The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-09-02
A TRAIN WRECKED.
The Engineer, Fireman and Mail
Clerk Instantly Killed.
A PARTLY OPEN DRAW THE CAUSE

A Fast Mail Train Meets With Dis
aster on the Hudson River Rail
rond-A Freight Train Flagget
Within Two Hundred Feet of tn
Wreck.
NEwBURGH, N. Y, Sept. 2.-The fas'
mail train on the Hudson River rail
road met disaster at New Hambur,
drawbridge-the scene of the frightfu
accident nearly twenty years ago a
ten minutes past 9 o'clock yesterday
morning. The engineer, fireman and ,
mail clerk were instantly killed ano
two Others slightly injured.
The draw had been opened to let tn,
lite steamer Young America pas
through, and was being closed when the
train came northward. A gap of sew
eral feet remained when the engine
reached the draw. going at the rate of
nearly mile a minute. The engine
jumped the gap, but the rear end of the
tender dropped enough to stop the pro-
gress of the train. Then the mail car,
crashing into the tender, pushed it
against the locomotive. The rear end of
the locomotive and the forward end of
the mail car were splintered.
The engineer, Joseph Owens, of AL
bany, and the fireman, Edward Best,
of East Albany, were crushed under the
forward end of the cab and killed in
stantly. There were two clerks in the
mail car. j. H. Kane, of Cohoes, was
forced upward and landed on the top of
the debris of the mail car. He was in
stantly killed and his body was shock
ingly mangled, The other clerk was
not injured. After the mail car came
two baggage or storage cars. Con-
ductor William l.. Todd and Trainman
John Hitchcock were in the forward
end of the first baggage car. J. H.
ONeill, a brakeman, was in the rear
part of the same car. The former was
hurt about the head and bruised about
the body, but was able to walk to the
New Hamburger station and send off
dispatches regarding the accident.
hitchcock had one finger cut; otherwise
he escaped injury. O'Neili was not
hurt.
The train that leaves Poughkeepsie
southbound at $40 came along about
ten minutes after the accident. 1t had
on board a large number of laborers on
their way to their daily toll. They were
at once set at work to get the draw
bridge closed, and this they succeeded
in doing in half an hour. The engine,
tender, and mail car were utterly
wrecked, and much of the mail was torn
to fragments. The debris from the
wreck obstructed the down track. This
was soon cleared away, and trains were
run around the wreck on the up track.
The Signals All Right.
Richard McGoldrick, the bridge ten
der, who was on duty last night, asserts
that all the signal were properly set up.
Owens, the dead engineer, was one Of
the well-known employees of the road.
freight train that followed the mail
was tagged when it was about 200 feet
from the wreck. Kane had been in the
railway service only eight months. The
train was known as the Special Mail
No 81, leaving Grand Central, New
York, at 4:35, reaching New Ham
burgh at 6:l5. New Hamburger is a sta
tion on the.New York Central, six miles
south of Poughkeepsie.
The Bridge Tenders Story.
After allowing the steamboat Young
America to pass through the bridge
tender tried to turn the draw into DO
sition. He had made sure, he says, that
all signals were properly shown. AS he
caused the bridge to swing around to its
proper place he was Mortified to see ap-
proaching at full speed the newspaper
train.
He made desperate attempt TO close
the draw, but the train thundered on
without slackening speed. The signals
had not been noticed by the engineer or
fireman. One minutes time would
have averted the disaster. The draw
was only open few feet when the train
reached the gap. The crew of the train
say the brakes were not applied until a
moment or two before the crash,
On the night of Feb. 6, 1871, on the
same drawbridge, train known as the
second Pacific express struck an oil car
that had left the rails. The express was
wrecked and set on fire and about
twenty-five persons burned to death.