Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-08-20
DEAD BY DOZENS.
The Grim Terror Reaps a
CHASTITY Harvest.
FRIGHTFUL DISASTER ON THE RAIL.
Sixteen Souls Hurried to Eternity and
More Than Score of People
Scalded and Mutilated.

The Rotary Devastator Sweeps Through
wfkesbarre and Vicinity, Marking Its
Course with Mangled Humanity and
Wrecked Homes-An Unknown Num-
Der of Victims, but About Forty Re-
ported NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of Sur
vivor of the Railway Accident-The Roll
of Dead and Wounded.
Boston. Aug. 20.-The Cape Cod and
Woods Holl train on the Old Colony rail-
way was wrecked at Quincy, just the other
side of the Presidents bridge, at p m.
yesterday. The disaster was frightful
one, resulting in the death of
about twenty persons and the wound
ing of many others, some of whom
are terribly scalded or mutilated.
The train was express to Brock
ton, and from Brockton express to Boston.
1t left Brockton at 1910, going at say
thirty miles an hour. Just this side of
Presidents bridge $50 called because the
homestead of President John Quincy
Adams is close by the engineer whistled
TO down brakes" The train began to
shake as if shivered by the shock of an
earthquake. Then came crash, the en-
CINE left the track, turned itself alongside
the rails, while the train slid along, leav-
ing the engine about midway of the train
opposite the first passenger car from the
smoker. In this car most all the harm
was done.
In the Fatal Fourth Car.
This fourth car collided with the engine,
and was instantly filed with escaping
steam. The Inflated passenger car was
completely wrecked. 1t contained seven
ty-five passengers-men, women, and chill
dren. The windows on the east side were
all closed, thereby preventing the steam
from escaping. The scenes about the car
were of the widest description. Strong
hearted men tainted as the steamed bodies
of a dozen women and children were being
taken from the ruins. Some of the occu-
pants, gifted with presence of mind, broke
through windows and escaped with slight
wounds. Where the engine and the car
collided were several women and children
steamed to death, while some were badly
mangled.
Passengers Account of the Horror.
William Fennelly, carpenter, was in the
fourth car. He said: Our car swept like
lightning right on the broken engine and
was forced on top of it with a terrific
shock. We seemed snatched right up
from the earth fifty feet in the air When
the car descended on the engine it had
whirled over and wounded passengers
were thrown ruthlessly about AS the
Car struck on its side solidly, the bottom
of'it was torn away, and thus an oppor-
tunity was given us TO get out. That
was the only thing that saved my life and
those of forty or fifty other passengers
Thirty seconds after the car struck |
| would have given 81, 600 for drink of any
kind from whisky to water. 1 thought
| should suffocate The death dealing steam
entered the car in dense clouds from the
locomotive beneath us, filling every crew
ice and almost suffocated those whom it
did not burn to death.
An Awful Scene of Suffering
'Ten women were gasping about me as
l tried to shrek and shout, and as they
became weaker and weaker as the steam
filed their lungs / could see them push
their hands or feet through the torn win
dows, trying in vain to get breath of
1reSn air. L uOD'L know now many saw
die before me. l saw them in the car cry
ing out for help, and did all 1 could |
saw the flesh burned from men and
women as that cursed steam enveloped
them, and l saw men groaning and shrek
ing in their death struggles as the scald-
ing fumes became hotter and denser. /
| hardly know how / escaped.
The Paralyzsd Spectators.
"When / had succeeded in getting out of
the wreck, the passengers from the other
cars were not to be seen, but over on a
fence bordering the railroad track were
ten or twenty men-it seemed to me 100
watching the scene of ruin and powerless
from fright and establishment to help u.s.
screamed, shouted, and swore at them,
but they would not move, and the more
cursed the more helpless they became.
These men-I hate to call them that-saw
me rise from my perilous position; saw me
tear at the boards of the car bottom with
all my might; saw me pull helpless women
from the interior of the steaming car; saw
me caught beneath falling bar of iron,
and unable to extricate myself or to aid
others, and they refused to aid me. Idon't
know whether they were fools or towards,
but they received sound and thorough
cursing from me"