Presented to the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY
by the
ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY
1980
ASHTABULA DISASTER.
REV. STEPHEN D. PEET,
OF ASHTABULA, OHIO.
ILLUSTRATED.
CHICAGO, ILL.:
J. S. GOODMAN Louis LLOYD & Co.
LONDON, ONT.: J. M. CHUTE & Co.
1877.
^
"
Copyright, A. D. 1877,
By J. S. GOODMAN and Louis LLOYD & Co.
OTTAWAY & COLBERT,
PRINTERS,
147 & 149 Fifth Ave ., Chicago.
HLOMGREN BROS. & Co.,
ELECTROTYPERS,
162 & 164 Clark St., Chicago.
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The narrative of the greatest railroad disaster on record
is a task which has been undertaken in the following pages.
No event has awakened more wide-spread interest for
many years, and the calamity will not cease to have its ef-
fect for a long time to come. The author has had unusual
facilities for knowing the particulars, and has undertaken
the record of them on this account. A familiarity with the
locality, the place and the citizens, personal observation on
the spot during the night, and a critical examination of the
wreck before it was removed in the morning gave him an
exact knowledge of the accident which few possessed. This,
followed by intercourse with the survivors, with the friends
of the deceased, and the representatives of the press, and by
correspondence, which resulted from his assistance in iden-
tifying bodies, and searching for relics, all added to his
acquaintance with the event and its consequences. The
author is, however, happy in making an acknowledgment
of assistance from the thorough investigation of the cor-
oner's jury, from the faithful presentation of facts by the re-
porters of the press, especially those of the "Inter-Ocean"
and the "Cleveland Leader," also from the pictures taken
by the artist Frederick Blakeslee, and from the articles
published and sent by various friends, which contained
sermons, sketches and biographical notices. He has to
acknowledge also encouragements received from Capt. J. E.
Truworthy of California, and his publishers J. S. Goodman
and Louis Lloyd & Co.
iv PREFACE.
The discussions before the country in reference to the
cause of tl is accident, the author has not undertaken to<
give These have been contained in the "Railroad Gazette,"
the ''Railway Age," the "Springfield Republican," the New
York and Chicago dailies, and many other papers.
Prominent engineers, such as C. P. Buckingham, Cle-
mans Herschel, E. C. Davis, L. H. Clark, Col. C. R. Morton,
K. S. Cheseborough, Edward S. Philbrick, D. V. Wood,
F. R. Smith and many others have passed their opinion
upon it.
The accident at first seemed to involve the question of the
use of iron for bridges, and whether the European system
was not better than the American, and a comment upon
this was given by Charles Collins, when he testified that
$25,000 more would have erected a stone bridge. Yet as
the discussions continued, the conclusion seems to have
been reached that riveted iron bridges might be safe if
properly constructed, and the engineers appointed by the
State Legislature of Ohio, reported that they "find nothing
in this case to justify our popular apprehension that there
may be some inherent defect in iron as a material for
bridges. We find no evidence of weakness in this bridge,,
which could not have been discovered and prevented."
The erection of iron bridges with the trusses all below
the track as contrasted with so-called "through" bridsres
has also been discussed. In this case the tendency to "buck-
ling" where the track is supported by iron braces rather
than suspended from them was most apparent, for engineer
Gottleib testified there was not a single brace which was
not buckled.
The danger from derailment and the fearful result which
must follow in high bridges like this is sufficient argument
for the addition of guards, or some other means to prevent
trains from going off.
PREFACE. v
These questions, however, are for railroad engineers to
settle. The responsibility of the railroad companies to the
American public is a point more important. The "Iron
Age," speaking of this disaster says, "it is a disquieting acci-
dent." It says also that : "We know there are plenty of cheap,
badly built bridges, which the engineers are watching with
anxious fears, and which, to all appearance, only stand by
the grace of God."
The "Nation" of Feb. 15th says: "By such disasters and
by shipwreck are lives in these days sacrificed by the score,
and yet except through the clumsy machinery of a coroner's
jury, hardly any where in America is there the slightest
provision made for inquiry into them.
" Here are wholesale killings. In four cases out of five
some one is responsible for them ; there was a carelessness
somewhere, or a false economy has been practised, or a de-
fective discipline maintained, or some appliances of safety
dispensed with, or some one has run for luck and taken his
chances."
It may be said of this case that the coroner's jury were as
thorough and faithful in their investigation as the American
public could ask; and yet from the class of reporters who
conveyed so inadequately the results of that investigation
from day to day no one was any wiser. The conclusion,
however, has been reached, and the verdict corresponds
with the evidence given in this book.
We have no space to give to the harsh words that have been
spoken. These have come not only from the bereaved friends,
but from papers of high standing, among manufacture:*
and others.
The accident has been bad enough, and the decision of the
coroner's jury sufficiently condemning. The action of the
.State Legislature has also made it a matter of investigation.
The letter of Charles Francis Adams also called attention.
vi PREFACE.
to a demand for a Railroad commission, and the subject
has not been left, as the "Nation" intimates that it might,
to a coroner's jury, nor even to a legislative committee, but
an enactment of Congress has already passed to bring the
subject before the Committee on Railroads.
Doubtless the results will be, increased safety of travel,
and the holding of railroad corporations to a strict account
by the authority of law, for all accidents which may be
caused by the want of skillful engineering or proper man-
agement. The Westenhouse brake may have caused the
projectile force of the whole train to have fallen upon the
centre of the defective bridge, but is there not some way of
stopping trains from plunging entirely down into these
fearful chasms?
