Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1897-10-30
TRAINS FATAL PLUNGE.
Six Cars on the New York Central
Road Jump Into the Hudson.
TWENTY LIVES WERE LOST.

Both engineer ana FIremen MetDeath
| at Their Post-Passengers Rescued
Through the Roofs of Cars-Cause of
the Accident Mystery.
| Garrisons, N. Y, Oct. 25.-At $40
| o'clock yesterday morning a terrible
| disaster occurred near this city, which
resulted in the loss of 20 lives and in
| juries to large number. The New
| York Central express train which left
| Buffalo at o'clock Saturday night was
| composed of one express car, one COM
| posfte baggage and smoking car, one
| day coach and six sleepers. Suddenly
| the locomotive plunged over the low
embankment into the Hudson river,
| carrying with it all but the three last
| sleeping cars, which remained on the
track on account of the breaking of
| the coupling pin. In that way some
| 80 lives were saved.
| When the accident happened most of
the passengers were asleep, those in the
| sleepers being in their berths, while the
| occupants of the coach and smoker
were for the most part doubled up in
their seats. Just how the train met its
| awful fate will never be fully known,
for the men who first felt the danger
Engineer John Foyle and Fireman John
Tompkins, were carried down, with the
engine, as was A. G. Mckay, private
secretary of General Superintendent
| van Etten, who was riding on the en-
| CINE.
| Conductor Parish, who was in charge
| of the train, and who was making up
| his report in one of the cars when the
| crash came, was rendered unconscious
| q hn
| covered he was three seats ahead of
the one in which he had been sitting.
Augustus Kah, German living near
the scene of the wreck, gives this de-
| scription:
| 1T was about five minutes before 6
| when I 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, if you own a boat come quickly
| Our train is in the river and people
| are drowning.
| Il dressed myself and accompanied
by the porter got into my rowboat and
| rowed around the curve to where the
| train was in the river. When we
| reached the cars, which were sub
| merged nearly to their roofs, the en-
| CINE being entirely out of sight, the
| crews of the tugboat were making eff
| forts to save the passengers. The first
man I saw them take out was. think,
| the agent of the express car. The first
| persons we succeeded in rescuing were
| two Cinnamon, who were sitting on the
| roof of the smoker. One had his arm
| broken. We put them ashore and then
| took three more persons off the top
| of another car. At the same time people
| in their underclothes were being taken
| out of the sleeping cars by the crews of
| the several tugs. One man on shore,
| with an arm cut off, was dying, and we
| made his last moments as comfortable
| as possible.
Five men were rescued from the top
| of floating car a few minutes after
| the accident. They were put on a train
| and taken to Peekskill, about ten miles
| down the road. They were admitted to
the Helping Hand hospital, where their
wounds were dressed. OF the five three
| were Cinnamon, and none were fatally
| injured.
! W. S. Langford, of Bayonne, N. T.,
| was in one of the last coaches which
| remained on the track. He secured an
| AK and chopping out a panel of one of
| the partly submerged cars helped to
| rescue four people.
| General Manager Toucey says: "The
| accident was caused by the bed of the
| railroad being washed out in some in
| applicable manner. In this undermined
| condition the track sank as soon as the
| weight of the train was put on it, and
| the embankment giving away the train
| was of course precipitated into the
| river.
| Such conditions as this we have never
looked for. Trains have been running
over this spot for years and years with
| out accident or difficulty of any kind,
and this piece of track was considered
as good as any section of the railroad
| Not only was the roadbed the hardest
kind of an embankment, but it was
| strengthened by retaining water wall
Of solid masonry three feet thick"
| Other railroad officials were of the
| opinion that a quiclsand foundation
of some kind below the water line was
responsible for the giving way of the
! roadbed.
The complete list of the dead is as
| follows:
| Thomas Reilly, ST. Louis; E. A. Green,
| Chicago; w. H. G. Myers, fremont, N.
| T.; Giuseppe Taguana, New York; W.
| Schenckenbecker, Newark, N. j.; Sam
| uel Williams, Buffalo; A.G. Mckay, pri-
| vate secretary to General Superintend-
ent Van Etten; John Foyle, engineer,
Eas- Albany; John Q. Tompkins,
| fireman, East Albany; Mrs. Robert H
| Lindsman, Utica, n. Y; Chin Lee Song,
San Francisco; China Fong Hop, 20
| years old, brother of Lee Song, San
| Francisco; Chin Quong Hong, New
| York, father of Fong Hop and Lee
| Song; Hoo Wuh, New York; Lee Tong
| Sing, II Mott street, New York, mer-
| chant; Wong Gin, Hop Sing and an
| unidentified Chinaman; unidentified
| womaA. about "a years old, said to be
| from Hudson, N. Y; Isaac Retten-
| berg, of New York.
General Manager Toucey, of the New
| York Central, believes that the dis
| aster was caused by break in the
engines machinery, Mr.. Toucey said:
| 81 believe something broke on the en-
| CINE and plowed up the ground and
| Jared the roadbed so that it loosened
and slid into the river. The sudden
stopping of the speed of the train
caused the cars to rub upon each other
and helped to loosen the roadbed. If
there had been a dynamite explosion
before the train reached that place
the engine could not have passed over
| it and rs feet besides, as it did,