The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-31
A SCENE OF HORROR.
An Associated Press Reporter De-
scribes the Wreck.

An Associated Press Reporter De-
scribes the Wreck.
Charles C. Rynick, of Bridgeton, who
was in the excursion party, was in one
of the rear cars. He escaped with Sc
we're bruises, and, SO far as his agita-
ton would permit, told the story of
his experience. when we saw that a
collision was unavoidable" he said
"the scene in our car was terrific.
Women tainted and men rushed in
mad panic to the door. But it came
almost before we knew it. The third
car was cut right in two, and the low
er portion of it lifted bodily from the
track and tumbled over. Every car
was crowded, and it Is horrible to
think Of the numbers who must be
lying under those ruins The roof of
one of the cars fell in as a. mass, and
everybody in that car was buried un-
der it. 1t simply dropped in on the
people. 1 know many of those aboard,
but I will hope for the best. 1 know
positively of two in our car who were
killed. They were Mr.. and Mrs. Frank
Bell, Of Bridgeton. Their daughter
was in another car further back and
was not hurt. I don't know who is to
blame. I think there must have been
fully 80 or 100 killed. The only person
with me was my six-year-old son, and
he was not hurt thank God"
An Associated Press reporter was on
one of the first relief trains sent out
by the Pennsylvania railroad and was
the first reporter on the scene
The train was in charge of a num-
Der Of railroad officials, and Prosecutor
Perry, of Atlantic county, and it drew
| up a few feet this side Of the fatal
point The scene was wildly pictu-
rescue. Canopied by star-lit sky,
with q blood-red moon almost at the
full, shining in the far background,
b and the brilliant maze of lights glim-
mering from the city beyond, the gai-
ETY. 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 a few fit
full lanterns to help their straining
eyes, the rscuing gang set bravely to
work Axes and shovels were piled
with the greatest vigor, and almost at
every half-dozen strokes a mangled
form was brought up and laid tenderly
on the waiting pallets. 1t was a gigan-
tic and sickening task, and the strong
est men turned aside, faint from the
revelation Of the work Of the spades
A heap of blood-stained timbers turned
aside by one of the rescuers brought to
sight woman'S arm. 1t had been
wrenched off almost by the roots. and
nothing remained but dripping
stump. Even the hand was gone 1t
had been clad in a dainty white linen
sleeve, part of which still clung to it.
| Not five minutes later a chance blow
| from pick revealed a still more
| CHASTITY remnant, a human heart, that
only few short hours before had been
| throbbing with life and love. One wo-
man, whose body was recovered. still
| held in her hand plate bearing a
| picture of Atlantic City. 1t was un-
| broken. Scattered about the ground
! near the wreck were many pieces of
| clothing, which had been torn from
the bodies of the victims hats, dainty
| parasols, fans and gloves.
Just as one of the relief trains
reached the Pennsylvania depot with
| its terrible load. one man who laid in
a corner horribly injured, regafned his
senses for moment, and, clasping his
hand to his head, cried In heartrending
agony: "Who did this? My God.
where are my wife and children?"
LOWER ESTIMATE OF THE KILLED
A late report says that fourteen of
the injured have since died at the sani-
tarium.
| Supt. |. H. Sweigard, Of the Philadel-
! phia & Reading company, places the
number of dead at thirty seven and the
/ injured at about the same number He
| sent telegram to Philadelphia this
evening, which said: There were thir-
ty-seven persons killed, as follows:
Twelve women, twenty-one men, two
| boys and two girls. About the same
number injured"
| Just where Mr.. Sweigard obtained his
| information cannot be learned, as it
will be impossible to give the correct
| number, or even an approximate esti-
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