Increased appliances for stopping trains, proper precau-
tions in putting out fires, the frequent inspection of bridges,
some method of keeping a strict account of the numbers on
the train will be required.
The object of this book, however, has not been to discuss
these points. As will be seen by the narrative, the religious
lessons of the occasion are made most prominent.
The author's sympathies were early called forth ; access
to the survivors enlisted all his sensibilities; correspondence
also showed how much need of consolation there was; and
the book was prepared under the shadow of the great
horror; but if the reader shall find the same comfort from a
view of the lovely characters and the Christian hopes
which span this dark cloud with -a bow of promise, the
author will consider that his mission has been accomplished.
CONTENTS. vii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
Ashtabula 9
CHAPTER II.
The River and the Bridge 13
CHAPTER III.
The Night and the Storm 18
CHAPTER IV.
The Wreck 26
CHAPTER V.
The Startling Crash... 34
CHAPTER VI.
The Alarm in Town 43
CHAPTER VII.
The Fire and the Firemen. 49
CHAPTER VIII.
Care of the Survivors 56
CHAPTER IX.
The Robbers 61
CHAPTER X.
Midnight at the Wreck 66
CHAPTER XI.
The Public Excitement 72
CHAPTER XII.
Scenes at the Morgue 81
CHAPTER XIII.
The Rail-Road Officials .. 89
viii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIV. PAGE
The Arrival of Friends 96
CHAPTER XV.
The Wave of Sorrow 104
CHAPTER XVI.
The Search for Relics 113
CHAPTER XVII.
The Passengers 120
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Experience of Survivors 131
CHAPTER XIX.
Personal Incidents 138
CHAPTER XX.
Kindness shown - -.144
CHAPTER XXI.
The Memorial Services 152
CHAPTER XXII.
The Suicide 159
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Character of Mr. Collins 166
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Loved and Lost 170
CHAPTER XXV.
Sketches of Character 177
CHAPTER XXVI.
P. P. Bliss 183
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Testimony of Witnesses 197
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The Lessons of the Event 203
The Coroner's Verdict . . 207
THE JLSHTABULA DISASTER.
CHAPTER I.
ASHTABULA.
'HE scene of this direful event is situated
on the Lake Shore Railway, midway be-
tween the cities of Cleveland and Erie, and about
two miles from Lake Erie.
The village itself contains nearly twenty-five
hundred inhabitants. At the mouth of the river is
another small village, making in all a population
of nearly four thousand. Between these points
of the village and harbor many families of the
poorer classes have made their homes, the most
of them being Swedes, Germans and Irish.
There are a few fine residences in this part of
the town, but the homes of the more prominent
citizens are at least a mile away. Near the depot
there are several small places of business, two or
three saloons, three hotels : The American House,
10 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
the Culver House, and the Eagle Hotel, kept by
Patrick Mulligan. It was one of the worst
places for a rail-road disaster. Near the depot,
not six hundred yards away to the eastward, was
a deep and lonely gorge. Across this the ill-
fated bridge was hung. It was just at the point
where the trains from the East were likely to
slacken speed. Below that bridge the stream ran
darkly. The only access to the gorge was by a
long flight of stairs which was at the time of the
calamity covered with a deep bank of snow. No
road existed to it, and the spot could be reached
by teams, only as a track was broken through
gardens and down steep banks and across the
valley and along the stream. A solitary building
was in this gorge. It was the engine house.
Here were the massive boiler and engine which
were used for pumping water from the stream to
the heights above, and so to the tanks at either
side of the station house, in the distance. Situ-
ated close by the river, and almost under the
shadow of the bridge itself, this lone house be-
came to the wrecked travelers a refuge from the
fire and storm. On the heights above towards
ASHTABULA. 11
the depot, another engine house was situated.
It was the place where the " Lake Erie," a hand fire
engine stood. Two cisterns for the supply of
water were located near, one on either side of
the rail-road track. It is difficult to picture a
place more retired and lonely than this gorge.
So near the busy station and yet isolated, in-
accessible, and seldom visited. Its distance from
the village, and the nature of the surroundings,
will account for many things which occurred on
that awful night; but it is a strange tale we have
to tell. In the midst of the habitations of men
untold sufferings took place, and the loss of life
and fearful burning.
The fire department consisted of three compan-
ies, two at the village and one at the depot.
There was only one steamer, and that was a mile
from the depot. These companies were under
the control of the chief fireman, Mr. F. W. Knapp,
who is a tinner by trade, and a man slow and
lymphatic in temperament, and one who, for a
long time, had been addicted to the constant use
of intoxicating liquors; a man every way unfit
for so trying an emergency. The re-organi-
12 THE A SH 'TABULA DISASTER.
zation of the fire department had begun. Many
intelligent and prominent citizens were members
of it, but these had not been successful in secur-
ing the removal of the chief, as several years of
association had made many of the fireman satis-
fied with his services. It was unfortunate that
the control was at the time in such incompetent
hands, but no one could have anticipated such an
event, and no emergency had heretofore shown
the necessity for a change.
RIVER AND BRIDGE. 13
CHAPTEK II.
THE EIVEK AND THE BRIDGE.
'HE Aslitabula river is a shallow stream
which runs through the county and . the
town. *As it approaches the lake it widens and
deepens into what constitutes the harbor.
