Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-10-25
INTO THE HUDSON.
Continued From First Page.

but died on the way. The body was that
of a middle-aged man.
Five men were rescued from the top of a
floating car few minutes after the acci-
dent. They were put on train and taken
to Peekskill, about ten miles down the
road. OF the five. three were Cinnamon.
and none was fatally injured. The Amer
leans We're John E. Ryan. of Jersey City,
80 years old, badly lacerated hand: shoulder
and knee; Clarence Morgan. of Aurora,
N. y, aged &c, broken shoulder.
The three Cninamen were suffering from
scalp wounds. Morgan escaped from
floating car through Il broken panel and
swan ashore Though badly hurt, he
helped another passenger out.
w. s. Langford, of Bayonne. n. j., was
in one of the last coaches, which remained
on the track. He secured an AK and. chop
ping out panel of one of the partly sub
merged cars, he helped to rescue four peo-
pie.
General Manager Toucey gave the fol-
lowing statement as the cause of the dis
aster to the representative of the Asso-
.ciated Press:
The accident was caused by the bed
of the railroad being washed out in some
lnexpilcable manner. In this undermined
condition. the track sank soon the
weight of the train was put on it. and the
tram was, OF course. precipitated into the
river. Such conditions as this we have
never looked for. Trains have been rum
ming over this spot for years and years
without accident or difficulty of any kind.
as good as any section of the railroad.
Not only was the roadbed the hardest kind
of an embankment, but 1t was strength
ened by retaining water wall of solid
masonry three feet thick
Other railroad officials were of the opn-
ion that Guicksand foundation of some
kind below the water line was responsible
for the sinking of the roadbed.
Before 10 O'Clock this morning large
number of curious spectators had gathered
at the scene. coming from the nearby towns
and villages by trains. wagons. by cycles
and boats. The number of morbidiy curious
steadily increased as the day wore on. and
excursion boats even came from places far
up and down the river. all loaded down to
the waters edge. until. at mid-afternoon.
there were fully 10000 about the wreck. Ii
required the utmost exertion on the part of
his force of detectives. to hold these people
far enough in check to allow the railroad
men to proceed with the work.
Chief Humphrey did good work in recov-
ering valuables. and if there were any
thieves about they had no opportunity to
ply their trade.
The American Express Company had a
number of its agents at the scene early in
the day, but they We're powerhss to do
anything, as no attempt was made to raise
their car. 1t was said that this car con-
tanned thousands of dollars worth of val
uables. but the officials said that all would
be recovered, as the vaiuables were in a
stationary safe attached to the car.
Among the railroad men. it was general
ly believed that A. G. Mckay, of Harlem.
private secretary to General Superin-
tendent Vanetten, had lost his life in the
wreck. He was a passenger on the train
and was last seen at Albany. where 1t was
said he boarded the locomotive to ride with
the engineer. If that is true, ,-he shared the
fate of the engineer and fireman. AT any
rate. he was still missing up to a late hour.
The terrible evidences of the frightfuI
wreck were visible at the point two miles
below here tonight under intensely spec
tacular circumstances. The great wreck
ing car torches threw a red glare over the
men busily engaged in the tearing apart
of the wreckage to get at any bodies that
might be under it. The men worked with
as much energy as if there were living
creatures to be saved. and ever and anon
would bring to the surface a body, cramped
into an abnormal position. and then renew
their efforts. On the top of the partly
away with axes and the huge derrick from
the wrecking train tore out the mahogany
trimmings and ceilings and berths in the
endeavor to recover somebody's loved one
from the wreck. On shore great gang of
men worked to get the inside or up track
so repaired that there would be no trouble
in getting trains through.
Before noon General Manager Toucey had
formed an estimate of the number of dead.
which he placed at twenty-eight. and no
change in this estimate was made during
the day.
A E. Bracken, conductor of the Wagner
cars, was able to account for all his pas
that they were in the wreck. as they might
have escaped and gone to New York with
out his knowledge.
When a diver arrived from New York
this afternoon the first thing he did was to
go through the three submerged sleeping
cars. He reported that he found no bodies.
but said that one of more might be under
the berths. which were in great confusion.
1t was 8 o'clock before the derrick
and hosting engine. could raise the COM
bination cars. consisting of the smoker
position that the top Of 1t was out OF the
water. Slowly the big load began to rise
and in few minutes it had been turned
over so that the windows were clear of
the water. The body of man came out
of a window as the car was being brought
to the shore. A boat was near by and the
oarsmen secured the body. 1t was the
first lifeless form of any of the passengers
to be rescued
The man was about S. years of age. His
head was partly bald. and bushy beard
tirged with gray covered his face. He was
dressed in cheap clothes. and his shoes
fastened to the breast of his vest The
busy rescuers did not have time then to
make any inquiry as to who he was. but
simply tore off slip Of paper, wrote Body
No. T. on IT." and pinned It on his coat and
left him to look for others.
The SearcherS were only able to find eight
Chinamen's bodies. The derrick next pulled d
the day coach to the shore and the search
ing party were able to reach it. Although
it Is known that there were many more
persons in the coach. but SIX bodies were
recovered. and two of these were women.
SENATOR BAKER STANDS FIRM.