The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-10-28
A !. TERRIBLE WRECK.
a NEW YORK CENTRAL pAsspxcr,
TRAIN rLuNGEs INTO THE
HUDSON RIVER.
IN(N1Y-E|GH1 LIVES LOST.
MOST OF THEM DROWNED LIKE
RATs-ABoUT TWENTY-FIVE
OTHERS WE'RE INJURED.
Passengers ASLEEP and UNNARNED
wreck Occurred Early Sunday Morn
e ins-Evidence of Terrible strur-
s'es Among the Imprisoned
Passengers - Dramatic
Scenes Described by
Eye Witnesses.
PASSENGERS ASLEEP and UAVARNED

Garrisons, n. Y, OOct. 24.-From the
sleep that means refreshment and rest
TO the eternal sleep that knows no wax
ing, plunged in the twinkling of an eve
ms morning twenty eight souls, men
women and children. into the Shiny bed
OF the Hudson river. train laden with
s shtumoehring humanity ploughed, dragging
to prove the cause Of the accident.
The New York Central train left
Buffalo last night and had progressed
nearly nine-tenths of the distance to-
wards its destination. The engineer and
his fireman had just noted the gray dawn
breaking in the east and the light streak
Of red, betokening the suns appearance,
wnen the great engine, servant of the
rails, plunged into the depths of the river.
Neither engineer nor fireman will ever
tell the story of that terrible moment for
with his hand upon the throttle, the
engineer plunged with his engine to the
river bottom and the fireman, too, was
at his post.
Behind them came the express car, the
combination car. and the sleepers, and
these piled on top of the engine. 1t is
track was not visible but if there was
any break in the lines of steel, it must
have been of very recent happening, for
only an hour before there had passed
over 1t heavy passenger train. Neither
is an explanation ready. All is con-
lecture. The section of road was sup
posed to be the very best OH the entire
division. There was great heavy re-
tanning wall all along the track. and
while the tide yesterday was high, it
seems to have washed underneath the
tracks, and the earth of the heavy wall
had given away, and when the great
weight of the engine struck the unSup-
ported track it went washing through the
rest of the wall, and toppled over into
the river Then there happened what
on the railroad at any other time would
have caused a disaster. but now proved
a very great blessing. As the train
plunged over the embankment the coup.
ling that held the last three of the six
sleepers broke and they miraculously re.
manned on the broken track. In that
way some sixty lives were saved. OF eye
witnesses there were none except the
crew of a tug boat passing with a tow.
They saw the train with it's light as
it came flashing about the curve and
then saw the greater part of it go into
the river. Some of the cars with closed
windows floated and the tug, whistlng
for help, cast off it's hawser and started
to the rescue. a porter jumped from
one of the cars that remained on the
track and ran into the yard of Augustus
Kahn's house, near which the accident
occurred, and stood screaming for help
and moaning:
"The train is in the river; all our
passengers are drowned
A Gruesome Scene.
In few minutes Kahn dressed him
self and rowed in boat to the scene.
As they turned n point in the bank
they came on the express car and the
combination car floating about twenty
feet from shore. but before sinking every
man was taken from the top of the car.
A few were gotten out through the
windows, the passengers on the track
making a human bridge to the shore to
take the wounded on.
The day coach and smoker had gone
down in the deeper water and rescue
was impossible. In the latter coach the
conditions must have been horrible. The
ear turned completely over and the
passenger end stood up towards the
surface The men in the lower end
must have fought like fiends for brief
period, for the bodies, when taken out,
were n mass of wounds.
The closing scene of the first day of
this tragedy is drawn around common
car that stands near the scene of the
accident, where score of badly mutt,
lated bodies. none of them vet claimed
by friends, are lying in long row.
gruesome evidences of a disaster, the
greatest that has ever occurred on this
road. The wrecked train was known as
the state express 1t ieft S 1na iD New 4
York at O'Clock this morning, Inc
train was hauled by engine S72 and con-
sisted of two American express cars,
one composite baggage and smoking car,
one day coach and six sleepers.
Poughkeepsie was the last stopping
place before the disaster. at $40.
At this time there were III tne
smoker, in addition to the baggage man.
Herman Acker of Peekskill. who was
in his compartment: eight Cinnamon en-
route from the Canadian border to New
York. and middle-aged man, supposed
70 be Thomas Reilly of $3.50 Wisconsin
avenue. st. Louis.
The total cargo of human freight con-
sisted of something over lOO people.
At Fishkill the train lessened us
speed, as is its CUSTOM ~ .L run 70 Of
that point to Tarrytown at the rate OF
ohnut twenty-five miles an hour: MOST
&c tho messengers were asleep, those III
10 slepners being in their berths. whlle
tho occunonts of the coach and smoker
, ,m for the most part doubled up IN
tbnir seats. Just how the tram met l.s
owfu, fate will never be fully Known
19r hme '' Tobn Foyle and Fireman John
n MmSiirs, tonight lie dead in the cab .h ol
fte' locomotive at the bottom OF , the
Hudson river. Conductor Iari and Who
was in charge of the tram on anu Of The the
was making up his report IN mo- one roU nd
c,rs when the crash came. was rci tod
Gars m,.tm by blow on the head ots
a w aeI Of the one in which he had oeeil
sitting.
story of Survivor.
One of the few occupants OF Inn Ih'
coach who escaped was Frank '' DeE"''