The San Francisco call., 1897-10-25

4
middle-aged man. supposed to be Thomas
Reilly of st. Louis. All of these except
ing the baggageman, perished. The day
coach contained eighteen or twenty pas
sengers, many of whom were women and
children. How many of these escaped is
not known, but at least twelve were
drowned or killed in this car. Behind the
coach were the six seepers, with about
sixty-fve passengers. The total cargo OF
human freight consisted of something
over 100 people.
At Fishkill the train Iessened it's speed.
as 1t Is the custom to run from that point
TO Tarrytown at the rate of about twenty
five miles an hour. Most of the passen-
gers were asleep, those in the sleepers be-
ing in their berths, while the occupants
of the coach and smoker were, for the
most part, doubled up in their seats. Just
how the train met its awful fate will never
be fully known, for the men who first felt
the danger Engineer John Foyle and
Fireman John Tompkins, tonight lie
dead in the cab of their locomotive at the
bottom of the Hudson River. Conductor
Parish, who was in charge of the train
and who was making up his report in one
O! the cars when the crash came, was rem
One of the few occupants OF the coach
vho escaped was Frank ]. Degan, wood
hnisher of New York. His left eye was
cut by broken glass and his body was
slightly bruised. Mr.. Degan made this
ta:ement:
with my friend, w. H. Myers of
Passaic, n. j., who was killed in the car
rom which l escaped, | had been TO
he =
hat place and took seat in the coach.
Three other people got on at Poughkee p
ie. One was woman and the two others
ere men, one of whom looked like a rail-
road man. AS near as l can judge there
ere eighteen people in the coach, most
OF them being women and children, and
nearly all were asleep.
myers and 1 sa: in the middle OF the
car. When the crash came the car gave
great lurch and rolled over on its side.
The water rushed in, and almost instantly
the lights went out knew that we were
in the river, and the ca- seemed to pillow
through the water for some time after it
was submerged. The car was tilted over
on one side and l managed to reach the
fan ii ht overhead and cling to it until
Aelp came.
CIR groaning as if they were pinned fast
II was so dark that could see no one, and
l think the passengers must have been
drowned like rats. After a while, it
seemed like an age, heard people on top
OF the car and an ak crashed through the
roof. The noise of that ak made the
sweetest music / ever heard in my life.
man and boy Gather and SOM were
-, T
OF no other occupants of the coach escap-
ing. The car at this time was floating
but fast filling with water, and we were
ut ashore in rowooat. l am sure that
my friend Myers was drowned"
Augustus Kab, a German, living near
the scene OF the wreck, gives this descrip-
ton:
1T was about five minutes before 6
when l was awakened by some one in nv
yard calling for help. Looking out of my
window saw a sleeptng-car porter, who
sbouted: For Gods sake, if you own a
boat come quickly. Oar train is in the
river and people arc drowning 1 dressed
myself, and accompanied by the por er
got into my rowboat and rowed around
he curve TO where the train was in the
river. When we reached the cars, which
engine being entirely out of sight. the
crews OF the ugboats were making efforts
10 save passengers. The first man | saw
them take out was the agent of the ex-
press-caE. The first persons we succeeded
in rescuing were two Chinese, who were
sitting on the roof of the smoker One
had his arm broken. We put them
ashore and then took three pei sons off the
people in their underclothes were being
taken out of the sleeping-car by the crews
OF several tugs. One man on shore with
an arm cut off was dying, and we made
his last moments as com Portable as pos
sIhle. l want to say that the porters, al
though frightened, showed great bravery,
and saved many lives"
One Of the trainmen who survived the
disaster ran to the first signal tower to
telegraph for help. The place where the
wreck occurred is rather isolated. 1t is
just at the entrance of what is known as
Kings Cut. three miles south of CARR.
sons and hve miles north of Peeksk.ll
Two other express trains were following
close behind the ill-fated State express,
and the en- inc Of one of them was sent 10
Garrisons for General Manager ]. NJ. Tou-
gine hurried to PeekskiIl for medical aid.
Mr. Toucey was the first official of the
railroad at the scene, arriving there at
7:3O. The engine which brought him
there steamed to Cold Spring and re-
turned with Drs. Winslow, Filiebrown
and Murdook. In the meantime Drs.
Charles and Perley Mason, J. M. TiIden,
P. c. Snowden and E. D. Lynn had ar.
rived.
OF the dramatic horror of the situation
In the combination car when it left the
track and struck the water perhaps the
best account IS had rom the story
of Herman Acker of Peekskill, the bag
gage and mail sorter. Acker was suffering
badly from the shock en- seen, but the
scenes he graphically described. He said
John Snaw, agent of the Westco:t Ex-
press Company, and myself were in the
compartment when suddenly there was
terrible bump and then a rush of water
that forced US toward the ceiling. The
car seemed to turn com lletely over and