The banks lining the valley of it are high and
rocky precipices. They form in the rear or to
the southward of the town a gorge which is
called, by the inhabitants, by the significant name
" the gulf." Near the depot this gorge widens,and
it-s banks become less precipitous; but, even at
this point, the river flows at least seventy-six
feet below the level of the road, and is four feet
deep. Here the fatal, but far-famed, bridge was
built. A grade on an arched viaduct conveyed
the track to the abutments, but these stood by
themselves, straight from the bottom of the
gorge, two lofty pillars of stone seventy-six feet
14 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
high and just wide enough for the two tracks
of the road. Planking these were the lower and
smaller abutments of an older bridge, left stand-
ing, but, for a long time, unused. The span of
the bridge across this gorge, from abutment
to abutment, was the unusual length of one
hundred and sixty-five feet. The bridge was
very high, and loomed up in the distance, tall
and dark and gloomy.
Travelers by the wagon road, at a distance up
the river a mile away, would stop and look at
this structure, apparently built high in air, and
watch the cars as they passed in bold relief
against the sky, almost as if a spectre train were
traversing the blue vault above.
It was a dizzy height. There was something
almost fearful in the .sight. The recklessness
of danger impressed the observer. As the full
outline marked itself against the sky, the fasci-
nation at times almost reached a sense of the
sublime.
Here, then, was the bridge suspended high in
air,lofty and tall and dark, a mysterious thing. It
was not an arch lifting high its springing sides,
RIVER AND BRIDGE. 15
it was not a set of beams supported by abutments
below; it was a web of iron netted and braced and
bolted, heavy, dark and gloomy in appearance,
and proving treacherous as death.
This bridge was erected in the year 1865, by
Mr. Tomlinson, according to orders and patterns
given by Mr. Amasa Stone, then president of the
road. It was built after the pattern of the Howe
Tru&s, but containing some elements introduced
by the president himself. It was constructed of
wrought iron, with long iron braces from lower
cord to upper cord twenty feet in height. There
were rods stretching from top to bottom and de-
signed to carry the strain from brace to brace.
The panels were eleven feet long, and between
these the strength of the cords depended on three
iron beams six inches thick and eight inches
wide. The whole width of the bridge was nine-
teen and one-half feet; its height twenty feet;
its length one hundred and sixty-five feet, in a
single span.
When it was first erected it was discovered
that the braces were placed wrong, so that they
came upon the sides rather than upon the edges.
16 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
The structure settled, as the edges were removed,
about six inches, and necessitated the change of
the process.
This error was remedied by the cutting away
of iron, so that the braces could be turned, and
this change occupied nearly a year. It was
watched with interest by the citizens, and was.
regarded by the builders themselves as a doubt-
ful experiment.
In its erection Mr. Tomlinson, the engineer,
differed with the president so much that he re-
signed his position, and, even Mr. Charles Col-
lins never acknowledged that it was a work of
his inventing, or a bridge receiving his ap-
proval. Before the committee, appointed by the
legislature of Ohio, he acknowledged that it
was an " experiment," and even when it was in
process of erection he gave no orders, but rather
left the responsibility with the president.
The deficiencies of the bridge, as acknowledged
by Mr. Tomlinson, who made the drafts, were
that the braces were smaller than was intended,
and the weight was very great. Its dead weight
was 3,000 pounds to the square foot, making
RIVER AND BRIDGE. 17
an aggregate mass of iron of many tons.
The rods or braces had buckled or bent at the
first trial, and there was danger that it would fall
by its own weight into the creek. As it was
changed, however, and the braces sprang back,
by the elasticity of the iron, heavier braces were
put into it, and in this shape it stood for eleven
years in constant service.
18 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
CHAPTER III.
THE NIGHT AND THE STORM.
HE night was portentous. All natoire con-
spired to make it prophetic of some dire-
ful event. The sympathy of the natural with
the historic event was known and felt.
Ominous of evil, a furious storm had set in. It
was one of the periodical snow storms for which
the season had been remarkable. Every Satur-
day throughout the month it had returned, the
same fearful blast and fall of snow. As if in
warning, it had come three or four times during
the season, and now with redoubled force ap-
peared.
The snow had fallen all day long, and was, at
the dusk of night, still falling with blinding fury.
The powers of nature had seized it again, and
were hurling it down as if in very vengeance
against the abodes of men. Everything was cov-
NIGHT AND STORM. 19
ered with a weight of snow. The wreaths and
fancy drapery which, during the first storm, had
engaged the attention of children, and pleased
O O ' X
the fancy with their forms of beauty and delicate
tracery, had now increased until they were heavy
blankets and burdensome loads. The feathery
flakes, which at first were beds of down, had be-
come solid banks. Everything was buried in the
increasing drifts, even trees and houses and fences
stood with muffled forms and burdened with a
snowy mantle. The streets were covered with
drifts which were piled high and wide.
No attempt had been made to break the roads.
The citizens had, for the third time, . confined
themselves to their houses, and had not even
opened the paths from the doors to the gates. It
was, in fact, one of those blinding, burying
storms which occasionally come upon northern
homes. The greatest comfort was in being at
home and having the consciousness of the home
feeling. Even the cares of the world were shut
out, and many had remained in doors refusing to
be called from the loved circle and comfortable
fire. Those who were well housed felt a pleasure
20 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
in their own security, and often looked out, grate-
ful for the shelter of their homes.
But to the traveler it was a fearful storm. The
same clouds which filled the sky with their fleecy
masses, became portentous to his gaze. As the
dusk of night settled down with more fury in the
storm, a fearful foreboding filled his heart. There
were many who were impressed with this inde-
finable sense of danger. It was not because they
felt the discomfort of the journey, nor because
they unconsciously acknowledged the difficulty
of the way, but a strange presentiment continu-
ally haunted them and filled them with indefina-
ble fear. Brave hearts sank within many, as the
strange feeling came over them, that there wa&
danger in the air. It was like a pall to the soul.
It rested heavily upon the spirits. Stout men
had to reason with themselves to nerve them-
selves to undertake the journey.
