Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-10-20
AFTER THE GREAT WRECK

| WILKEsBARRE, PA, Oct. 13.-
The number of killed in the Mud
Run disaster is sixty-one up to date,
and several wounded at the point OF
death.
The fireman of the fatal train says
that the cars were old ones, borrow.
ed from the Jersey Central, and
merely old shells.v
PATHETIC SCENES IN THE WRECK.
Some touching incidents that oc-
Cured in the midst of the fearful
wreck are being related by the sur
vivors. The crash in that rear car
was awful The engine plowed its
way thirty feet into the car at one
end, while from the other end the
next car was forced in aud swept the
crushed and helpless inmates back
against the hot locomotive, vomiting
scalding steam and burning sparks.
Hardly one of the victims but was
burned and scalded in a most hOrri-
BILE manner. One little boy named
Curran was found on the foot board
of the engine. He presented hor-
rible sight, for not only was his
head crushed in, but his legs had
been driven up into his body so that
his whole length barely exceeded two
and half feet. Another boy, Mich
ael Coleman, was found alive jam,
med up to the middle in the wreck.
With feyeriSh haste a number of
men commenced the work Of relief.
Some of them were members of a
pioneer corps and with their axes
tried to cut him loose. One man
missed his stroke and struck the lit
tie boy, cutting his cheek. He look
ed up at the man and said quietly /:
"Strike again, Jim, but don't hit
me there. Hit me ON the head and
kill me at once" He died half an
hour after, before being liberated.
Anthony Lynch was IN the rear
car but one, and was caught in the
week. He was pinned by the legs.
Driven against him was young
man, leader of the Providence Drum
Corps. A mass of timber had struck
him in the side aud torn his aldo
men open. He was still alive and
Lynch took bottle of whisky from
his pocket and poured it down his
throat, the poor fellow managed to
say: "God help me /; l have been a
bad son to my mother and I'll never
see her again" In few minutes
he was dead One man must have
been killed while asleep. He had
pulled up his coat collar and raised
his arm above his head and leaned
against the corner of window. In
that position he died and stiffened
with the rigidity of stone; the body
retained the same position after
death, nor could 1t be slaughtered.
PLEASANT VALLEY, Oct. 49,
This little town is utterly Frustrated
! by the disaster which has stricken
it SO terribly. The dark clouds that
draped the sky this morning above
the grief-stricken borough were in
harmony with the universal gloom
that prevailed, while the doleful
winds that tossed the dead leaves in
every direction seemed a fitting ac.
compartment to the general sorrow
The appalling accident at Mud Run
on Wednesday night had resulted
in the death of no less than thirty
seven residents Of this little mining
village. All business has been sus
pended. The mines have stopped
and stores closed.
| Over on hill a little west of the
town lies the Catholic Cemetery, with
| its white crosses and monumental
stones cleaning amid the yellow
tints of autumn foliage. This morn
ing while the winds whistled through
the forest trees little army of vol
nnteer grave-diggers began the
work of opening the ground for the
sepulture of the dead. The tasks
were assumed with fearful eyes
and heavy hearts. Scarcely a whis.
per was heard as the solemn labors
proceeded, for thoughts of the dread
full calamity that had so suddenly
changed the little community from
holiday joy into overwhelming grief
filled each bosom.
There have been mine accidents
that killed in one instant four or five
stalwart men, but never since the
fearful Avondale horror has there
been such wholesale destruction OF
life as is mourned in this little town,
which with less than 1000 inbabi.
tants mourns thirty seven of them
dead.
The case of Michael Barrett,
whose two sons were killed in the
wreck, is particularly sad Que. Two
months ago one of his sons was killed
in mine; two weeks later another
son was accidentally killed ON the
railroad shortly after that his wife
died, and the two sons who lost
their lives on Wednesday night
were the last of his family.
SCRANTON, PA, Oct. 13.-A more
Impressive day than this has never
been known in the history of ScraB-
ton, made so by the funeral process
sion of twenty-five victims of Mud
Runs disaster, on their way to the
several churches and cemeteries
throughout the city. All business
was suspended and thousands of
citizens attended the service for the
dead.
WILKES BARRE, Pa, Oct. b.
Twenty seven collins lay before Fa-
Their Curran, of Carbondale, as he
assembled the steps of the altar in