The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1897-10-26

an eye twenty-eight souls, men, Wo-
men and children. Into the Shiny bed
of the Hudson river train laden with
slumbering humanity plowed, dragging
through the waters the helpless pas
Sengers. There was nothing to pre-
sage the terrible accident which so
suddenly deprived these unfortunates
of life.
The New York Central train which
left Buffalo for New York had pro-
crossed for nearly nine-tenths Of the
distance toward its destination. The
engineer and his fireman had just
noted the gray dawn breaking in the
east and the light streak of red be-
tolIening the suns appearance, when,
with the great engine, Il servant on the
rails devil off, plunged into the
depths of the river Neither engineer
or fireman will ever tell the story Of
that terrible moment, for, with his
hand upon the throttle, the engineer
plunged with his engine to the river
bottom, and the fireman, too, was at
his post Behind them came the ex-
press car, the combination car and
the sleepers, and these piled on top of
the engine.
1t is known that it was a trifie fog
gy and that the track was not visible,
but if there was any break in the
lines of steel, it must have been of
very recent happening, for only an
hour before there had passed over it
heavy passenger train, laden with
explanation ready. All is conjecture.
The section of road was supposed to
be the very best on the entire division.
There was a great heavy retaining
wall all along the bank.
What seems to have happened was
that underneath the tracks and ties
the heavy wall had given away and
when the great weight of the engine
struck the unsupported tracks it went
crashing through the rest Of the wall
and
TOppIcd Over Into the River.
Then there happened what on the
railroad at any other time would have
caused disaster, but now proved a
very blessing.
AS the train plunged over the en-
bankment the coupling that held the
last three of the six sleepers broke and
IuCy mlIdCuIOuSly TCudluOu Oh Tie
broken track. In that way some sixty
lives were saved.
OF eye witnesses there were none
except the crew of a tug boat passing
with a tow. They saw the train with
its light as it came flashing about the
curves, and then saw the greater part
of 1t go into the river. Some of the
cars with closed windows fioated, and
the tug, WhiStling for help, cast off it's
hawser and started to the rescue. A
porter jumped from one of the cars
that remained on the track and ran
into the yard of Augustus Carr's
house, near where the accident Oc-
curredl and stood screaming for help.
In few minutes Carr had dressed
himself, and, getting a boat rowed
with the porter to the scene. AS they
turned a point in the bank they came
upon the express car and the combi-
nation car floating about twenty feet
from shore, but sinking every min
ute. One man was taken from the
top of the car ana efforts were made
to rescue those inside. A few were
gotten out, the passengers left upon
the track making a human bridge to
the shore to take the wounded on. The
day coach and smoker had gone down
in deep water and rescue was impOS-
sible. In the latter coach the condi-
ton must have been horrible. The
car turned completely over and the
passenger end of it was in the deep
water. The men in the lower end
must have
Fought Like Fiends
for a brief period, for the bodies when
taken out were a mass of wounds.
The closing scene Of the first day of
this tragedy is drawn around a COM
mon car that stands near the scene Of
the accident where nearly a score of
badly mutilated bodies, none of them
yet claimed by friends, are lying in a
long row, greWsOme evidences of the
disaster, the greatest that has ever oc-
Cured on this railroad The wrecked
train was known as the State Express.
Poughkeepsie was the last stopping
place before the disaster The total
cargo of human freight consisted of
something over a hundred people.
Just how the train met it's awful fate
will never be fully known, for the men
who first felt the danger. the engineer
and fireman, lie dead in the cab of
their locomotive at the bottom of the
Hudson river.
Messages were quickly sent to the
engaged in reScuing and caring for the
unfortunate victims of the wreck.
AS rapidly as possible the wounded
were removed to hospitals at Pough-
keepsie, New York and Peekskill.