The weekly tribune., 1891-08-08
DISASTROUS RAILROAD WRECK
Two Trains Telescope Killing Ten
Men Outright and lnjuring
Many Others.
A LIST OF THE KILLED AND INJURED
Conductor Kennedy Tells What He
Knows of the Accident Which
Seems to Be Very Little.
The Dead and Dying Mixed up lndis-
criminately With Baggage
and EXmessagc.
TWO TRAINS TELESCOPE.
Dead and Dying Passengers Mixed NJ
with the Express and Baggage.

Dead and Dying Passengers Mixed up
with the Express and Baggage.
SYRACUSE. n. V, Aug G.-At 4:JO
o'clock a relief train started from the
West Shore depot in this city to go to the
scene of the disaster. Its run to Port
Byron was rapid and when the train en-
tered upon the stretch of track east of
Montezuma desolate sight met the
gaze Of its passengers. Ministering TO
the wants of the injured and care for the
dead victims were seen many brave help
ers from among the passengers and crew
of the ill-fated train. On board the re
lief train were put the bodies of ten men
who were dead and the injured were dis
posed of as comfortably as the cramped
seats in the day coaches would allow
At 7,3O the start was made for Syracuse.
When Port Byron was reached the
dead were taken off and laid in a
freight house and the train
continued slowly to Syracuse. Between
Port Byron and Syracuse one of the
Italians who was terribly injured in the
smoker died and was laid out in the bag
gage car. Conductor Kennedy of the
limited said the accident occurred at ,
o'clock. II was in the front of the head
sleeper, Marathon" he said, "and had
Just noticed that we were making the
usual running time. We had left SYRIA
cuse at 1:5O on time. The train was
heavily loaded, each of the slecpers hav-
ing about twenty passengers. The day
coach was well filed. There were be
tween thirty and fifty persons in the
smoker. 1t was very foggy and the en-
gneer expected of course the Monte
yuma sidetrack would be all right for
him. The first indication | had of
an accident was when / felt a sudden
application of the air brakes. a mo-
ment later came the crash. That is
about all | can tell. except that the en-
gne went clear through the caboose Of
the freight train and then rolled down
an embankment. The day coach tele
scopcd the smoking car and when got
out of doors they were all mixed up with
the express and baggage cars. The sleeper
did moi leave the rails"
WilEsm j. Wilscy, dealer in securities
of San Bernardino, Cal, was among the
| tdhtll W tlC houSC VI liiO tp't
Shepherd in this city. He was on his
night to meet his wife and two children
at Detroit where they had been visiting.
He was injured about the knees and hips
with severe wound in the groin. He
said. II was in the rear end of the smok-
er when the crash occurred. ] had time
to know what was happening and as the
Io, ,,r.,chnI fb rp1rl fha cpnnlxar
! cuuli see it bowling down men like ten
pins. l Just turned my back and waited
to be rushed. In an instant was up to
my reck in debris and felt that
! was hurt, but managed to cxtricate
myself and crawl out upon the top of the
wreck. | found travelling acquaint-
ance, John f.. Bowdish, a brush manu-
facturer of Boston, pinned down in a
narrow space at the end of the coach
and unable to move. He was so tightly
wedged in that if the car had gone "A foot
further he would have been crushed to Il
Jelly. BY this time the wreck was on
fire, and before we had chopped
away timbers that held Bowdish the
flames were right upon us. Then we
crawled back into the Pullman where the
porters were all standing idle. If it had
not been for the heroic work of the pas
sengers themselves many of the injured
would have been roasted alive. A mem
ber of the opera company that was on
the train did splendid work. 81 saw,
said Wilsey, "a brakeman of
the freight train standing by the
side of the track crazy with excitement.
| asked him for Gods sake man how did
this happen?"
"Oh, my Godr' he fairly shouted, 81
told them to go back; told them to go
back"
| "What do you mean, back where?'
| "Back from the freight"
| II asked him then if he meant that
the freight did not send back any light
but he wouldn'nt say anything more. ]
think here may be clue to the cause OF
the accident"
Wrecking gangs are at work clearing
away the debris. The collision occurred