, 1891-07-04

living at one time, but dying now. Many
were caught and piniOned to their scat.
or squeezed against the walls of the car,
or against the engine that had dashed
into and through the cars. Wherever
they were, there they stood or lay, plead
ing in vain for help, and seeing every
moment the flames creeping closer and
closer, winding about their limbs and
licking their faces, and one by one their
cries were stllled. My escape was simply
a miracle, and came about through no
effort OF my own. | was forced or knOcked
toward a break in the car and after hard
work extricated my legs from the mass of
wreck and human forms, and found nv
self standing IN the outside air. badly
hurt, but alive"
There was no delav in ready assistance,
but all efforts we're ~fruItless until the ar
rival of the city FIRE department. The
flames could not be stayed until water had
been poured into the wreck for hours. 1t
seemed to a%gonize the ~onlooker5, but IN
reality all that human power could do
was done. At daylight a subdued and
fearful crowd of several hundred stood at
the station, gazing on the sickening sight.
All about them was the s~motherIng odor
OF burning human flesh arising from the
black mass of heaped up w~reckage. Now
and her the eye CHANGED upon little
slTeds of clothing and of SCARED flesh
and bones, each aud all blackened and
roasted to a horrible degree.
Possibly the most fearful sight if one
could b. worse han another. was the ap-
pearance of the boiler of the freight en-
GrDe. In the first shock the front end of
e boiler was broken In, and as the en-
CINE plowed It's way through the mass of
humanity. four poor fellows were actually
scooped up in the caldron, wounded and
helpless. aud there they lay slowly roast
ing t. death before the eyes of spectators
who would, hut could not, aid them.
They were 6shed out piecemesl by fire.
mems hooks aud covered with sheeung.
The Aetna BUILDING was transformed
into a morRue and, as the masses OF
burned flesh were hooked out, were hast
lily removed there. and either stretched at
full length or huddled in little heaps.
An enormous crowd had gathered about
the morgue, but the doors were closed.
Some of the moTbidly curious crept up to
the windows, only to fall back aghast AT
what they had s~een-nineteon remains of
what had teen human. covered with
sheeting, through which a bare and
BACKED limb now and then protruded,
while the bio ID soaked through the white
cloth and puddled on the floor.
Coroner Sherman, with his assistants,
stepped from one to another, searching
Tor letters or some means of identifying
one mass from the other. This was diff
cult. In half a dozen instances the en-
tire head had been burned off. leaving
only a blackened trunk, grim aud CHASTITY,
defyinE all efforts at Identification.
Names and other data could only be
secured from surviving friends. No one
could tell one trunk IRON the others.
Among the nineteen beheadCd bodies,
but two had retained anything resemb-
ling the features of a human. 1t was here
in the mOrgue that the most touching and
awful discovery of the night was made.
The coroner ten1erly removed from one
form a clotted sheet, to find beneath it the
unmistakable form OF a woman. and.
worst of all, clasped in her arms, as it to
shield its young limbs from the flames that
had evidently consumed both was an infant
child. She had shiel led the babe until
The ast-and even in death her blaekened
arms were unwilling to be separated from
their charge. Not one trainman met in
jury.
The wreck will be an expensive one
from a financial standpoint. as the loss
will foot IN in the n%eighborhood Of 800,
900 BY 9 O'Clock the wrecking car had
the debris nearly cleared and the wounded
were being cared for. Superintendent
Matson would give no opinion. nor make
any statement in regard to the wreck.