This presentiment of evil was the common one.
Many of the friends urged the travelers to stay
and not undertake the fearful journey. Parents
at Buifalo are known to have persuaded a daugh-
ter to stay until the storm was over, and only
NIGHT AND STORM. 21
yielded because a light heart was so buoyant and
hopeful, in the prospect of a holiday approaching.
A wife at Rochester urged a loved husband to
stay, and was only comforted by the promise of
a speedy return. A young husband at Erie, away
from his loved wife, was sadly impressed, and
discussed the question a long time with parents
and friends, and only went because absence
might disappoint the expectant companion, and
because affection for a little babe was stronger
than the fear which haunted him.
Even the sweet singer of Israel was strangely
impressed, and had so far yielded to his pre-
sentiments as to persuade the ticket agent, at
the station where he was waiting, to exchange
tickets and to give him passage by another route,
and only the sudden appearance of the train,
induced him to take it instead of another.
Among the many others the same forebodings
were felt, but unexpressed. As the sun went
down the air grew colder. A blast from the
north arose and the snow ceased falling, but the
roads and paths were still unbroken. Whoever
undertook to breast the storm or to pass through
22 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
the streets, plunged deeply into the untrodden
snow. Horses were kept from their accustomed
duties and were comfortably stabled from the
storm. Nothing was stirring, apparently ; only
the strong iron horse and the solitary train, which
slowly made its way along the snow-covered
track.
Everything was behind time. The train which
was due at Erie at a little after noon, was two
and a half hours late. It should have reached
Ashtabula before sundown, and it was now dark
and the lamps had long been burning. But the
engine pushed forward. The same train which had
started from New York the night before, had
divided at Albany; a portion of it was plunging
through the snow-drifts of the mountains of Ver-
mont, and now another portion was struggling
amid the snow near the banks of Lake Erie.
Both were destined to be wrecked.
Four engines had been used to push the train
from the station at Erie. Two strong locomo-
tives were straining every nerve to push forward
and overcome the deep snow.
Within the cars there were many already anx-
NIGHT AND STORM. 23
ions about the time. It was a long and well
filled train, but it was greatly behind time. Those
from a distance had been delayed throughout all
their journey. Those from nearer cities were
impatient to meet their friends. To some along
trip across the continent became an immense
and gloomy undertaking. But the passengers
were making the most of the comforts of the
hour. It was a little world by itself. Men, wo-
men and children were mingled together in the
precious load. Clergymen, physicians, profes-
sional men, business men and travelers, young
men and women, those from all classes and places
were there.
In the distant east and, even, the distant west,
from north and south their homes were scattered.
The continent was represented by that train.
It bore the hearts of many, many friends. It was
a varied company. Each one was pursuing that
which best suited the varied tastes, and were be-
guiling the weary hours. An unusual number
of parties had gathered to drive away care and
weariness by card playing. At least five such
parties had cards in their hands at the hour of
24 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
the sudden calamity. Others had been beguiling
the time by tales of adventure, and by relating
escapes from various dangers.
In the smoking car a group was discussing the
weight of the engines and the amount of water
used by each engine. Ladies in the sleeping
coach were preparing to retire; some had already
laid down in their berths. Gentlemen were qui-
etly dozing in their seats; others were taking
their last smoke, before settling themselves for
the night. Even the sweet singer had just laid
aside the Sacred Word, and was quietly meditat-
ing, with a song echoing in his heart. It was
just the time when every one was seeking to
make himself comfortable for the night, notwith-
standing the storm which raged.
A few thought of danger as they looked out
into the darkness of the night, but the sense of
security pervaded the train ; when suddenly! the
sound of the wheels was stopped ; the bell-rope
snapped; the lights were extinguished; and in
an instant all felt themselves falling, falling, fall-
ing. An awful silence seized the passengers;
each one sat breathless, bracing and seizing the
NIGHT AND STORM. 25
seats behind or before them. Not a word was
spoken; not a sound was heard nothing ex-
cept the fearful crash. The silence of the grave
had come upon them. It was the fearful pause
before an awful plunge. It was the palsied feel-
ing of those who were falling into a fathomless
abyss. The sensation was indescribable, awful,
beyond description. It seemed an age, before
they reached the bottom. None could imagine
what had happened or what was next to come.
All felt as if it was something most dreadful.
It was like a leap into the jaws of death, and no
one can tell who should escape from the fearful
doom.
26 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
CHAPTER IY.
THE WRECK.
>HE 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 beau-
tiful 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
THE WRECK. 27
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 forward 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 for-
ward 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
abutment. 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,
28 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
in the midst of the ice and the snow and water
of the stream. Upon this the first passenger
coacli landed in an upright position 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 an angle, and turning on 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. T he 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"
THE WRECK. 29
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 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 suspense, expecting death
would also come to them at the next blow.
The work of death was owing mostly to the
fall, and to the crashing 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
having 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 yawned, and, as one expressed it, it
30 THE A SH 'TABULA DISASTER.
seemed as if every limb and sense were being
scattered and only the soul was left in its solita-
riness.
More than one imagined that he was the only
survivor, that all the rest had perished in an in-
stant. 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 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 abutments towering
high, impressed them with fear. The wild and
THE WRECK. 31
lonely gorge strewn with snow and swept by the
furious storm, conveyed a sense of wildness and
strangeness in the extreme. It was a bewildering
and an appalling scene.
As one after another of the stunned and stupe-
fied survivors began to emerge from the broken
wreck, they were dazed by the wildness of the
place.
The experience of every one was different.
