The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-10-28

AU
a wood finisher of New yo-. III. va.
eye, was cut by broken nTrh, ms ieft
m nouy was slightly bruised. Mr. Deran |
MADE this statement: Deean
Pas m,tn NY friend, w. II. Myers of
aassalc, n. j., who was killed in tho
"a rom winch l escaped. / had heen
~ iougnkeepse. We boarded the train
a. ohat place and took a seat in the
i PnM Ihree other people got on at
thn s1iheepse, one being a woman and
ioo, osh ,,r TWO We're men, one of whom
looked like railroad employee.
=, AS near as l can judge, there were
e,gnteen people in the coach, most of
.nem being women and children, and
nearly all were asleep.
MY friend and sat in the middle of
tne car. When the crash came the car
gave great lurch and rolled over on it's
sue. The water rushed in, and almost
instantly the lights went out. ] knew
we We're In the river, and the car SEEM
Gu 10 plough through the water for
s sor.ie 1 .ime cart, after 1t was submerged. The
car was tilted over on one side and |
managed to reach the fan light over
mead and cling to it until help came.
:, neard people on the back part of
the car groaning as if they We're pinned
last. 1t was so dark that | could see
no one. and | think the passengers must
have drowned like rats
After awhile heard people on top
OF the car and an axe crushed through
the roof. The noise of that axe in the
spllntered timbers made the sweetest
music ever heard in my life. Soon
they had hole cut in the roof and
pulled me out through it. A man and
boy Gather and SOM were also res
cued in the same way. but | know of
no other occupants of the coach escap-
ing. The car at this time was floating
but fast filling with water, and we We're
put ashore in a row boat. ] am sure
my friends Myers was drowned"
Baggngemaster's Story.
OF the dramatic horrors in the COM
| bination car when it left the track and
| struck the water, perhaps the best ac-
| count is had from the story of Herman
| Acker of Peekskill. the baggage man
and mail assorter Acker was suffering
badly from the shock when seen, but
the scenes he graphically described. He
said:
"John Shaw, agent for the express com.
pany and myself were in the compart'
ment when suddenly there was a terrible
bump and then rush of water that
forced us toward the ceiling. The cal
seemed to turn over and had filled Will
water to within foot of the top. Wher
we struck, the car whirled completely
around, the end where the Chinese were
being under water, while our end wa'
tilted up. We swan around and got ;
ventilatOr open, and noting the situation
got an axe from tool box which wa
afloat, and mashed a panel in the end o
| W. ,t,lnI fhrpnuh fha haln 4,
the roof of the car and row boat cam
out and took us ashore"
Acker has been a railroader many year
and has escaped from three serious &C
cidents. His arm is badly cut. and hi
body bruised. Shaw escaped injury.
The first victim of the disaster foun
was lying on shore dying. He was badl
bruised about the head and body, and hi
right arm was cut off near the shoulder
the bleeding stump alone showing. Th
member was not found. The man wa
placed on a train and taken to Peekskil
but died on the way. The body was tina
of middle aged man.
Five men were rescued from the to
of floating car n few minutes after tn
act. They were put on train and take
to Peekskil about ten miles down tn
road. They were admitted to the Hell
ing Hand hospital where their wound
were dressed. OF the five. three WEI
Cinnamon. none were fatally injured
The Americans were John Ryan of Je
sey City. 30 years old. badly laccrate
hand, shoulder and knee: Clarence Mo
gan of Aurora, \. Y, aged 26, broke
, shoulder.
The three Chinese were suffering fro
scalp wounds.
Morgan escaped from a floating ca
through broken panel and swan ash0r
Though badly hurt. he helped anoth'
passenger out.
w. s. Langford of Bayonne y. j.. Wa
in one of the last coaches which remail
ed on the track. He secured an axe an
chopping out n panel of enc of the partl
submerged cars. he helped to rescue fou
people.
| At o'clock one of the express train
left the scene with the men who ha
died on the track. and about TWENTY-FIVE
! injured persons. The dead man and fiv
| injured were left at Peekskill. where tn
! injured were taken to the Helping Han'
hospital while the train proceeded to New
| York with the rest of the injured.
| The Probable Cause.
! General Manager Toucey gives the fol
| lowing statement as the cause OF the dis
| aster. to the Associated Press:
| 'The accident was caused by the bee
of the railroad being washed out il
some inexplicable manner. In this un
| dermined condition the track sank a:
soon as the weight of the train was
nut on it, and the embankment givine
way. the train was, of course. precipi
tated into the river. Such conditions as
| this we have never looked for.
''Trains have been running over this
spot for years and years without accl
dent or difficulty of any kind: and this
piece of track was considered as gooC
as any section of the road. Not only
was the roadbed the hardest kind OF
an embankment but it was strengthened
by a retaining wall of solid masonry
three feet thick -,
Other railroad officials were OF the
oninion that a ouicksand formation OF
some kind below the water line was re-
sponsible for the sinking OF the roadped
Ten Thousand Spectators.
Before 10 o'clock this morning large
number of curious spectators had gather
ed at the scene. coming from the near
by towns and villages by trains, wagons;
BICYCLES and boats. The number, OF
morbidly curious steadily increased as
the day wore on. and excursion Doats
even came from places far up and down
the river all loaded down to the water
edge until mid-afternoon there were
fully 10000 people about the wreck. IL
required the utmost eXertion on tne
mart of Chief Humphrey of the rallroad
police and his force of detectives to hold
these far enough in check to allow the