The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-10-25

| NNaiEoi tAlellt, eight SHlHallell Gil iouIe
from the Canada border and middle
aged man supposed to be Thomas Reil-
ly or 1850 Wisconsin avenue, st. Louis.
All of these, excepting the baggage
master, pershed. The day coach con-
| tanned eighteen or twenty passengers,
many of whom Were women and chill
dren.
How many of these escaped not
known, but at least twelve were drown
| ed or killed in this car. Behind the
coach were six sleepers, the Glenalpine,
with fifteen passengers; the Hermes,
with twelve; the Niobe, with eleven;
the Diana, with about fifteen; Anita,
nearly full, and Racket River, with no
passengers. The total cargo Of human
freight consisted of something over
hundred people.
AT Fishkill the train lessened it's
| speed, as it is customary to run from
that point to Tarrytown at the rate
of about twenty-five miles an hour.
Most of the passengers were asleep,
those In the seepers 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 it's awful fate will never be
fully known for the men who first felt
the danger, Engineer John Foyle and
Fireman John Tompkins, tonight lie
| dead in the cab of their locomotive at
| the bottom of the Hudson river
| 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
! by a blow on the head. When he re-
covered he was about three seats ahead
of the one in which he had been sit
| ting.
| One of the few occupants of the coach
who escaped with his life was Frank ].
Degan, a wood fnisher of 269 West 34th
street, New York. His left eye was cut
| by broken glass and his body was
| slightly bruised. Mr.. Degan made this
| statement:
'With my friend, w. H. G.. Myers,
of Passaic, N. J., who was killed in the
car from which I escaped, I had been
to Poughkeepsie. We boarded the train
at that place and took a seat in the
coach. Three other people got on at
| Poughkeepsie, one woman and the
| two others were men. One of them
| looked like railroad employe. AS
near as 1 can judge there were eighteen
persons in the COACH most of them be-
ing women and children, and nearly all
We're alseep. Myers and 1 sat in the
middle of the car. When the crash
came the car gave a great lurch and
rolled over on it's side. The water
rushed in and almost instantly the
| lights went out. / knew we We're in
| the river. The car tilted over on one
| side and l managed to reach the light
overhead and cling to it until help
came. 1 heard people in the back part
of the car groaning as if they were pin
ned fast. 1t was so dark that l could
see no one, and / think the passengers
must have been drowned like rats.
| After awhile, it seemed an age, I heard
people on top of the car, and an axe
crashed through the roof. The noise of
that axe in the lintered timbers made
| the sweetest music l ever heard in my
life. Soon they had hole cut in the
roof and pulled me out through it.
man and a boy, father and son, We're
also rescued in the same way, but I
know of no other occupant of the coach
escaping. The car at this time was
floating. but fast filling with water,and
we were put ashore in a row boat. 1
am sure that my friend Myers is
drowned"
Augustus Carr a German living near
| the scene of the wreck, gives this de-
scription:
"It was about five minutes before
when 1 was awakened by some one in
my yard yelling for help. Looking out
of the window I saw sleeping car
porter who shouted: For Gods AXE,
man, if you own a boat, come quick.
Our train is in the river and people are
drowning
| 'I dressed myself, and accompanied
by the porter, got into my row boat and
rowed around the curve to where the
train was in the river. When we
reached the cars, which were submerg-
ed nearly to their roofs, the engine be-
| ing entirely out of sight, the crews of
| the tug boats were making efforts to
save the passengers The first man |
saw them take out was the agent of the
express company. The first persons we
succeeded in rescuing were two China
lIltl, WIZ WCiC plItlh6 vi Vic IOOL Ol
| the smoker. One had his arm broken.
We put them ashore and then took
three more persons off the top of anoth-
er car. At the same time people in
| their underclothes were being taken out
of the sleeping cars by the people on
| the several tugs. One man on shore,
with an arm cut off, was dying and
we made his last moments as comfort
able as possible. I want to say that
the porters showed great bravery and
saved many lives"
One of the trainmen who survived the
disaster made it his first duty to run to
the nearest signal tower to telegraph
for help. The place where the wreck
occurred is rather isolated. 1t is just
at the entrance to what is known as
Kings Cut, three miles south of Gar
rison's and five miles north of Peeks-
kill.
Two other express trains were follow
ing close behind the Inflated State ex-
press and the engine of one of them
was sent to Garrisons for General
Manager Toucey, who lives there, while
the other engine hurried to Peekskill
for medical aid. Mr.. Toucey was the
first official of the railroad at the scene,
+boro