New-York tribune., 1906-07-02
q single locomotive ready to furnish any service
which the milk train might require.
SwAYINC TRAIN JUMPS FROM RAILS.

q single locomotive ready TO furnish any service
which the milk train might require.
swAYING TRAIN JUMPS FROM RAILS.
In the mean time the express. which was due
to run through with an empty line OF rails on
either side of her, came pounding along, sway
ing heavily owing TO the great speed. The in
spector the station platform, watch in hand
followed her course with his eye and was horri-
fed to see the train leave the rails, jump to the
vacant line the right and plunge into the rear
of the milk train A crash like the roar of artil-
lery awakenedt many inhabitants of Salisbury,
mile away
Within some twenty seconds the whole train
became a mass of wreckage. the ponderous en-
gine having smashed the guards van of tho
milk train to atoms and killed guard In
stantly all the carriages broke from their coup
lings. The engine hurled itself against the edge
of the strong iron parapet which bounds the
bridge over the roadway. Fortunately it struck
the parapet almost end on. and probably
was saved from carrying away the structure
and throwing the train into the street below.
The iron work Of the parapet, however, was
twisted out of all shape, and part of it was
detached and fell with crash TO the pavement
beneath.
The impact with the bridge was startling in its
results. While the under parts Of the railway
carriages remained on the track, though off the
over the bridge, and the street below was strewn
with glass and splinters. One passenger was
hurled through the side of a broken carriage
thirty feet to the embanlment and either killed
and mangled by the fall or by the mass OF
wreckage that fell on him.
SECOND ENGINE ExPLODEs
The locomotive and tender. rebounding from
the parapet, now threw their great weight
against the stationary locomotive. which became
a shapeless wreck. its boiler exploding and Sc
verely scalding both the driver and the fireman.
The fireman has since died. The express engine
finally turned turtle, broken backed among the
torn-up rails. The wreck was horribly complete
Carriage was piled upon carriage as though by
giant hands. the stationary engine tilted toward
the concrete platform. with the wreckage Of one
carriage on it's top. and the engine and tender
Of the express almost locked into the stationary
engine. everything being smashed and splintered
with the exception Of the guards van Of the ex-
press, which, owing to the presence of mind of
the guard, who quickly applied the brakes, was
not overturned.
The directions TO engine drivers over this por-
ton Of the line are not to exceed a speed Of
thirty miles hour. but it is alleged that cal
culations based on the times at which different
signal boxes were passed showed that this speed
was exceeded. Unfortunately. both the engine
driver and the stoker are dead, and therefore
1t may be difficult to obtain reliable evidence as
to the speed at which the train was running
when the accident occurred
FLAMES QUICKLY CHECKED.
The horror of the scene which now presented
itself was intensified by fears Of the added ca
lamity of fire. Flames shot up from the furnace
of the overturned engine and set fire to wreck
age and to gas escaping from the reservoirs
underneath the train. Oficials, however. with
the greatest promptitude brought hose into play.
checked the flames at the outset and turned off
the gas.
The few officials at the station who were soon
reinforced by willing helpers from the town,
with the aid of lamps began the work of rescue.
The Spectacle that met their gaze was heart
rending Instead of the shrieks that might have
been expected ominous silence added to the
horror. Station Master Lawrence says this
was what most struck him on arriving at the
spot Both the injured and the uninjured
seemed too heavI.y stricken or too dazed by the
suddenness Of the tragedy to utter even a MUIR
mur. The waiting roonfs of the station were
hastily prepared for use as surgeries or dead
houses. In the carriages huddled in wreckage
almost under the wheels Of the upturned en-
gine death had been busiest. Here nine men
and five women were taken out dead soon after
the accident The driver and fireman were dead
in their cab. These were all taken to the wait
ing roonl,- and several Of the injured received
first aid treatment and sent to the in
firmary, which, fortunately, not far distant
HARD TASK FOR RESCUERs
The work of rescue proceeded slowly until the
arrival of breakdown gangs from London and
Exeter, and, despite the utmost dispatch it was
noon before the last Of the dead was extricated
from the CHASTITY prison house.
When opening was made into the second
carriage terrible sight was revealed At one
end of a compartment several bodies were
janmed together in almost unrecognizable
mass. 1t six eight hours before it was
found possible to remove them. In one part OF
the coach the Sentell family, from New York,
travelling together. OF whom only Edward
W. SenteH found alive three hours after
the accident. Some water was handed to him
through hole in the carriage, and shortly after
ward he was pulled out and taken to the in
frmary. bleeding profusely from a scalp wound
and with his left leg badly fractured.
The scenes around the wreck were calculated
to shake the strongest nerves. The sobbing and
cries of young Mrs. Cossitt wrung tears from
many of the rough men among the rescuers.
She herself was little hurt. but her husband was
so severely injured that though still alive, his
case was seen to be hopeless. He died soon
after being taken to the nfrmary. Mrs. Cossitt
taken to the home of a local doctor whence
she later went to friends I'm London
Among the dead is Keeler. the human enig-
ma" He had telegraphed to his aged mother in
London from Plymouth in regard to his expected
arrival
Throughout the day the scene was visited by
thousands of people coming by motor car, by
railroad or bicycles
An immense gang of men, with a powerful