Some dragged themselves from 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
32 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
what was their wound. Some sank into the wa-
ter 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 be-neath, 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 her-
self 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, exclaiming :
" 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 returned for his wife. She is
held by the wreck and is badly hurt and exclaims
THE WRECK. 33
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 gentle-
man 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,
something attracts the attention of those on 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 the shore by others.
Many became so exhausted and faint that they
fell senseless 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 strug-
gling to get out or were already dead.
34 THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER.
CHAPTER V.
THE STARTLING CRASH.
>HE citizens were startled by a sudden crash.
Those who lived near the bridge knew that
the train was late. Many of them were in some
way connected with the road, either as telegraph
or baggage men or in some capacity of the rail-
road service.
For some reason there was an expectancy
among them all. Those who dwelt on the banks
of the gorge could look from their rear windows
and see each train as it came. As the first awful
crash was heard the whole neighborhood was
startled. Then as the ominous sound of car
following car fell upon the ear, crash after crash
in quick succession, the horrible consciousness
came to all with appalling force. Some started
to their feet with alarm. Others rushed to the
doors and hastened to the scene. One lady,
THE STARTLING CRASH. 35
Mrs. Apthorp, exclaimed to her husband in terror
and great alarm: "My God, Henry, No. 5 has
gone off the bridge." As her husband seized
his hat and coat and hastened out of the door,
with a woman's sympathy she put the camphor
bottle into his hands, thinking of the wounded,
and the suffering which must follow.
But a few minutes had passed before a number
were at the depot. The engineer of the pump-
engine was standing on the depot platform as
the train approached. As he heard the sound
he looked up and could see the cars from the
middle of the train, plunge off to the side of the
bridge, and fall into the abyss. The headlight of
the engine was above the track, but the passenger
cars were falling behind it. The head painter
was also in his shop and heard the crash. The
saloonkeeper of one of the hotels,and the foreman
of the fire engine " Lake Erie," also heard and
saw the fall. These were the first to start for the
wreck, and reached it very soon. Mr. Apthorp
also was early on the ground. These, as they
approached were appalled at the awful
scene. The engineer seized an axe and pail as
36 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
the first things which were at hand, and hardly
knowing what he was doing, attempted to break
the doors and windows, for the wounded to-
escape. Mr. Tinlay plunged into the water and
swam to the other side to rescue those who were
at a distance in the wreck. The omnibus man
began to chop to get an opening for those within,
but cut an awful gash into his foot, and was
obliged to cease. Mr. Apthorp, more deliberate
and self-controlled, first thought of the bell and
of giving the alarm, but hastened to the train.
lie went from car to car, entering such as were
open and could be reached, and sought to help out
those who might be left inside. Others arrived
and helped the wounded to escape from the
water and ice, and up the bank.
All were excited and hardly knew what they
were doing: and did not think of what next to do.
O
The engineer fluttered to and fro, excited and
uncontrolled. The saloon keeper assisted a few
and then disappeared. Some who arrived stood
on the bank amazed, and appalled, but idle and
passive, amid the scene.
In the meantime the flames began to arise. It
THE STARTLING CRASH. 37
was only a little glimmering light at first, so
small that as the passengers pass they throw
snow and a portion of it is quenched. A few
buckets of water thrown at this time, would have
sufficed to have kept down the flame. But the
critical moment was passed. The fire began at
both ends of the wreck, and rapidly spread. It
was just a little flame on the east side underneath
the sleeper. It was brighter in the smoker and
in the heap near the bridge, but it spread from
car to car, and soon enveloped the whole. No
one thought that the fire could be prevented.
The desire to rescue the wounded, and save the
living, was more urgent. It was too constraining
for any deliberate thought, it crowded out every
effort to prevent the spreading of the flames.
Every one was appalled, and overwhelmed, and
did that which seemed most pressing at the
moment.
The brakeman, Stone, who had escaped unhurt,
thought only of another train which was expected
soon. He hastened to the telegraph office to tell
of the wreck, and to stop the coming train. The
conductor was almost paralyzed with terror and
38 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
became frantic with excitement, and rushed to
and fro, calling for help, and it is said was kept
with difficulty from throwing himself into the
fire.
The flames kept arising. They spread far and
wide. They ascended high and still higher.
They filled the valley. A cloud of smoke
ascended, too. It was black and dense and
pitchy. It came from the paint and varnish,
and the materials of that gilded wreck. It was
stifling to the breath and deadly to all who
breathed it. It enveloped the ruins. It even
darkened the sky and rolled a thick cloud through
the awful gorge. The worst of fears began now
to be realized. Horror seized the living, for death
now claimed its victims, and man was powerless
to deliver. Within the awful canopy the flames
shot up, and from among them came forth groans
and shrieks and cries of agony and despair.
Then followed the most heart-rending scenes
and incidents. Those who were without, but
who had friends still left in the burning cars,
shouted loud and begged that the fire might be
put out; they even sought to go back to get their
THE STARTLING CRASH. 39
friends. Yells arose from the valley, and were
echoed in shouts from the top of the abutments,
and one wild scene of excitement pervaded the
spot. A little child was heard to exclaim, " Papa,
O, Papa, take me!" A woman cried from within
a car, " Oh save me, for God's sake take my
child!" A man had clasped a woman, to carry
her from the flames, but her foot was caught, and
he was obliged to leave her and save himself.
Another saw underneath the floor of a car, a
man and a woman lying there and calling for
help; he tried to extricate them, but,as the flames
arose, he went to the firemen and begged them
to put on water and save the living.
Mr. Apthorp saw a woman trying to get out
of the window of a car, high up amid the ruins;
she was half way out and called for help. He
hastened to the rescue, but the flames arose be-
tween him and her, and she perished there.
