Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 April 1886 — RAILROAD HORROR. [ARTICLE]

RAILROAD HORROR.

Six Cars Roll Down an Embankment Two Hundred Feet in Height. All but Three of One Hundred Passengers Injured or Missing. [Greenfield (Mass.) dispatch.] A terrible disaster occurred on the Fitchburg Railroad midway between Bardwell’s Ferry and West Deerfield station, the eastbound passenger train going over an embankment 209 feet high. Ten bodies have already been taken out of the ruins, and it is not known how many others were killed. The train was the eastern express, ami consisted of a baggage car, a smoker, a sleeping car, mail car, and two ordinary passenger cars. It was in charge of Conductor Foster, witli Herbert Littlejohn as engineer. The point where the accident occurred is the most dangerous bn die road, as the track runs on die edge of an embankment 200 feet above Deerfield River. The bank is steep, and is covered with huge bowlders and masses of rock. When fire train arrived at this point the track commenced to settle under it for a distance covering its entire length. Tho coaches broke from their trucks and went rolling over and over down the precipice. Tho engine broke from the tender, fearing up tho track for twenty feet. Below rolled the Deerfield River, on tho very'edge of which the ears were thrown. As soon as they struck they caught tire from the stoves. The sleeping-car was an entire wreck. It was occupied by several passengers, not one of whom at this hour is known to have escaped injury. As soon as the nows reached Greenfield a special train was made up and sent to the scene of the disaster, having on boiud several physicians, section men, and a few citizens. On arriving at the wreck a horrible sight, was witnessed. Darkness had settled over tho spot. Far down on the river bank could be scon tho smoldering embers of the ill-fated train. It was impossible to tell who was hart and who was killed. Stout-hearted trackmen were lowered cautiously down the treacherous height, and the work of rescue began. The Fitchburg coach was the only ono that escaped the (lames. Near it lay tho dead body of a little girl. Merritt Seeley, of the National Express Company of Boston, was found in the wreck and taken into the lelief car. He had a wound four inches long and half an inch wide over his left temple. His left thigh was broken and also his left leg at the knee, besides which he sustained internal injuries from which he will die. I). Crandall, postal clerk, was plunged into the river, and got ashore with difficulty. He was woundud about the head and his arm was fractured. Deputy Sheriff Bryant, who was in this car, rescued two children from the flames, but one was dead and the other dying. Their parents were on board, but cannot be found. Some of the injured and dead were taken to Sliel“ burne Falls and some of the wounded to Greenfield. C. P. Bell, of Nashua, N. IL, was cut slightly on the head and leg, but not seriously hurt. He was thrown headforemost into the river, and went to tho bottom barely escaping drowning. Conductor Foster is reported safe, and but sliuhtly injured. D. C. Wells, of Andover, bad his shoulder hurt and his bead cut. The car in which he was riding was broken in two, and stood on end within a few feet of tho river bank. Nicholas Dorgan, of Greenfield, had his left arm and ankle broken, and was seriously injured internally. A little girl who was a passenger on tho train died in bis arms from injuries received. J. E. Priest, of Littleton, N. 11., had his face and head cut. Engineer Littlejohn, of North Adams, was badly scalded? and has since died. A. K. Warner, Chairman of the Greenfield Board of Selectmen, was badly hurt, but his injuries are not fatal. Great excitement prevails all along tho road between hero and North Adams. Being interviewed at Shelburne Falls Conductor Foster said: “I am unable to state how many were on the train. Only three men have thus far been found who escaped injury, and they set tho number of passengers all the way from twenty-five to a hundred.” The locomotive is a complete wreck, but remains on the track, while the tender is down the bank. Tho following poisons were taken to Shelburne Falls, more or less injured: 11. G. Littlejohn, brother of tho engineer, with his wife and two children, all of whom have since died; A. 1). Cornell, Allen Lewis, E. B. Stowe, A. C. Harvey, of Boston, badly hurt; J. P. Fowler, A. R. Warner, of Greenfield; IL Couillard, Cbarlemont; E. W. Dunnells, Waltham; Miss Darby anti May Gowing. A Miss Cornell is badly hurt, as is Mail Agent Putney. A. M. Waterhouse is missing. It is reported in Shelburne Falls that thirteen persons were killed outright, but this cannot be verified. At midnight it is reported that four moro dead bodies were remoyed from the wreck, and it is believed that others have been swept down the river. The train at the time of the accident was running at the rate of about twenty miles an hour.