The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-10-26
Divers Searching the River.
Near Garrisons; Coroner
to Search the Facts.
THREE BODIES NOT YET FOUND
Burial OF the Chinese Makes
T~ruubIs-sad Return from a
Trip to- Europe.

ALI SldUEuS ain ~
surroundings for. the wreck that caused
such a. loss of lives, there was today
brilliant sunlight drying up 1.-THE eafth
that yesterday Threatened 10 cave away
from the support of the steel tracks even
more than it had. The gangs OF wreck
ers andyfailEoad began work
very early. The second large Derrick
that had been ordered from New YORK
City arrived at the scene about hair past
five o'clock and active work was pegun
upon the difficult task of getting out the
various portions of the wrecked locomo-
tive. The divers went down in the colo
waters to afix the tackle and as each
came up, he reported that there were no
signs whatever of bodies.
Diver Merritt scoffed at the story thai
the bodies might be found under tAe I'M
mense engine or the tender. He SAID
The weight of the engine is enormous
the way she lies shows that she
must have gone lurching through the
water as if shot from a catapult. me
displacement of water must have peen
frightful and 1 don't believe they could
have stuck to the cab. There is w
sixty and seventy feet of water Where
the cab lies and the heavy weight would
carry the wreck down with a more ter
rifle velocity than any human body could
go. I believe that all three men (Foyle,
Tompkins and Mckay were swept from
that cab long before the engine reached
bottom, and the bodies will be found
either up or down the river, but some
distance from here. OF course there is
a possibility that the tender, having
broken. loose from the engine proper. hit
the men as they left the cab; but II IS
only a bare possibility, for having ZOOS
ened and lost momentum, 1T would drop
way the wreck occurred that the men,
If not floating, would be found under
meath the lighter cars which followed the
engine. 1t might be even possfpie tnat
they fell out close to where the englne
toppled off the bank and that some OF
the debris falling later has plnloneo
them In or has covered the bodies en-
tireIy."
The brothers of Engineer Foyle and
Fireman Tompkins were still here this
morning, waiting anxiously for any news
that might be obtained. They are poll
sangutne that the bodies will be found
and are waiting to identity them. POINTS
along the river front have been notified
to watch for any floating bodies.
down with a hydraulic hose to blow out
the sand about the heavy wheels OF the
engine SO that a chain could pc attacn-
ed but the wheels were en- 50 az. Geep fsdi lms
lob. While one man was working at the
engine the other diver began a minute
search along the shore, where the preak
occurred. In the hope of locating the
bodies. He began at a point where the
engine lies and worked back slowly TO
the place whore the engine is supposed 10
have Jumped from the tracks to the water.
The superstition that the engine was
dragged from the track by the heavy cars
going in the breach is undoubtedly er-
roneous, for every indication points To-
1ya rrnof steam r0nnCf6r having
made a run under water. At eleven
o'clock the diver who was searching the
river m and bottom for the missing
men he'd found nothing, not ever the
The work of rebuilding the tracks and
.embankment was vigorously prosecuted
this morning, n in addition to relay1ng
the work of filling in the great gap
opened up by the train was begun in
earnest. Huge hemlock trees were cut
and thrown into the river on top
mense railroad ties were piled on top and
car load after car load of broken stone
and gravel relped fill up. How carefully
the Central authorities are working to
avoid a repetition of such an accident can
be known by the fact that the tracks are
being showed back from the edge of the
bank some fifteen feet further
than they ever were before. This is be-
ing lone for a half mile on either side
the break, and when finished the inside
track of the down train side nearest. the
will be twenty-eight feet from the
edge of the bank, practically insurfng SAT-
ETY. and bringing the outside track just
the line of the present break. 1t
is the intention to build a new retaining
wall where the old one stood. Some idea
the cause OF the accident can be had
when 1t is known that the railroad sur
veyors this morning found that at the
spot where the break occurred and within
ten feet of the shore the water was
sounded as being twenty feet deep. de-
mo~nstrating that the slope of the base
towards the channel is very sheer,
and that the slide out of the artificial
roadbed was not SO strange.
All the stories hat have been put in
circulation to the effect that there would
be an immediate presentment to the
Grand Jury are premature, to say the
and are said to have no basis in
fact. The Grand Jury is not even in
session and 1t will not meet until Novem-
seat Of Putnam county. Mr.. D%onohue,
who has been mentioned as the foreman
Of the Grand Jury, is not even on it, nor
= He 's as;d Iof fbia mo Of me t bafohf he Suew
nothing about any presentment being
mad to the Grand Jury. He was under
the impression that the Grand Jury
could hardly act until the Coroner's Jury
had held an investigation inc formed
~eensurable facts. The whole question of
whether the disaster is brought to the
attention of the Grand Jury rests on the
action Of the Coroner's Jury. District At
torney Southland said hts morning that
lie the Coroner's Jury should find a YER
dict blaming the New York Central. Off
Gals and recommending him to present
their names or the ompan as a corpora
fion to the Grand Jury, he would, of
course, do so and would make an earnest
effort to secure an Indictment. There Is,
however, very little probability that the
Coroner's Jury will make any such rec
Coroner Wood OF Cold Spring has de-
q begin the inquest at seven
O'Clock tomorrow evening in the office of
Attorney Southland in Cold Spring.
a large umbe of witnesses will be sub
poenaed and the inquest will probably be
extended over two or more sessions.
The most pathetic seem of the disaster
IN Cold springs today, when the body of
rhQmns Reilly of st. Louis was Identified
hk widow, who had come all the way
from London with Reilly's mother and
whom ne vas Journeying to meet when
death. overlook him. Reilly, who was
try since last December n mad his
VITA his brother John, at No. 1850
Wisconsin avenue, st. Louis. He had
In the British army and wore a
ring which had been presented to him by
sens q nfs9 nrsther soldiers. r. was the
to the report that he was a Grand Army |
man. @bom6 timesaEo Reilly decided to
bring his family to this country and settle
them In st. Louis. Accordingly his
wife, Ellen Reilly accompanied by her
husbands mother, an aged woman, sailed
arriving In New York last Saturday. They
hHa arransedabyaletter for Reilly TO meet
them In New York, and when he did not
appear at the steamer the women went
to q hotel In that city. A clerk in the
hotel read In the yesterday
t1ot f1lxr rAoo q xonn1 tho xy{offrrc ne fhn