Two men were seen, sitting in their seats, sur-
rounded by the flames, but they perished and no
one could save them. One man stood by his
berth and burned to death, holding to its side.
A gentlemen, supposed by some to be Mr.
40 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
Brunner of Wisconsin, and by others, to be Mr.
P. P. Bliss, the sweet singer, was seen to
emerge and then to go back, saying that he will
perish with his family.
A gentleman was seen in the midst of the
flames, standing as if surrounded by a wall of fire,
until he fell. The most appalling sounds and
sights shock every heart, and send a shiver of
horror through every frame. The howl of a poor
wounded dog echoes through the valley.
A woman, whose children have already per-
ished, was seen lifting up her hands and beseech-
ing help, and was at last rescued, among the last,
awfully burned, and died in a few days from her
wounds. The last one removed was the fireman,
and then this poor dog, which had kept up its
piteous howling.
The living were driven from the wreck, and
could only stand and look upon the awful scene.
A cry arose a horrid cry ; it was not a shriek ;
it was not a groan, nor even a cry for help, but
it was a plaintive, melancholy wail the despair-
ing cry of those who knew that they must die.
Tt was a prolonged, an agonized, a heart-rending
THE STARTLING CRASH, 41
moan; it was the sound of Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!
Oh! Oh! Then all were dead, and silence set-
tled down upon the scene the awful silence
which comes upon the dead.
The parched lips we re sealed forever; the stifled
breath could no longer send forth a cry or groan ;
the carnival of death had at last silenced all its
victims ; the slaughter was complete. " Blood
and tire, and vapor of smoke." The flames leaped
and danced, and lifted high their heads, and
death was exultant in ah 1 its forces. The canopy
of blackness arched the snow-covered valley,
while the fiery billows rolled between. All that
man could do was to stand and look upon the
scene, appalled.
42 THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER.
CHAPTER VI.
THE ALARM IN TOWN.
TIE citizens of the village were sitting by
their fires, or at their tables, or in their
places of business. A sound was heard ! It was
a sudden, startling sound. To those who were
living near the depot, it was a succession of
sounds; first a crash, then a fall, then a distinct
sound for every car. To those who were at a
distance it was a single, but a prolonged and
terrible crash. To those who were within doors
it seemed like a sudden fall of a distant building,
or the nearer slide of a heavy body of snow, but
much more ominous. Some imagined they
heard a sound that followed, which they supposed
to be the wailing of the wind. It startled the
inhabitants in many houses, atid was heard more
than a mile away. Presently the sharp alarm of
fire was heard, and the bells rang out their peal-
ing notes.
THE ALARM IN TOWN. 43
Many started from their seats, at the thought
of fire on such a night. Presently the sky was
illuminated: a strange glare filled the heavens.
It was not like a distant flame, that cast its
shadow on the sky. It was not like a nearer fire
that shot up sparks and smoke. It was a glare
that pervaded the whole horizon. It cast a pale
and sickly color into the fleecy air. It covered
even the snow with a pinkish, almost crimson,
hue. It seemed like an extensive burning, as if
the flames were suddenly arising from wide-
spread structures. No one could tell, however,
what it was, nor what was the matter.
The men who rushed into the street first
whispered, it was an oil train, that had caught fire
on the track. Others said that it was the build-
ing at the depot. Women who were kept at
home were impressed that it was something more
than a common fire. Uneasiness seized the aged
who were residing in houses far distant. Many
hastened for the engines ; others ran in the direc-
tion of the light. All plunged into the deep snow,
and, out of breath, could only follow in single file
along the path which the foremost had broken.
44 THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER.
A long line of men and boys reached from the
main street toward the fatal spot. Horses and
teams plunged madly by. Every available horse
in one of the stables was put into, use. The
steamer was got out. The horses attached
pulled and tugged the massive load.
" Protection" engine was also manned at first,
but afterwards drawn by a team secured. Hose-
carts were taken for a distance, and then horses
were attached to these.
The villagers had become thoroughly aroused,
and were straining every nerve to reach the fire.
It had become known that the bridge was broken,
and a passenger train was wrecked in the dread-
ful gorge. An unregulated crowd was rushing
with all haste through the impeding drifts. The
thought with all was to hasten forward, and save
the living. It seemed an age before they could
reach the spot. Many became exhausted by
their efforts. The snow and drifts were so deep
that none could make headway, except with
difficulty. Even teams were detained by the
snow. It was at least twenty minutes before the
citizens arrived.
THE ALARM IN TOWN. 45
Time enough had then passed for the work of
death. The wounded passengers had re-
covered from the stunning fall, and arisen to
their feet and escaped to the shore, assisting one
another from the wreck.
Nearly all who were in the forward car had
escaped, except those who had been crushed
by the trucks, which had broken through
the roof, and fell upon them. One had even,
after his escape, looked in the window, and put
his face near the cheek of his companion, and
found him dead. Those in the smoker, had
climbed out and looked back to see how com-
plete, the sweep of the burning stove had been,
which had carried several before it to their death.
One had fallen out of a gaping seam made in the
side of that car, and looked back to see another
man caught as the car closed again, and thought
to himself that it had opened on purpose to let
him out.
Those in the sleeping coaches who were alive,
had also escaped, and made their way to land.
One gentleman, Mr. Brewster, who was but little
hurt, had assisted a man who was badly wounded
46 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
and helpless amid the wreck, and laid him down
at the east abutment, and then crossed the
stream again and called out to others saying:
"This way, here's a house!" Women had es-
caped from the rear sleeping coach and were
already at the shore.
