The true northerner., 1897-10-27
.AOM SLEEP TODEATH
Grim Terror Pilots a Railway Train
Through the Fog to a Plunge
Into the Dark River.
TwENTY-EIGHT SOULS HIS REwAg1
Victims Drowned in Their Berths o:
Their Seats and Many Ter
ribiy Mutiiated.


Best Piece of Railway. as IL Supposed. in
the Country, on the New York Central
and Hudson River Road. Goes Down In
der Special. the Only Witnesses Being "a
Tug Crew, and the Engineer and Fire
man Who Will Never Tell Their Stories
In This World.
Garrison, N. Y, Oct. 25.-From the
sleep that means refreshment and rest
TO the eternal sleep that knows no
waking plunged in the twinkling of an
eye yesterday morning twenty-eight
souls-men. women and children. Into
the Shiny bed of the Hudson river
train laden with slumbering humanity
ploughed, dragging through the waters
the helpless passengers. There was
nothing to presage the terrible acci-
dent which so suddenly deprived these
unfortunates of life. The New York
Central train left Buffalo Saturday
night and had progressed for nearly
nine-tenths of the distance towards it's
destination. The engineer and his fire.
man had just noted the gray dawn
breaking in the east and the light streak
of red betokening the suns appearance
when the great engine plunged into the
depths of the river.
VIII Never Tell Their Stories.
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 egine to the
river bottom. and the fireman, too, was
at his post. Behind them came the ex-
press car, the combination car and the
sleepers and these piled on top Of the
engine. 1t is known that il was a trife
foggy and that the track was not visi-
bic, but If there was any break in the
lines of steel it must have been of very
recent happening. for only an hour be-
fore there had passed over 1t a heavy
passenger train. The section of road
was supposed to be the very best on the
entire division. What seems to have
happened was that underneath the
tracks and ties the heavy retaining
wall had given away, and when the
great weight of the engine struck the
unsupported tracks it went crashing
through the rest of the wall and
toppled over into the river.
Lucky Break of a Coupling Pin.
Then there happened what at any
other time would have caused disaster,
but now proved a blessing. AS the
train plunged over the embankment the
coupling that held the last three Of the
six sleepers broke, and they miraculous
ly remained on the broken track. In
that way some sixty lives were saved.
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 along and then
saw the greater part Of 1t go into the
river. Some Of the cars with closed
windows foated and the tug, whistling
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 Carr's house, near which the
accident occurred, and stood screaming
for help.
Fought Like Fiends for Life.
In a few minutes Carr had dressed
himself, and getting boat rowed with
the porter to the scene. As they turned
point in the bank they came upon the
express car and the combination car
floating about twenty feet from shore.
but sinking every minute. One man
was taken from the top Of the car and
efforts were made to rescue those in
side. A few were gotten out The day
coach and smoker had gone down in the
deeper water, and rescue was impossi-
BILE. In the latter coach the conditions
must have been horrible. The car
turned completely over and the passen-
ger end OF ii was in the deep water
while the baggage end stood up towards
the surface. The men in that lower end
must have fought like fiends for brief
period, for the bodies when taken out
were a mass of wounds.
Scene of Badly MutiIated Bodies.
The closing scene OF the first day Of
this tragedy was drawn around a COM
mon car that stood near the scene Of
the accident where nearly score Of
badly mutilated bodies, none of them
claimed by friends. were lying in a long
row, grewsome evidences OF the disaster
the greatest that has ever occurred
on this railroad