Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Ashtabula Disaster, Dec. 29th, 1876 By Rev. Stephen D. Peet of Ashtabula, Ohio Chicago, Ill: J.S. Goodman - Louis Lloyd & Co. London, Ont.: J.M. Chute & Co. 1877 [26-33] THE ASHTABULA DISASTER ---------------- CHAPTER IV. THE WRECK The cars lay at the bottom of the gorge. That which had been such a thing of speed and a line of beauty, now lay wrecked and broken, and ready to be burned. It was indeed a beautiful train, and was well known for its elegance and beauty. At this time it consisted of two locomotives, one named "Socrates" and the other "Columbia;" two express cars, two baggage cars, two day passenger coaches, a smoking car, a drawing-room car called "Yokahama;" the New York sleeper named "Palatine;" the Boston sleeper named "City of Buffalo:" the Louisville sleeper called "Osceo." The bridge broke in the centre. The engineer of the Socrates suddenly heard a sharp crack, like the report of a torpedo, and looked out and saw the engine behind sinking. With great presence of mind he opened the throttle valve an instant, and putting on all steam drove his engine forward. It was "like going up hill," but the Socrates reached the abutment and was safe. The Columbia, as it was drawn for- ward struck the abutment, and for an instant clung to its leader, held by the coupling rod, but as that broke, it fell. The first express car struck forward and downward, and landed at the foot of the abutment, while the locomotive fell on to it, completely reversed, with its headlight towards the train which it had been drawing. The other express and two baggage cars also fell to the side of the bridge, forming a line across the chasm with the rear baggage against the east abut- ment. The heavy iron bridge fell in the same instant with an awful crash, to the north, and lay, a great wall of iron rods and braces, ten feet high across the gorge. Singularly enough the track and top of the bridge remained long enough in situ for the bridge to sink and sway away beneath, and then fell straight down and lay at the bottom of the stream immediately below where it rested before, but 76 feet down, in the midst of the ice and the snow and water of the stream. Upon this the first passenger coach landed in an upright posi- tion in the middle of the stream and to the left, but close by the wreck of the bridge. The second passenger coach followed, but struck around at and angle, and turning to its side fell among the rods and braces, and was crushed and broken in the fall. The smoker broke its couplings at both ends, struck across and through the second passenger car, smashing it in its course, and then fell upon the top of the first, crushing it down and killing many as it fell. The palace cars followed, but as they fell they leaped clear of the abutment and flew out into the air to the left of the bridge with their trucks hurled beneath them, and dropped 76 feet down and 80 feet out, and landed in the centre of the chasm. The first drawing room car "Yokahama" landed on the ice, and the sleeper "Palatine" beside it to the right. The sleeper "City of Buffalo," however, as it flew through the air struck across the two, knocking the "Yokahama" on its side and crushing it in through its whole length, and landed on its forward end, with its rear end resting on the other two and high in the air. As the different cars fell, every person for the instant was stunned, and the crashing of one car on another struck many dead in an instant, while the survivors waited in sus- pense, expecting death would also come to them at the next blow. The work of death was owing mostly to the fall, and to the smashing of cars and heavy trucks on bodies and limbs, and even the very hearts of many. It was probably instantaneous to the large majority of those who perished. But a few were taken out of the wreck with any evidence of havinb perished from the flames which soon broke out. The wonder was that any escaped to tell the manner of their escape. As the cars struck, splinters flew in every direction. The floor burst up from below. The seats were crushed in front and behind. The roofs were crushed from above. The sides opened and yawled, and, as one expressed it, it seemed as if every limb and sense were being scattered and only the soul was left in its solitariness. More than one imagined that he was the only survivor, that all the rest had perished in an instant. Many thought their time had come. The thought of fire also arose in many minds, and the fear of a death that might be more dreadful than that by the crash. Without, the wreck was strewn among the iron beams and columns of the broken bridge and scattered in a terrible confusion. Ice and water and snow were mingled with rods of iron, and heavy braces, and beams, and the debris of cars, and the bodies of men. Danger threatened from all the elements. If they remained in the wreck, the fire threatened them with a horrid death. If they fled the fire, the water threatened to engulf them. If they escaped the water the darkness and chill of night, the storm and the awful stunning, bewildered and appalled. The very sight of the lofty abuments towering high im- pressed them with fear. The wild and lonely gorge strewn with snow and swept by the furious storm, conveyed a sense of wildness and strangeness in the extreme. It was a be- wildering and an appalling scene. As one after another of he stunned and stupefied sur- vivors began to emerge from the broken wreck, they were dazed by the wildness of the place. The experience of every one was different. Some drag- ged themselves fromt the debris and escaped through the broken windows, tearing clothes and flesh as they emerged. Others climbed through openings in the side or top and so made their way into the open air, and the gloomy night. Others broke the glass doors with their fists and dragged themselves through the openings thus made and sought to draw out others. Some became insensible and were only removed by force and taken by their friends to a place of safety. Strong men were bruised and stunned and were led by their wives. Others found themselves bleeding before they knew they were hurt, and even hobbled with broken limbs, not knowing what was their wound. Some sank into the water and were with difficulty rescued by their com- panions and dragged out upon the ice and snow. Many, as they got out, found themselves amid the rods and braces and hardly knew which way to turn. Some emerged from the doors and fell into the snow and water. A lady climbed out a window and walked on the sides of the car that lay wrecked beneath, and climbed down the back of a man who was willing to become a ladder for her escape. Another escaped with broken limbs which by force she had dragged from beneath the wreck, and then by the rods and braces drew herself to shore through the water into which she had fallen. Another still was able to get out of the car where lay her child and nurse, and was dragged in her night clothes through the water and snow, and across the ice and then stood upon the bank in the storm like a spectre, ex- claiming: "There is my child, I hear its voice." A father rescued his little children, mere babies as they were, and placed them on the snow for strangers to take, and then re- turned for his wife. She is held by the wreck and is badly hurt and exclaims that she cannot be saved, but begs her husband to cut her throat lest the fire should reach her and she be burned to death. She is, however, rescued and the whole family is safe. A gentleman gets out but finds that his limbs will not obey his will, but sink beneath his weight, and he is obliged to crawl on hands and knees to a place of safety. After all others have escaped, some- thing attracts the attention of those on the the bank, as if a coat were flapping in the wind. Next a man appears as if attempting to arise, and then the man emerges from the region of the flames, and is helped to shore by others. Many became so exhausted and faint that they fell sense- less upon the snow and were drawn by others to a place of safety. It is even thought that some were so bewildered that they wandered into the broken places in the ice and were drowned. It was but a very few minutes before all who could, had escaped and the rest were still struggling to get out or were already dead. ===========================================================================