The record-union., 1897-10-25
TWENTY-EICHT
LIVES WERE LOST.
Continued from First Page.)

ber OF morbidly curious steadily in
creased as the day wore on, and excur-
sion boats even came from places far
up and down the river all loaded down
to the waters edge, until at mid
afternoon there We're fully 10000 peo-
pie about the wreck 1t required the
utmost exertion of Chief Hammond of
| the railroad police and his corps of
detectives to hold these people in check
10 allow their men to proceed with their
work Chief Hammond did good work
in recovering valuables, and if there
were any thieves about they got no
opportunity to ply their trade.
The American Express Company had
number of its agents at the scene,
but they were powerless to do anything,
and no attempt was made to raise the
car. 1t was said that this car contained
thousands of dollars worth of valu-
ables. but the officials said that all
would be recovered, as the valuables
were in a stationary safe attached to
the car.
Among the railroad men it was gen
orally believed that A. G. Mckay of
Harlem, Private Secretary to the Gen
| eral Superintendent, Van Etten, had
| lost his life in the wreck. He was
passenger on the train, and was last
seen at Albany, where it 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 wreck
were visible at a point two miles below
here tonight under intensely specta-
| cular circumstances. The great wreck
| ing car torch threw red glare over
the men busily engaged in tearing apart
the wreckage to get at any bodies that
might be under it.
The men worked with great energy,
and ever and anon would bring to the
surface a body cramped into an abb
normal position, and then renew their
| efforts On the top of the partly sur
| forts On the top of the partly SUP
merged cars a gang of men chopped
away with axes, and the huge derrick
| from the wrecking train tore out the
| trimming and ceilings and berthS IN the
endeayor to recover somebody's loved
one from the wreck. On shore a 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 Mana
ger 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 Wag-
ro oh fo oil his
passengers except five, and he was not
sure that they were wrecked, as they
might have escaped and gone to New
York without his knowledge.
When 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 or
more might be under the berths, which
are in great confusion.
1t was o'clock before the derrick
and hosting engine could raise the
| combination car, consisting of the
| smoker and baggage compartments, to
such position that the top of it was
out of the water Slowly the big load
began to rise. and in a few minutes it
had been turned over so that the Win
dows 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 nearby, and the oarsmen
secured the body. 1t was the first life
less form of any of the passengers to
| be rescued.
A passenger coach without seats was
close at hand, and the body was carried
thither and deposited on the floor. The
man was about 80 years old.
The rescuers did not have time then
to make any inquiry as to who he was.
but simply tore off slip Of paper and
wrote body No. l." and pinned it on
! his coat, and left him to look for 9TH
ers. By the time they had returned
the derrick had drawn the car to the
bank, and the work of getting the vic
| Tins was under way. The searchers
were only able to find eight Chinese.
They were also carried to the morgue
car, laid in a row, and numbered.
The derrick next pulled the day coach
to the shore, and the searching parties
were able to reach it. Although it is
known that there were many more
persons in the coach, but six bodies
were ISCONHIeu, anu Two VI these were
women The last body was recovered
at 5:45 D. m.
Coroner Woods of Cold Springs was
on the scene, and he and several assist
ants were soon at work at the task of
Identification of the bodies A man who
said his name was Frank j. Degan of
New York succeeded in escaping from
the car. He said his brother-in-law,
w H G. Myers, had boarded the car
at Poughkeepsie and occupied sepa-
rate seat from him in the day coach.
Degan was asleep when the accident
occurred. He escaped miraculously.
swimming ashore. Later ne Identified
Myers among the dead.
The Coroner and his assistants
searched the dead bodies in the hope
of finding some clew to their identity.
Nothing positive was found to identify
the Chinese.
BY letters found in the pockets Of No.
l he was identified as Thomas Reilly
of ST. Louis, a 6. A r. veteran.
No. 8 was a young man about 30
years of age A letter addressed to
L. a. Green, care A. W. Otis. architect,
215 Dearborn street. Chicago, and the
business card Of the latter We're found
en- him.
Ns y and 13 were women. and moth
ing could be found on them to identify
them. No l. was a woman about 30
years of age. 1t was a sight that will
never be forgotten, the fifteen dead
forms on the floor of the car. The
face of each bore cuts or confusion of
some kind The supposition that the
Chinsse had been smuggled into this