The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-10-29
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 passengers left upon the track
making a human bridge TO the shore
to take the wounded on
FOUGHT FOR THEIR LIVES.
The day coach and smoker had gone
down in The deeper water, and rescue
was impossible. In the latter coach the
conditions must have been horrible
The car turned completely over, and
the passenger end of 10 vas in the deep
water, while h baggage end stood up
toward h surface. The men in that
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 round a COM
mon car that stands near the scene
of the accident, where nearly a score
of badly mutiiated bodies, none of them
yet claimed by friends, are lying in a
long row., grewsome evidences of a DIS
aster, the greatest hat has ever oc-
CURED on this railroad.
The wrecked train was known as the
State Express. 1t left Buffalo at Z
o'clock last night, and was due in New
York at 7 o'clock this morning. The
train was hauled by engine ST2. and
consisted Of one American express car,
one composite baggage and smoking
car, one day coach, n six sleepers.
Poughkeepsie was the last stopping
PIoCc IL Tire Tram DCAOiC NhC OASdSlSl,
at $40 o'clock a. m.
At this time there were in the smok-
er, in addition to the b-aggagemen. Her
man Acker, of Peekskill, who was in
his compartment, eight Cinnamon, en-
route from the Canadian border to
New York. and a m~iddle-aged man.
supposed to be Thomas Reilly, of 1850
Wisconsin avenue, st. Louis. All of
these, excepting the baggagemaster,
persisted.
At Fishwill the train lessened it's
speed, as it is it's custom, to run from
that point to TarrytOwn at the rate of
about twenty-five miles an hour. Most
Of the passengers were asleep, those
in the sleepers being in their berths.
while the occupants of tn coach and
smoker were for the most part doubled
up in their seats. just how the train
met it's awful fate will never be fully
known, for the men who first felt the
danger, Engineer John Foyle and Fire
man John TOmpkins, tonight lie dead
in the cab of their locomotive at the
bottom of the Hudson river. Conduc-
tor Parish, who was in charge of the
train and who was making up his re-
port in one Of the cars when the crash
came, was rendered unconscious by a
blow on the head. When he recovered
he was three seats ahead of the one in
which he had been sitting.
One of the few occupants of the
coach who escaped with his life was
Frank J.. began, a wood finisher, of
New York. His left eye was cut by
broken glass, and his body was slightly
bruised. Mr.. began made this state
ment:
FLOWED THROUGH THE WATER.
with my friend, w. H. G. Myers, of
Passiac, N. j., who was killed in the
car from which 1 escaped, I had been
to POughskeepsie. We boarded the train
at that place and took a seat in the
cOach. Three other people got on at
POuShkeepSle, one was a woman and
the two others were men, one of whom
looked like a railroad employee. AS near
as 1 can judge, there were eighteen
people in the coach, most of them
being women and children, and nearly
all were asleep.
Myers and 1 sat in the middle of the
a When the crash came the car gave
a great lurch and rolled over on it's
side. The water rushed in and al
most instantly the lights went out. I
knew we were in the river, and the car
seemed to pillow through the water for
some time after it was submerged.
and 1 managed to reach the fan light
overhead, and chung to it until help
came.
II heard people in the back part of
the a grooming as if they were pinned
fast. 1t was SO dark hat 1 could see
no one, and / think the passengers
must have been drowned like rats. At
ter awhile, it seemed an age, I heard
people on top of the car, and an axe
crashed through the roof. The noise of
that ak in the splintered timbers made
the sweetest music I eve heard in my
life. Soon they had a hole cut in the
roof, and pulled me out through it. A
man and q how (fofhor on6 sony yyoro
also rescued in the same way, but I
know of no other occupants Of the coach
escaping. The car at this time was
floating, but fast filling with water, and
we were put ashore in a row boat. I
am sure tina. my friend Myers was
drowned"
SWAN FOR LIBERTY.
OF the dramatic horror of the situa-
tiOn in the combination car when it LEFT
the track n struck the water perhaps
the best account is had from the story
baggageman and mail sOrter. Acker
was suffering badly from the shock
when seen, but the scenes he graph
cally described. He said:
John Shaw, agent for the Wescott
Express Company, and myself were in
the compartment, when suddenly there
vas a terrible bump and then a rush
~ "~S<A A@S Oo No"o1 l1lS
ceiling. The car seemed to turn COM
pletely over, n had filled with water
to within about a foo Of the top.
When we struck the car whirled COM
pletely around, the end which the Chi
nese occupied being under waite. while
our end was tilted up. We swan
around and got a ventilator open, and,
noting the situation, got an ak from a
tool box which was afloat and smash
ed a panel in the end Of the car. We
crawled through the hole to the roof
of the car and a rowbOat came out
and took US ashore"
Acker has been a railroader for many
years and has escaped from three seri-
accidents. His arm is badly cut and
his body bruised. Shaw escaped injury.
The first victim Of the disaster found
lying on shore dying. He was bad
ly bruis d about the head and body,
and hi right arm was cut off near the
should 2. the bleeding stump alone
NJ