Connecticut western news., 1897-10-28
CANAAN, CONN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2s

Of floating car shortly after the acci- dent. They were put on a train and taken to Peekskill about 10 miles down the road. They were admitted to the Helping Hand hospital where theii wounds were dressed. Of the five, three were Chinamen, and none was fatally injured. The Americans were: John E. Ryan of 294 Barrow street, Jersey City, 30 years old, badly lacerated hand, shoulder and knee; ClarencesMorgan of Aurora, N. r., aged 26, clerk in the of flee of comptroller of the New York Central railroad. broken shoulder. The three Chinamen were suffering from bad scalp wounds. Morgan escaped from a floating car through a 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 ax, and, chopping out a panel of one of the partly submerged cars, he help ed to rescue four people.
 A. E. Bracken. conductor of the Wag ner cars, was able to account for all of his passengers excepting five. and he was not sure that they were in the wreck, as they might have escaped and gone to New York without his knowl edge When a diver arrived from New York, 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 were in great confusion.
 A passenger coach minus its seats was close at hand, and the body was carried thither and deposited on the floor. The man was about 55 years of age. He was dressed in cheap clothes and his shoes were cheap ones. A G. A. R. badge was fastened to the breast of his vest. The busy rescuers did no, have time then to make any inquiry as to who he was, but simply tore off slip of paper, wrote Body No. 1" and pinned 1t on his coat and left him to look for others. By the time they had returned the derrick had drawn the car to the bank. and the work of recover ing the bodies of the other passengers who had come to such an untimely end was under way. The searchers were only able to find eight Chinamen, and they were also carried to the morgue car. They were laid in a row, num- bered and were ready for identifica- ton. The derrick next pulled the day coach to the shore, and the searching parties
  known that there were many more In the coach, but six bodies were recov- cred, and two of these were women. General Manager Toucey gave out the following statement as to the cause of the disaster:
 "The accident was caused by the bed of the railroad being washed out in some inexplicable manner. In this un- dermined condition the track sank as soon as the weight of the train was put on it, and, the embankment giving way, the train was, of course. precipitated into the river. Such condition as this we have never looked for.
 Trains have been running over this spot for years and years without acci- dent 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 a retaining water wall of solid ma | sorry three feet thick"