Huntsville gazette., 1893-09-02


passengers or crew on this train were
seriously hurt All were shaken up
severely and some badly bruised, but
all were able to go to their homes with
out assistance
An eyewitness says that the Rock
away train was going at top speed, as
II, being the last train, the engineer
was trying to get home as soon as pos
sible. The killing of Col K. A. Buck,
the editor of the Spirit of the Times,
was especially pathetic. He was re-
turning from the Beach with his son
and DR.. Knapp, of New York. His son
was thrown, torn and bleeding, out
upon the embankment. Col. Buck was
so badly hurt that he gasped few
times and died, while Dr. Knapp was
uninjured and did noble service in
ministering to the suffering Mr.. Buck
lies at st. Johns hospital terribly hurt
and does not yet know Of his fathers
death.
DIR. Burke, who was with the hos
pital train, said that the three Man
haitian Beach cars which were so terri
bly, smashed contained large party of
excursionists of the better class.
reporter saw three of the survivors
in the Long Island ferry house at the
foot of Thirty-fourth street. They
said they were passengers on the Rock
away train, occupying seats in the
fourth coach. The train was travelling
| at an unusually high rate of speed, the
| cars swinging SO violently from side to
side that they instinctively looked for
an accident. All of sudden there
| was crash and everybody was thrown
| to the floor of the car or over the backs
| of seats Fortunately only few of
| the passengers in that car were hurt
Only one young man, named Larkin,
tried to leap from the car and was hurt
on the head and also internally. The
| rear cars were at the same time de-
| rallied.
August Baedecker, of New York
| city, who is connected with the Sleeps
| head Bay race track, said: ''The disas-
| ter was very terrible. / was fortunate
| enough to escape with severe shak-
ing up and so was able to assist the
| less fortunate. l helped to carry four
men from une cars.
Eugene Matthews, of Z Greenwich
street, New York city, said: 81 helped
to carry away one of the killed. l can't
give you any details. The affair hap
| pened SO suddenly that nobody knew
| anything about it until the train
| crashed into us. The shrieks of the
wounded and dying are ringing in my
| earnN~en now. l am hurrying home so
tna't MY family may not be alarmed.
| Isaac III. Rotchschild. New York
city, gave the following description of
the awful scene: Myself, my wife and
| my daughter were coming home from
| Manhattan Beach and occupied seats
| in the center of one of the cars that
had in some way become detached
| from the remainder of the train. Di-
rectly in front of us sat six men, ap-
parently asleep. They were all terri
| bly, injured. 1t was an awful scene,
and don't know how my wife and
daughter and | escaped. | am too
much excited to give you an intelligent
description of the scene. All / know
is that many were killed outright and
three times as many injured. Our train
was crowded one for, being the last
to leave Manhattan Beach, there was
large throng waiting. You know it
was so hot that they stayed as long as
possible at the seaside"
All day the morgue in Newtown and
the hospital in Long Island City have
been beseiged by anxious seekers for
missing members of their families.
The scenes as some of the mangled
bodies were recognized were heart
| rending, women fainting and men fall
ing upon their knees to weep. Fully
200 persons did not find those they
sought among the dead or wounded
and went away with intense relief, in
sharp contrast with those who found
| loved ones dead and mangled.
At the scene of the accident wreck
ing train and big force of railroad
employees have been working all day
| to obliterate the painful evidences of
| the disaster. The three smashed cars
were piled up and burned, the twisted
rails and broken switches were re-
paired and the blood pools hidden un-
der shovelfuls of sand.
General Manager E. R. Reynolds and
| Superintendent w. III. Blood were at
the scene early. They stated that the
cause of the accident was still un-
known; that it was question of ver-
acity between the tower switchman,
Mutt, and Engineer Concrite, of the
Rockaway train. The latter had re-
ported that heavy fog prevailed at
the time, which was true. He declared
that the signals were set at safety, in
| dicating a clear road, and he went
ahead without reducing speed. Sud
denly Fireman Robert Price, his COM
panion, exclaimed: "My God; there is
a train ahead" Looking ahead, he saw
through the mist the red lights that
always hang at the rear end of train,
and declares that he Immediately re-
versed his engine and put on the steam
brakes Then he and Fireman Price
jumped for their lives
When the wrecked engine was exam
ined yesterday morning the statement
as to the reversed lever and the steam
brakes was found to be true. The only