The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1897-10-26
AT LEAST A SCORE
Exact Number of Dead in the
New York Central Disaster
Still Unknown.
Wrecked Cars Under Water and
Some Bodies May Have
Floated Away.
The Retaining Wall Along the
Hudson River Had Been
Undermined.

GARRISON, N. Y, Oct. 26.-The loss
Of life by the wrecking Of the Buffalo
ard New York special on the New York
Central and Hudson River railroad is
still indefinite. A score of bodies have
been recovered, but as the wrecked
coaches were 80 feet under water, it is
possible some Of the bodies have fcated
down stream.
The engine and first two coaches of
the train were thrown into the Hudson,
the other coaches and their occupants
being saved by the breaking of con-
nections. The retaining wall along
the river had been undermined by
high water in the river and the
track .oaved under the weight Of the
tgdfn. The train consisted of the en-
CINE, . combination baggage and ex-
press car, a smoker, two ordinary
coaches and six sleepers. Engineer Foyle
and Fireman Tompkins went down with
the engine. All the sleeping car passen-
gers escaped.
A revised list Of the dead is as follows:
Thomas Reilly, st. Louis, Mo-; w. H.
G. Myers, Passaic, n. j.; E. A. Green,
Chicago; Giuseppe Paduano, New York;
w. S. Becker, New York; Samuel Will
Jams, Buffalo, n. Y; A. G. Mckay, pri-
vate secretary to General Superintendent
Van Etten; John Foyle, engineer, East
Albany; two unidentified women; Wong
Gin, Hop Sing, and six other Cinnamon
not identified.
Over . Hundred People on Board.
The wrecked train was known as the
State Express. It left Buffalo at Z
o'clock at night and was due in New
York at Z o'clock in the morning. The
train was hauled by engine No. 872,
and consisted Of one American express
car, one composite baggage and smok-
ing Car, one day coach and six sleepers.
Poughkeepsie was the last stopping
place of the train before the disaster at
$40 o. m.
At this time there were i'm the smoker
In addition to the baggageman, Her.
man Acker of Peekskill, who was in his
compartment, eight Cinnamon en- route
from the Canadian border to New York,
and q middle aged man supposed
to be Thomas Reilly Of st. Louis. All
Of these excepting the baggage master
persisted. The day coachcontained Is OF
20 passengers, many Of whom were
women and children. How many Of
these escaped is not known, but at least
IL were drowned or killed in this car.
Behind this coach were the six sleepers,
with about Is passengers. The total
cargo consisted Of something over 100
people.
Official Cause Of the Disaster.
General Manager Toucy gave the fol.
lowing statement as the cause of the
disaster:
The accident was caused by the bed
Of the railroad being washed out in
some inexplicable manner In this un.
dermined condition, the track sank as
soon as the train was put on it, and the
embankment giving way, the train
was, of course, precipitated into the
river. Such conditions as this we have
never locked for. Trains have been
running over this spot for years and
years without accident or difficulty Of
any kind, and this piece Of track was
considered a. good as any section Of the
railroad. Not only was the roadbed the
hardest kind Of an embankment, but II
was strengthened by q retaining wal
Of aQlid maaonry. three feet thick.