My car, by the
force of the shock, swerved little to the
right, grazed by the first passenger car;
/ which still further reduced its speed, and
| ran into the rear of another train, on another
| track, which brought it up standing. Glass
was falling on every hand and Attorney Cen
| eral Baker was somewhat cut by 1t falling ON
his hands. The shrieks and means OF the
dying and injured in the first passenger car
were fearful to hear. The third passenger
car received less injury than the second.
"As soon as possible all who could rushed
to the aid of fhe wounded. The sight at the
wreck OF the first passenger car was slcken-
| ing. On the train when II left Boston was
beautiful lady who had attracted the atten-
tion OF all the passengers. saw her pulled
from the wreck dead. Axes and saws were
In requisition and bodies were pulled, man
| gled fearfuly, from the debris and laid In
| the Bradford pepot. One mans leg hung by
thread. Others had lost feet and Others
both legs. One mans head came entirely to
pieces The car was mass of kindllng
wood Mr.. George Matthews, brother OF
Mr.. j. B. Matthews, of Portland, ran up to
me, his face all black. hair torn away and
covered with blood. saying, 81 look worse off
than am" He said that when he felt the
jar he was in the middle Of the car and was
pitched end over end, fortunately, into the
right hand corner. If he had gone into the
left corner he would surely have been killed.
Another man saw was Mr.. Rundlett, the
agent Of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance
Company of this city. He was badly cut
but not seriously injured, and got of the
train at Dover. A very portly, fine looking
man, with his face covered with blood, got
off at Portsmouth.
"There is no cause for anxiety about Mrs.
Edward G. Jordan, Miss Maggie Mattocks,
or Mr.. Ashbel Chaplin. They were not on
the train. When got aboard az Boston l
went through the cars and 1 know II they
had been aboard / should have seen them.
After che accident went to the wreck TO
give such assistance as could 1t was graf
flying to see the promptness with wnicn tne
Haverhill fire department and hospital SER
vice responded as well as the general pub
lic." Mayor Chapman also. spoke OF MISS
Owens experience which she herself tells
elsewhere.
ATTORNEY GENERAL BAKERS STORY.
Attorney General Baker, who was one OF
the passengers on the i'll fated train, arrived
in the city last night A reporter OF the
PRESS found him in his room at the Fal-
mouth. where q surgeon was bandaging
bad cut ON his left hand. "It was most
horrible scene" said he. II never saw any
thing like 1t before, and hope may never
again. was in the sixth car from the en-
gine. Ahead of us were milk car. one bag
gage car, the Pullman and one passenger
car. 1t was that passenger car ahead Of us
that was smashed the worst. Our car. in
xvhiob xyora Mavor Chapmon apd eavaral
other Portland people was smashed consid-
erably. You see the train was rounding
curve just at the entrance to the high bridge
that crosses the river Marrimac at Haver-
hill. The track is double and we were on
the outside rails Of the curve. On the out
side Of this curve, few feet from the rails.
was huge water tank or iron, set up On
timber supports. Beneath this tank room
was finished, and / understand that five men
were in this room at the time of the smash
up. Right by the entrance to the bridge
there was a little lookout or small house for
the shelter Of a switch or bridge tender. We
were rounding this curve at a fair rate OF
speed. not the highest, when something hap
pened to the smoking car, which was right
behind the Pullman car and the second car
dUtdQ Ol US. w idl HdPpCncI, VI CuulcSs
cannot say positively. / think the right
hand forward wheel Of the smoker gave
way. believe they round it after the acci-
dent with its fiange broken off. At any rate
the smoker left the track and began pound
ing around from side to side, though its
forward shackling held for time. The peo-
pie in the Pullman were terribly frightened
as they expected to be pulled from the track
every moment The fact that they were ap-
preaching the bridge made the situation
doubly horrible. But as it neared the bridge
the smoker broke away from the Pullman,
and plunging along fortunately brought up
ON the bridge, tipped over on its SIDE but
otherwise not much damaged. Its passen-
gers came out all right as far as | know. 1t
was the car behind the smoker and just
ahead of my car that was so completely
and wounded. This car broke from the
smoker, and, plunging of the track on the
outside OF the curve, drove with terrible
force right into that water tank. The i'm
worse; it knocked out the timbers that held
the tank. That huge mass of iron weighted
with its eight or ten thousand gallons of wa
ter, fell and burst to pieces on the broken
car and the mangled passengers. The signt
that met our eyes when we came out Of our
car and looked upon this wreck l cannot de-
scribe to you, nor should care TO do 1t II
could. Our car shared somewhat in the
| Wr6ck Oh tnc Car ducdus tuuusu uOt
| think anyone on our car was killed or very
| badly hurt. The first knew the car began
| to Jump about on the track, there was the
next instant a great shock, and all the glass
| came in; then we suddenly stopped, and !
| don't remember much more about 1t except
| that came out upon a scene Of horror"
CONDUCTOR wEyMoUTH's STORY.
| Conductor Weymouth, who had charge Of
the train, was found last night at the Fal-
mouth. looking very weary but evidently
very thankful that he was there to receive
the congratulations Of the many friends who
gathered around to congratulate him on his
escape Conductor Weymouth Is one Of the
veterans. Forty years ago he began rail-
roading in the days in the days of the old
| Portland, Saco & Portsmouth. He has been
with the Boston & Maine for years, and has
| experienced his share of accidents. But
! there were only two that he thought worth
| talking about last nights and one memoir
able disaster that happened six years ago
| the second Of this month on the bridge at
Kennebunk. He was conductor Of that
train and was badly hurt, so badly hurt that
| he spent days in the hospital. He was more
fortunate yesterday, though his escape was
| narrow. 81 was" said he, "in the second
1 OI LuItt pdSStubcL Gals. hdJoh OhaQudh
| and Attorney General Baker were in the
same car. did not recognize many other
passengers. There was fair train load
| We were approaching the bridge, running
about as we usually run in such places.
What happened to cause the accident do
not know. Something may have broken on
| the smoking car, the rails may have spread,
| the frog of switch may have caused the
| trouble; don't believe any one can tell
| now what did cause 1t. We only know that
| it happened, and that 1t was very terrible
In the smoking car no one was hurt so far as
| know. There were six sailors on their
| way to Bath from whom we expected some
| trouble. They had pocket TASKS and were
getting hilarious before the accident. But
| the sight that met their eyes when they
crawled out of the smoking car made them
pretty SOBER About those hurt in the car
behind the smoker, the car which crashed
into the water tank, l cannot say much as
to the number or as to who they were.
There was a terrible mixture of dead and
wounded people, car timbers, splinters and
water from the tank. The water went all
over In the wreck, so that we who worked
getting the injured people out got our feet
and legs wet through. Besides this car,
which was completely smashed, the car be-
1 IT,. oh hoAl eba1 .