Miss Sheppard, who was unhurt, had reached
the bank and requested some one to help her up,
and then made herself useful in aiding others.
Those who had escaped on the north side were
already making their way through the deep drifts
and the lonely valley and up the steep embank-
ment. Those who were near had done all they
could to rescue the living, and the flames were
already arising and nearly covered the scene.
All this had occurred before the citizens from ths
town could reach the spot. It was then too late
to do anything to save the wounded, or even to
keep the flames from destroying life. To be
sure the fire engine stood in that engine house
upon the hill,but it was never moved. The pump
engine also stood in the lonely valley, with its
steam up, but it was not used. There was also
hose in the upper engine house not six hundred
THE ALARM IN TOWN. 47
yards away, which would tit a plug in the
house by the river. But in the confusion
of the moment no one had thought of engines, or
of hose, and not even buckets had been brought
down. Meanwhile, the teams from town were
plunging on, dragging the steamer and the hose
through the heavy drifts.
The station agent, who had received a telegram
from the central office, to get surgeons and aid
for the wounded, was also hastening to the spot
but it was too late.
The work was done. It was impossible for
them now to rescue the living. Those who had
reached the scene had already rescued nearly all
the wounded and the living, though fearfully
bruised, and some of them insensible, from the
fire.
Others were standing and looking on from the
banks, idle spectators of the scene. And, before
the eyes of all, the fire had crept on and on, and
was now enveloping the whole. The wounded
lay in the snow, or on the damp, cold floor.
The water dripped from their garments and ran
upon the stone. Blood flowed from wounds and
48 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
mingled with the water. Chill and damp and
pain and wounds and the shock and fright were
combined. Gashed and bruised and broken,
they were crowding up that lonely, chilly bank.
But the flames without were burning and eclips-
ing all their misery. Appalling death was shoot-
ing from car to car, and the dreadful valley had
become an awful scene. It was too terrible lor
any human mind. The groans of the wounded
were mingled with the groans of the dying,
and shouts and groans and shrieks and cries
echoed through the valley ; then the plaintive wail
and the awful silence.
THE FIRE AND THE FIREMEN. 49
CHAPTEE VII.
THE FIRE AND THE FIKEMEN.
CS*HE firemen arrived at last; the station
V. ) agent had reached the spot before them. All
was haste and confusion. No orders, and no one
in command. The wounded were already com-
ing up the bank. Citizens, as they came, had
taken the survivors from the wreck, and were now
helping them to a place of safety and comfort.
Appalled by the scene and confused by the hor-
ror, none knew what order was to be given or
who was in command.
Mr. Apthorp was in the employ of the road,
and was supposed to have some control. As Mr.
Strong hastened to the rescue, he asked, " What
shall we do ?" The reply was, " Get men to help
up the wounded."
As the chief fireman met Mr. Strong, he asked
" Where shall we put the hose ? " " Where shall
50 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER,
we apply the water ?" The echo of Mr. Ap-
thorp's remark was the only response " We
want to get out the wounded, never mind the
water." A second time the question was
asked, as the station agent appeared in another
place, and a second time the response was, " We
don't want water,we want to get out the wounded."
"Get all the men to clear a road to the wreck."
Again, as the firemen undertook to lay the
hose, another official of the road used a vul-
gar illustration and saying there was no use in
throwing water on the flames. The impression
was thus given, by those in command of the
wreck and the road, that water was not wanted.
The chief fireman was not a man to assume the
responsibility under such circumstances: he was
dazed and confused and did not seem to know
what to do. The horses stood hitched to the
steamer. The hand engine " Protection,'' also
stood, with the men waiting for orders. Some
one ran up from the wreck begging, for God's
sake, that water should be thrown, but both en-
gines stood waiting.
The call for buckets, went up from below. One
THE FIRE AND THE FIREMEN. 51
old man, seventy-six years old, was in the midst
of the wreck, chopping for dear life and calling
for buckets at the same time. His son, arriving
late, plunged into the midst of the fire and be-
gan to work like one made desperate with de-
spair. Others took pails and undertook to go
out to rescue bodies that were burning.
The driver of the steamer took the engine to
the cistern and stationed it there, but no orders
were given; and the hose carts were ready to be
unreeled, but no orders were given. The whis-
tle of the steamer was sounded for hose and the
men stood ready to lay it; many wondered at
the delay and talked excitedly, but still no orders.
The captain of the steamer asked the station
agent if he should apply water, but the same
answer was returned. The chief fireman still
remained stupid and passive, and gave no orders.
At last he went, himself, to the wreck and began
to help remove the wounded, while the men still
waited and the engines were idle. The men
became impatient, but they were held by the
authority of their chief. The fire was still burn-
ing, but that answer of the station agent held the
52 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
chief fireman and he yielded to the direction and
abandoned the engines and his men.
A man who has seen two persons rftill living,
underneath the wreck, comes up and begs that
water be thrown, but the engines stand idle, and
the firemen dare not work without orders. The
more determined of them leave the engines and
go down to the wreck to work without them.
Pails are procured from the stores, and with
them the firemen work. Great exertions are
made to extinguish the flames in this way. Des-
peration has taken possession of the citizens.
An hour has passed, and it is stated that there
are some still living, but the engines stand idle.
There is talk, even, of disobeying orders and as-
suming command, but the law is quoted and that
is prevented. Men fly here and there, anxious
to save the living; others assist the wounded.
