The Topeka state journal., 1897-10-25
SWALLOWED.
New York Central TrainPIunges
Into the Hudson.
Engine, Day Coach and Three
Sleepers Go Over.
19 PEOPLE DROWNED
While Many More MiraculOusly
Escaped.
Water Was Fifty Feet Deep at
the Spot.
Passengers Were Sleeping in
Their Berths.
LAND SLIPPED AWAY
And Let the Track Sink, is the
Theory
On Which Officials Account For
the Catastrophe
LAND SLIPPED AWAY
On Which Officials Account Fol
the Catastrophe.

Deads
THOMAS REILLY, st. Louis.
w. H. G. MEYERS, Passaca, N j.
E. A. GREEN, Chicago
C. PADUANO, New York.
w. S BECKER, New York.
SAMUEL WILLIAMS, Buffalo, N Y
A G. MCKAY, private secretary TO
General Superintendent Van Etten-
JOHN FOYLE, engineer, East Al
JOHN Q. TOMPKINs, fireman, East
TWO UNIDENTIFIED WOMEN.
WONG GIN
SIX OTHER CH1NAMEN, not iden-
titled
E. o. Parrish, conductor; severely
bruised.
Frank J. Degan, New York; bruised.
Herman Acker, baggagemaster; head
cut.
slightly bruised.
John E. Ryan, Jersey City; arm and
leg lacerated.
Clarence Morgan, Aurora, NY; brok-
en- shoulder.
W. S. Langford, Bayonne. Nj; bruis-
ed.
Charles buchanan, New York; 1acera-
tiOn of hand and arm
John Flood, labOrer, LOckport, n. Y;
head and arm cut.
John Smith, express messenger; in
jured internally.
GlaunE Ding cut ana DTulSeQ-
Two Cinnamon, cut and bruised.
Garrisons, N. Y, Oct. 25.-From the
sleep that means refreshment and rest
to the eternal sleep that knows no
waking. 28 souls, men, women and chill
dren. were plunged in the twinkling of
an eye yesterday morning. Into the
bed of the Hudson river a train laden
with slumbering humanity ploughed-
There was nothing to presage the ter
rible accident.
The New York Central train left Buff
falo at night and had progressed for
nearly nine-tenths of the distance tow
ard its destination. The engineer and
his fireman had just noted the gray
dawn, breaking in the east, when, the
great engine-a servant on the rails
but d demon off, plunged into the
depths of the river. Neither engineer
nor fireman will ever tell the story of
that terrible moment, for with his hand
upon the throttle the engineer plunged
with his engine to the river bottom.
The fireman, too, was at his post. Be
hind them came the express car, the
combination car and the sleepers, and
these piled on top of the engine.
It is known that it was a trifie foggy
and that the track was not visible, but
if there was any break in the lines of
steel it must have been of very recent
happening. for only an hour before
there had passed over it a heavy pas
senger train.
The section of the road upon which
the disaster happened is supposed to be
the very best on the entire division.
There was a heavy retaining wall all
along the bank, and while the tide was
high 1t was not unprecedented. What
seems to have happened was that I'M
derneath the tracks and ties the heavy
wall had given way. and when the
great weight of the engine struck the
unsupported tracks it went crashing
through the rest of the wall and top
pied over into the river.
Then there happened what on the
railroad at any other time would have
caused disaster, but now proved most
fortunate. AS the train plunged over
the embankment the coupling that held
the last three of the six sleepers broke
and the miraculOusly remained on the
broken track. In that way some 60 lives
were saved.
OF eye witnesses there was none ex-
cept the crew of a tugboat passing with
a tow They saw the train with its
light as it same flashing about the
curves, and then saw the greater part
OF IL go into the river. Some of the
cars with closed windows f1Oated and
the tug, whistling for help. cast off its
haWser and started to the rescue. A
porter jumped from one of the cars
that remained on the track and ran in
TO the yard of Augustus Kah's house,
near which the accident occurred, and
summoned help.
IN few minutes Kah had dressed
himself, and getting a boat. rOwed with
the porter to the scene. AS they turn
ed point IN the bank they came upon
the express car and the combination
car hoat1ng about 20 feet from shore
but sinking every minute One man
was taken from the top of the car and
efforts were made to rescue those in
side. A few were gotten out, the pas
sengers left upon the track making A
human bridge to the shore on which to
take the wounded.
The day coach and smoker had gone
down in the deeper water and rescue
was impossible. In the latter coach the
conditions must have been horrible. The
car turned completely over and the
passenger end of it was deep in the
water. while the baggage end stood mn