The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-10-25

to the river bottom; and the fireman, too.
was at his post. Behind them came the
express car, the combination car and the
sleepers, and these piled on top Of the en-
gine.
II was known that It was q trlfle foggy
and that the track was not visible, but II
there was any break In the line6 Of steel,
II must have been n very recent happen
ing, for only an hour before there had
passed over Il a heavy passenger train.
laden with human freight, There is no
explanation ready. All is conjecture.
The section OF the road was supposed
to be the very best on the entire division.
There was a great. heavy retaining wall
all along the bank and while the tide
was high yesterday, Il was not unprece-
dented.
WALL RoTTED AWAY.
What seems TO have happened, was
thnt underneath the tracks and the ties,
the heavy wall had rotted away and
when the great weight Of the engine
struck the unsupported tracks II went
crashing through the rest Of the wall and
toppled 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 embankment,
the coupling that held the last three OF
the six sleeperB broke and they miracu-
lously remained on the broken track. In
that way some sixty lives were saved,
OF eye witnesses there were none except
the crew OF tug boat passing with
tow,
They saw the train with its lights as It
came flashing about the curves and then
they cav the greater part Of It go into the
river.
Some Of the cars with closed windows
fioated and the tug whistled for help
cast off It's iawser and started to the
rescue. A porter jumped from one OF
the cars that remained on tho track and
ran into the yard OF Augustus Carrs
house. near which the accident occurred,
and stood screaming for help and moan
ing: THE train Is In the river; all our
passengers are drowned"
A HUMAN BRIDGE.
In a few minutes, Carr had dressed
himself and, getting q boat, rowed with
the porter to the scene. AS they turned
a point IN the bank them came upon the
express car and the combination car
floating about twenty feet from shore,
hut sinking every minute. One man was
taken from the top of the car and efforts
were made to rescue those inside. A few
were gotten out, the passengers left upon
the track making n human bridge to the
shore to take the wounded in.
The day coach and smoker had gone
down in the deepest water and rescue
was impossible. In the latter coach the
conditions must have been horrible. The
car turned completely over and the pas
senger end OF Il was In the deepest water,
while the baggage end stood up toward
the surface. The men in that lower end
must have fought like flends for briet
period for the bodies when taken out
were mass Of wounds.
The closing scene OF the first day OF this
tragedy 10 drawn around common car
that stands near the scene of the accl-
dent, where nearly score of badly mutt.
lated bodies, none Of them yet claimed
by friends, are lying In n long row, grue-
some evidence OF disaster the greatest
that has ever occurred on this railroad
THE WRECKED TRAIN.
The wrecked train was known as the
state express. 1t left Buffalo at o'clock
last night and was due in New York at
o'clock this morning. The train was
hauled by engine 672. and consisted OF ono
express car one composite baggage ana
smoking car, one day coach and SIX
sleepers, Poughkeepsie was the last stop
ping place of the train before the disas-
ter at $40 a. IN.
AT this time there was on the smoker
in addition TO the baggageman, Herman
Acker, of Peekskill, who was In his com
partment, eight Cinnamon, enroute from
the Canadian border to New York, and
n middle-aEed man, supposed TO be
Thomas Reilly, OF 2s6O Wisconsin ave-
nue., st, Louis. All OF these except the
baggageman persisted. The day coach
contained eighteen or twenty passengers,
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 were six
sleepers-the Glenn Alpine, with fifteen
passengers; the Hermes, with twelve; the
NIobe, with eleven; the Diana, with
about fifteen; Anita, nearly full and the
Racket River, with no passengers. The
total cargo OF human freight consisted OF
something over u hundred people
At FishlSill the train lessened It's speed,
as is its custom. to run from that point to
Tnrrytown at the rate of about twenty
Ave miles an hour. Most of the passen-
gers were asleep those In the sleepera
being In their berths, while the occupants
of tho coach and smoker were for the
most part doubled up In their seats JUST
how the train met lts awful fate VIII
never be fully known, for the mon who
first felt the danger, engineer John toyie
and fireman John TomplSins. tonight lie
dead In the cab Of their locomotive at the
bottom Of the Hudson river.
s.t9t, Nttftn In FhnFmo
of the train and who was making UP his
report In one OF the cars when the crash
came, was rendered unconscious by n
blow on tho head. When he recovered
he was three seats ahead Of the one In
which he was sitting.
One ofthe occupants OF the coach who
escaped With his life was Frank j. De.
gan, a wood ffnisher, OF New York, HIS
left eye was cut By broken gless and his
body was slightly bruised. Mr.. Degan
made this statement:
A SURVIVORS STORY.
with by friend, w. II. G. Myers, OF
Pnssaic, N. j.. who was killed in the car
from which / escaped, ] had been to
Poughkeepsle. We boarded the train nj
that place and took n seat In the coach
Three other people got on at Poughkeep-
slc. one was woman and the other TWO
men, one OF whom looked like o railroad
employe. As near as can Judge there
were eighteen people In tho coach, most
OF them women and children, and nearly
ali were asleep. Myers and ] sat In tho
middle OF the car. When the crash came
the car gave n great lurch and rolled over
on lts side. The water rushed In ana nj.
most Instantly the lights went out, \
knew We were IN the river. The cat
seemed to plough through the water Tor
some time after II was submerged Thg
cnr wAa tilted over on one side and !
s-,,d la yoabb lhp fnb lIpbl OyerhCa1