The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-10-25
TRAIN PLUNGED INTO THE RIVER
Men, Women and Children Were Drowned Like Rats
Without Moments Warning.

o'clock last night and was due in New
York at : O'Clock this morning. The
train was hauled by engine s,s and
consisted of one American express car,
one combination baggage and smoking
car. one day coach and six sleepers.
Poughkeepsie was the last stopping
place of the train before the disaster
NJ $40 a. m. Al this time there were
In the smoker. In addition Ia the bag
gageman. Herman Acker of Peekskill.
who were In his compartment. eight
Cinnamon en- route from the Canadian
border to New York. and a middle
aged man. supposed Ia he Thomas
Reilly Of -. Louis All of these. eN-
oepting the baggageman, persisted.
Women and Chridrca prown.d.
The day coach contained Is or 20 pas
sengers many Of whom Were women
and children. How many of these .s-
capped is not known. but ~ least L.
were drowned or killed I'm this car. Re
hind the coach was the six sleepers
with about s. passengers. The total
cargo of human freight consisted Of
scm,thing over 100 people. Al Fishkill
the train lessened its speed, as II Is
the custom 10 run from that point 10
Tarrytown at the rae Of about - miles
am hour. Most Of the passengers were
tntSt flUt III
their berths, while the occupants of
the coach and smoker were. for the
must part. doubled up in their seats.
Just how the train met its awful fats
viii never be fully known. fJr lhe men
who first felt the danger. Engineer
John Foyle and Fireman John Tomp-
kins. tonight lie i'm the cab uf their To-
comotive at the bottom of he Hudson
river. Conductor Parish. who was in
charge of the train and was making
up his report in one of the ears when
the crash came. was rendered uncon-
scious by a blow on the head. One Of
the few occupants of the coach who es-
capped was Frank J. Degan. wood
finisher of New York. His left eye
was cut by broken glass and his body
was slightly bruised. A railroad man
made this statement:
Drowned like Rats.
with my friend. w. II. G. Meyers of
Passaic. y. j.. who was killed in the
car from which ] escaped. ! had been
to PouGhkeepsie. We boarded the train
al that place and took a seat in the
coach. Three other people got ON AT
Poughkeepsic. One WAS a woman aud
the two others were men. one of whom
looked like "A railrcad man. AS near
as ] can judge there were is people In
the coach, most of them being women
aud children, and nearly all we've
asleep.
Meyers and I sat i'm the mid lie of
the car. When the crash came the car
gave great lurch and rolled uyer On
its side. The water rushed i'm and al
most instantly the lights went cut. I
knew that We were In the river and the
car seemed TO plough through ihe wat
er for some time after IL WAS sub
merged.
The car was tilted over on one side
and ] managed to reach the 'in light
overhead and cling Ia it. I heard reo-
pie In the back part of the car groaning
az II they Were pinned fast. u was 50
dark that I could see no one Jnd I
think the passengers must have hscn
drowned like rats. After while, IL
seemed an age ] heard people On top
Of the car and an axe crash through
the roof. The noise Of that axe in the
1 splintered timbers made the sw .e,est
music I ever heard i'm my life. A rlan
and a boy uather and SOM were also
rescued In the same way. but know
OF no others escaping. The car at mis-
time was floating. but fast nlling with
water and We were put ashore i'm a
row boat. ! am sure that my friend
Meyers was drowned"
| AUGUSTUS Carr. "A German living near
the scene Of the wreck. gives this de-
| scripiion; 1T was about minutes be-
fore q o'clock when ! was awakened By
/ some one In my yard calling for help.
Looking out OF my window I saw "A
/ sleeping car porter. who shouted, For
/ Gods sake, man, il you own a boat
come quickly. our train Is I'm the river
/ and people are drowning. ! dressed
! myself and accompanied by the porter
i goa into my rowhoat and rowed around
the curve Ia where the train was i'm the
river. When We reached fhe cars.
which were subme erged nearly TO their
roofs. the engine being entirely out Of
sight. the crews Of the tugboats were
making efforts 10 save the passengers.
I The first man taken out, | think was
the agent of the express car The first
person We succeeded In rescuing were
two Chlnamen, who We're sitting on the
| roof of the smoker. One had his arm
| broken. We Put them ashore and then
| took three persons OFT the top of an
other car. At the same time people in
their undcrclothes were being taken
ou, Of the sleeping car by the crews of
several tugs, one man on shore with
his ann cut on. was dying. and We
made his last moments as comfortabl ble
as possible. ] want Ia say that the por-
bravery and saved many lives
Tsisgraphcd Tor Help.
one of the train men who survived
the disaster made II his first duty "a
run To the first signal tower To tele.
graph for help. The place where tn,
wreck occurred is rather Isolated. II
Is. just at the entrance Of what i.
known as Kings cut. three miles souti
of Garrison and five miles north oi
Peekskill. Two other express train,
were following close behind the ~
fated state express and the engine o
one of them was sent 10 Garrison fol
General Manager j. NJ. Toucey VIII,
lives there. while the other engine hur
ried to Peekskill for medical aid. Mr.
Toucey was the first official of the rail
road 10 reach the scene. arriving ther,
at i:30 O'Clock. The engine whicl
brought him there steamed to Col,
Springs and returned with Doctor
Winslow. Fillebrown and Murdoch. II
the meantime Doctors Charles am
Perley Mason. j. NJ. Tllden. y. &
Snowden and L. ID. Lynn had arrive,
and all were soon at work among tn
injured
OF the dramatic horror Of the situa
tion in the combination car when
left the track aud struck the water
perhaps the best account IL had From
the story II Herman Acker ~ PeQks
klil. the baggage man and mail assert
er. Ackrr was suffering badly fron
the shock when seen hut these scene
he grauhtqnlly d,sgfHh a lle saia4