Year: 1872




west end of this State there came mournful
wall to mingle in the merriment Of our Christ
mas festival Near the ridge which divides
the streams whose waters feed the Ohio and
so seek the ocean through the Mexican Gulf
from those which descend into Lake Erie and
passing Niagara and the Thousand Islands
find an outlet in the far north of the st. Law
renee, flows . rippling brook, whose high
banks are spanned by the trestle bridge of the
Buffalo. Cory and Pittsburg Railroad, near
the station house at Prospect, few miles
southerly from the thriving village of May
vile. There, on Tuesday afternoon, just when
the shadows began to lengthen as the sun de-
clined and the brisk wintry wind blew cold
and piercing from Lake Erie, q train ap-
preached from Cory. It descended steep
grade as it neared the bridge and the steam
was cautiously shut Off Slowly the en-
CINE advanced across the chasm, and
had nearly reached the northern bank.
when 3 broken wheel threw the pas
senger car from rom the track, separating Il
from the locomotive which passed over in
safety, while the doomed coach, with its
precious freight Of human life crashed through
the timbers and fell into the abyss. Fifty
passengers and several employees of the road
made that dreadful leap which cost the lives Of
half of their number. 1t was the repetition Of
the New Hamburg holocaust Of two Winters
ago, except that it occurred in daylight, the
numbers were less and drowning was omitted
from the causes of horrible death. The over
turned smashed car took fire, and the killed
and MANNED occupants were entangled in the
wreck, and there, burned and frozen, living
and dead, formed together shocking spec
tacle Of mingled horror and torture that once
seen long haunts the memory. Sad was the
Advent evening in that ittle railroad station,
and sad were the idings brought by the
electric messengers to many q home through
Western New York and Northwestern Pennsyl-
vania. Of those who plunged to the
bed of the frozen creek few escaped
unharmed More than twenty disfgured
corpses have been rescued. Others remain
beneath the blackened ruins, shapeless and
hardly recognizable as human bodies. How
many will this disaster cause to bear in mourn
full memory the Christmas of 1872 While
the disaster pierced SO many hearts it also
showed us the bright side of Christian charity
when oil the farming population of the neigh
borhood opened their houses as hospitals in
which to care for those who were saved alive,
and all to their best ability ministered to their
needs. The occurrence seems to have been
one which no human foresight can effectually
guard against. So far as yet reported it was
purely an accident, for which we can do
naught but weep. While it calls upon rail-
road companies to exercise the utmost care
to secure the safety Of those whose lives are in
their keeping, it should move us all to thank
Providence that we are spared, and that Of the
millions who journey by rail so small pro-
portion suffer mishaps. r


A broken rail on the line of an Indiana road
on Christmas Eve caused the death Of three
passengers, and several others were seriously
injured. This probably was the effect Of the
severe frost, which has rendered the iron dam
gerously brittle and liable to break at any part
not properly supported In such weather as
we have had during the last week it is abso-
lutely necessary for safety to run at low rate
of speed, and even then there is liability to
accident.