The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1891-06-18
TERRIBLE SCENE.
Over q Hundred Lives Lost BY the
Railroad disaster Near Berne,
Switzerland.
Scenes Remindful of the Heart-Rend-
ing Features of the Flood at
Jamestown Pa.

BERNE, juno l6.-The total number oil
people who lost their lives yesterday by the
collapse ola railroad bridge on the Moen-
chenstein & Bale railroad is now placed at
l20, with hundreds more or less injured.
II is feared that many Others are dead,
whose bodies have not been found.
Shortly after the first horror of the crash
ing of the engines and cars through the
bridge and into the swiftly running stream
had died away the survivors of the accident
saw scene which must have rivaled in
horror the most heart-Tending features oi
tie Jolnstown disaster in the United States.
BencatlI the bridge, or what remained OF
1t, was hidGous mass of broken car
W heels engines, railroad car upholstery,
seats, mats, axles, broken glass and twisted
tin work intermixcd with still quivcring
heads bespattercd with blood and brains,
protrudimg arms and legs bloody gar
ments of all descriptions, hats and
bonnets, umbrellas and parasols, hands
and feet while floating down the stream
were numbers nt dead bodies and family
struggling men, women and children, u few
of them uttering horrible cries of terror or
emitting those fearful. gurglng, suffocat-
ing. moaning gaSps peculiar to the drown.
ing.
After the first moment of partial paraly-
cation which followed the revelation of this
horror the survivors did their utmost to
rescue those whose lives were in danger.
The work OF pulling those who remained
i'll the two suspended cars from the perilous
position in which they were placed was one
of great danger and difficulty and resulted
in q number of instances of heroic conduct
In the meanwhile messengers were dis
patched Oh all sides Tor medical relief
which was most urgently needed by
THE HUNDREDS OF WOUNDED PEOPLE
whose distressing cries for help and prayers
to God asking him to relieve them of their
sufferings were most hcartrcnding. Then
everything possible was done by the sur.
ViVors but some time naturally e.apsed be-
fore the physicians rcache the spot. The
troops and the tiremen were the next to ar
rive, and they did good service in many
ways 50 much SO that by nightall about
sixty bodies had already been recovered
from the wreck and from the mountain
stream into which the engine and cars of
the excursion train had plunged.
When the relatives of the dead and
wounded began TO arrive and identified
some OF the victims there was another most
Nv lul oCIItS vi IIlClIGHlS. I1e WlluCSL
grief WAS expressed OH all sides, weeping
and moaning filled the air, and several
people were with difficulty retained from
casting themselves heaui8ny rendered hall
insane by grief, into the stEeam which
flowed swiftly, uncOncernedly, by the
river banks strewn with The dead.
As night drew near enormous crowds of
country people and citizens ol Bale gath
cred around the fatal spot There were
many hundreds of people who gathered
there solely in the hope of finding that
some missing dear one had not pcrished
by the crash, or, il such was the case, in the
desire to take his or her body homo and to
prepare it for burial.
-z-a-- CRUSH ED To o-nEATu---------
At the point where the accident occurred
the river is only four feet deep. All who
were killed. from seventy to eighty. were
crush, Il TO death, filling the air with shrieks
and groans. AS soon as possible the fire
brigade OF Basle and detachment of artll-
lery arrived, and the search for the dead
was begun. Seventeen bodies falling close
together were first taken up and laid in an
adjacent orchard.
AS the wreckage was cleared away the
bodies of the dead and dying were found
crushed together In ghastly confusion amid
The almost inextricable mass of debris.
The whole night long the rescuers toiled,
cleaning an occasional survivor out of the
iulhS. 4ne hoans VI 'ne iHIureu hearu III
the early hours of the night ceased as death
or rescue reached them.
Most Of the bodies recovered were dread
fully mutllated. A dead mother was found
holding iii her arms her liteIess baby,
while another child lay across her body.
Several other family groups were seen
joined by q common tate.
Relatives of the victims have been crowd
ing the scene of the disaster to-day trying
to identify the dead. Forty bodies, which
lay in the freight shed were recognized
mostly as those OF inhabitants OF Basle.
An exact estimate OF the number of the
killed is still impossible. There are several
persons missing and Others who are i'll
hospitals are sinking, end will probably
have to be added to the ultimate total of
the dead