Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1896-08-07

but do not know why. The only per-
son with me was my 6-year-old SON,
and he was not hurt, thank God"
The first relief train was in charge
of o number of railroad officials and
Prosecutor Perry, of Atlantic county.
1t drew up in the darkness, a few feet
this side of the fatal point The scene
was wildly picturesque. Canopied by
q starlit sky, with blood-red moon al
most at the full shining IN the far
background and the brilliant maze of
lights glittering from the city beyond,
the CAVITY of which has been suddenly
eclipsed by the most awful catastrophe
in its history. Staggering in and out
of bitches and stumbling over masses
of broken timber, with only few fit
full lanterns to help their strained eyes,
the rescuers went bravely to work.
Axes and shovels were piled with
greatest vigor, and almost every helf
dozen strokes q mangled form was
brought up and laid tenderly on the
waiting pallets. 1t was gigantic and
sickening task, and the strongest of
men turned aside faint from revela-
ton of the work of the spades.
A heap of bloodstained timbe-s
turned aside by one of the rescuers
brought to sight woman's arr. 1t
had been wrenched off aimost Dy the
roots and nothing remained but drip
ping stump. Even the hand was
gone. 1t had been clad in a white
linen glove, the sleeve of which still
clung to the arm. Not FIVE minutes
later chance blow from pick re-
vealed q still more ghastly remnant, a
human heart that only few short
hours before had been throbbing with
life and love.
One woman whose body was recov-
cred still held in her hand plate bear
ing picture of Atlantic City. IL was
unbroken. Scattered about the ground
near the wreck we're many pieces Of
clothing which had been torn from the
bodies of the victims, hats, dainty par
asols, fans and gloves.
just as one of the relief trains
reached the Pennsylvania depot with
its terrible load one man who lay In &
corner horribly injured regained his
senses for a moment and clasping his
hands to his head cried in heartrend-
ing agony: "Who did this? My God,
where are my wife and children?"
Supt. Sweigard, of the Philadelphia
and Reading Company, places the
number Of dead at thirty-seven and
the injured about the same number.
He sent a telegram to Philadelphia
which said: ''There were 81 persons
killed, as follows: Twelve women, 81
men, two boys and two girls About
the same number injured"
1t is said that the Reading signal was
displayed and that the whistle for the
train was sounded. The Reading has
the right of way at the crossing.
The excursion train bore five tribes
of the Order of Red Men--the Bridge
ton, the Niagara, the Iowa. the Ahwan-
tenah and the Cohansick-with their
wives and children.
The ringing of the fre-bells gave
the Atlantic City public the first init
nation they received of the disaster.
The utmost excitement prevailed. The
boardwalk was deserted, and the
crowds that surged about the two rail-
road stations rendered the streets in
those sections almost impossible.
Mrs. Edward Farr, wife of the
Reading engineer. who was killed,
when informed of her husbands death,
threw up her hands with q frantic
shrek and fell dead at the feet of her
informant.
The list of dead, as revised, now
numbers forty-seyen, and this -
thought to be correct, although there
is possibility that more bodies are
under the debris in the pond beside
the wreck. The injured, so far as
known, number forty-three.
A pathetic fact, which has come to
light is, that the run which ended En-
gineer Farr's life was to have ended
his career as a rsilroader and estab-
lished him and his wife as storekeepers.