The sun., 1897-10-25
MIR. DEPEW TALKS OF THE WRECK.
His speculntions ms TO the Cause.-The Omciais
in the Dark, He says.

His speculntlons ms TO the Cause.-The Omcinls
In the Dark, Ho says.
Chaunccy NJ Depew, President of the New
York Central, was seen at his home. AZ West
Fifty.fourth street, last evening" but could offer
no explanation as to the cause Of tho accident.
Il cannot account for it." he said. None Of
us seems to be able to fix the blame upon any
one. 1t secms to be one of those unaccountable
accidents or possibly the work of miscreants.
There has never been any trouble on that pioce
OF track since 1t built forty.fve years
ago. As tho roadbed was built in tho
river by casting In rock, the catastrophe
might be ascribable to some natural disin-
tegration Of the foundation. Perhaps the
embankmcnt did not give way at all, however,
and the accident might have been caused by
broken axle. Or, again. some tramp might
have looscned q rail or placed stick of dyna-
mite on the tracks for the accomplishment of
any OF several purposes. II the roadbed sank
it must have done so suddenly. as the engineer
would undou btedly have seen any depression in
tho rails and given alarm.
1t may be that the foundation of the road
bed. rotted away by tho water. was further
weakened by passing trains. and when the
wrecked train passed over it was the last straw
and tho break occurred. What strengthens
this belief is what Conductor E. o. Parrish of
Buffalo, who had charge OF the train. tells me.
He said ho was seated In the combination coach
whom he noticed that the vibration of the train
had suddenly become terrific. He leaned over
to look through the window to learn
the cause, just in time to sec tho
engine disappear. He declared that the
engine did not jump the track. but simply
disappeared suddenly. as IL swallowed up
in the bowels Of the earth. He was thrown clear
over seat and his head was banged against the
do ~ fha H. "a
his cap and his hand touched the water. Then
he realized that he was in the river. He man.
aged to climb to the roof Of tho coach and sat
there with four men, two of them Cinnamon
while the coach driftcd fully 300 feet up the
river. Then rowboat put out from the shore
and took them off,
The Atlantic express passed over the track
fifty minutes before the accident occurred, The
fast mail went north thirty-one minutes before
the wreck. II there had been anything at all
wrong with tho roadbed then it could surely
have been noticed. What makes the accident
more inexplicable is that it occurred on a
straight stretch Of track, and Of the best po.
liced sections in the United States. The blocks
are only a mile apart, and experienced track
walkers patrol each section twice in the day
and twice during the night. Tho trackwalker
Tor that Sc tion reported IL to be all right only
a short time before the accident. The old
seventy pound steel rails were taken up within
ballast was also changed to stone. This made
an even safer and easier riding roadbed than
before.
Without knowing anything further about it,
don see how 1t was possible for the track to
slnk. put we can tell more about it when we
raise the engine. The emba nkmcnt woulG have
been demolished II an axle on the engine had
broken. General Manager J. NJ. Toucey. who
lives at Garrison's was at the wreck very soon
after It occurred. I,myself. stayed at my Office
until 2:30 clock this afternoon. So far as I
can sec no blame can be attached to The
representative men OF the New York Central.
train leaves Albany on time. runs at the reg
nlar speed. over new rails and n seemingly per
feet roanbed, and then suddenly goes into the
river. II is most strange. l ordered that noth-
ing be concealed. That has always been my
policy, and if we knew who or what WAS to
blame, our Information would certainly be made
opinion"