Daily Kennebec journal., 1897-10-26
plvEas At WORK
(Continued from page -

| to drag her up, there was much excite
ment and speculation, as 1t was be-
lieved that there must surely De some
bodies in this car, the most deeply
submerged Of the lot. When the car
was placed on the scow and the water
had run out of 1t, q careful searching
party went through and to the relier OF
the railroad officials and everybody
near, not body was discovered.
Some curious things were discovered,
however, which tend to make the es-
cape of the passengers in this car ap-
pear almost miraculous. NOT only
were all the blankets and curtains
thrown down and jammed into the
front of the car, but the seat bottoms
which at night act as bed bottoms, the
mattresses and pillows ana every
| movable thing in the car nad peen
damned from side to side and from ehd
to end of the car in a manner that
would seem to almost preclude the pos
sibility of any persons. in the aisles or
berths escaping. Those who did get
ont. and it is believed that II IN thls
car escaped, must have done so WITH
out attempting to either dress or seize
| any baggage.
| The condition Of the windows show
that many broke out that way, put the
mystery is, how did they get clothing
with which to cover their nakedness.
Pairs of trousers by the nalf-dozen
with suspenders attached, under
| clothes. shoes, coats and waist coats,
womens' dresses and underclothing
| were all mixed up in an indescribable
mass. A full score of hand bags and
satchels indicate that there may have
been a number of passengers in this
car Some of the people in the vicinity
and the hotel keeper at Garrison, say
that they helped dress some OF these
| people but the supposition is that the
majority of those who escaped with
their lives and not their baggage, We're
taken care of by the passengers in the
| cleepers that remained on the track
and when taken to New York city were
provided with clothes by the railroad
people.
Just to the rear of the Glen Alpine
was the car Hermes, which. in the
plunge. left its trucks on the track and
landed fiat on its bottom in the river.
but only in about three feet Of water
| The porter of this car, William Patter-
son, an intelligent and coll-headed
colored man, tells the most graphic
story of the wreck, and one which Will
probably be found to be the nearest
lucid explanation Of how so many
sleeping people were miraculously
saved from a fearsome death. He re-
lated the story to Col. Ashley w. Cole
Of "a railroad
commission, who is making an investi-
cation. He said:
Just before the accident, l was
awakened from a doZe by the slowing
| up of the train, and l got up, thinking
we were nearing Peeksill. l looked out
Of the window, and just as 1 did so,
there came a crash and the leap of the
car towards the river. l was thrown
to the floor, but getting up in minute,
l seized hammer and rushing outside,
broke all the windows 0Dd the shore
side, and in a few minutes had gotten
my u passengers out. l am positive
| that every one got out, because there
was only foot or so Of water in the
| car at the time. -
| When all my passengers had gotten
| out we began to look for the others.
The car Hermes was just ahead of
mine and had plunged into deeper
water, so that one end wasscompletely
submerged while the other was up
| against the end of ours and a trifle
higher. I saw the people hurrying out
of the high end and am quite positive
that before the car settled into deep
water we got everybody out. Some of
| the people were scantily dressed be-
cause I suppose, their clothes could not
be found in the dark. They hurried
away to the other cars, and went to
| New York.
sleeping car passengers we saw some
| people from the combination car
swimming in the river and we helped
them out. 1 am afraid that some peo-
pie got out of the other cars all right
but were drowned because of the cold
cramping them"
| Colonel Cole said. this morning, that
the bank may have given way, ami
that it was equally as possible that Il
driving rod on the engine had broken
and, in knocking it off the track had
| occasioned the disaster.
A drizzling rain started in at an early
hour, today, and the outlook was
| dreary and dismal in the extreme. The
wreckers began work very early in Or
| der to recover the bodies known to be
| in the river Or any others they might
land, if there are any more bodies in
the wreck or in the river, they are be-
! lieved to be in the day coach, which
lies in water up to it's roof off king
dock. The diver. who took siU bodies
cut of this car, last evening. said he
could find no more bodies. But there
is a great difference of opinion among
the railroad men as to whether there
are others there. A good many believe
that more bodies will be found in this
car when it is raised, as passengers
1 who escaped from it and the crew be-
lieved, yesterday. that at least II per-
sons perished in the day coach.
There was found in this one car, in
wallets and pocketbOoks 5000 in money,
in gums ranging from SIS to $500, and
8 gold watches, one of them being !?
lady's chatelaine. Some of them bear
monograms by which they can be iden-
titled. There was also found variety
of diamonds, sleeve buttons, diamond