Some stand on the banks, with hands in their
pockets, and look on unmoved, but the fire still
burns. A few seize a rope and fasten it to the
locomotive, and try to lift it off from one poor
wretch who lies beneath it, but the time passes
and the flames are not subdued. A line is begun
THE filRE AND THE FIREMEN. 53
for the purpose of passing water, and so putting
the fire out, but a voice was heard from the top
of the abutment, saying: ' You don't want wa-
ter there." "Don't put any water on the
wreck." A few rushed for the hand engine,
thinking to take it down the steep bank to the
creek; the arrangements are made and a hose is
attached, but the decision of the foreman is, not
to take it down. Still, a few persevere with their
buckets; the flames in one place are put out by
this means, but no effort is made by the engines,
and the men stand waiting.
Horses become restive; the captain of the
steamer remains at his post; the firemen await
his command, but the order is never sent. Lives
cannot now be saved, and the bodies are burning.
A woman is seen in the midst of the wreck; life
is extinct, but the body is held by the iron frame-
work, high in air. Her clothes caught fire, and
she begins to burn like a martyr at the stake.
The spectators are horror-stricken by the sight.
A few form a line and, with buckets, throw wa-
ter in that direction, until the body falls and lies
buried with others. The fire at the engine is
54 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
next attacked, after the fireman is rescued. The
poor dog, which has kept up his piteous howl, was
also taken from the same place. This is the last
living creature taken out, but the bodies still
burn. The wind blows cold, but the fire burns
on.
The strangest misunderstanding has taken
possession of all. "Whatsoever the motive of
those in authority, the effect was, to keep the
engines from playing upon the flames. There
were tanks on both sides of the track ; the engines
were both on the ground; there was hose suffi-
cient, but the misunderstanding made everything
useless, and the department was held back and
did nothing. The indignation of the citizens
was openly expressed, but the fire continued. Mr.
Stebbins, a citizen, asked the captain of the
steamer, why water was not thrown ? and was
answered, that the chief would not order it. He
exclaimed, "We had better hang him, then," but
the fire continued to burn until, in places, it
burned itself out, and there was nothing more to
feed upon; nothing was left except the bodies,
and these were almost consumed. The fumes of
THE FIRE AND THE FIREMEN. 55
the burning flesh filled the air, and the horrid
consciousness haunted the hearts of the spectators,
but the fire burned on, and the strange suspense
held the people.
56 THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER.
CHAPTER VIII.
CARE OF THE SURVIVORS.
engine house stood on the bank. It was
the place where water was pumped from
the river to the tank, at the depot buildings. It
was a little brick building with a stone floor and
a large boiler and engine occupying the middle
of the room. Into this building, the wounded
were taken, and were laid on the cold, damp
floor, a ghastly throng. As citizens came, they
found them there, suffering from the cold as well
as from the shock and wounds. The effort was
made to take them to places of more comfort, but
where to take them was the question. No one was
there at the time to command. A few men were
there to assist; some were there to plunder, and
more had come not knowing for what they came.
A long, weary flight of steps led from the gorge
to the track above. Up this flight the wounded
CARE OF THE SURVIVORS. 57
were taken. On the other side the access to the
wreck was only through the deep snow and down
the steep bank. A line of men was formed at
last. Up both sides of the track the wounded
are helped, passed from hand to hand where they
are able to stand. Others were borne by the
citizens, and so by degrees, with pains and
groans and amid the wild excitement, the most
of them were removed.
The nearest house to the scene was a place
called the Eagle Hotel," kept by Patrick Mul-
ligan. Into this, by some chance, eleven of the
wounded were carried. It was a horrid place.
A dirty bar-room. Rooms which had never
known a carpet, but whose floors were soon cov-
ered with snow and water; little bed-rooms just
large enough to hold a bed and wash-stand,
without carpets or stove; beds that consisted of
filthy sheets and miserable straw ticks. It was
a house forbidding in every respect. Into this
place the wounded were taken, bleeding and
gashed, and laid two by two on the miserable
pallets. There they lay in the clothes which
they had on, covered with blood, cold and cheer-
58 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
less, while crowds of curious spectators trooped
in and out through the weary hours of the long
and dreadful night.
Others fortunately were taken to better quar-
ters, but even some of these were robbed on the
way of the money which they had in their pockets
by the very persons who pretended to assist them
in their helpless state.
Teams were secured. A road was broken.
Into the gorge sleds are with difficulty taken
down, and into these the badly wounded are
placed. The two little children who had es-
caped are also taken in these, badly burned and
insensible, and placed with their father in a
private house. The mother is moved, and laid
in another house, and lies in great agony. A
young girl ; timid and frightened, whose limbs are
broken, is separated from her aunt, and placed
among strangers. Amid great confusion those
who are able, walk to the hotel, some of them
pursued by those who would rob them. A
father calls out from a stretcher for a daughter
whom strangers are taking in another direction,
and becomes almost frantic with excitement
CARE OP THE SURVIVORS. 59
until the girl is brought back to him. The poor
burned woman whose children are dead is borne
to the " Culver House."
The bruised, gashed and bleeding pas-
sengers are at last removed from the valley.
They are distributed through the neighborhood.
Upon couches and beds of the few hotels ; upon the
counters of stores ; on the floors of private houses ;
and even in the saloons they are scattered until
the whole vicinity becomes a hospital. The sur-
geons are all at work. The wounds are hastily
dressed. The blood is washed away. Many are
wrapped in warm coverings. Comparative quiet
and rest settle down. The spectators have left
the smoking ruins, and in curious crowds have
trooped through the houses and have gradually
disappeared. Those on the abutment returned
to their homes. The firemen themselves dis-
perse. The last one in the engine house has
gone. Only a very few are left to guard the
dead.
A wild and lonely season remains. The dead
are left there alone. The snow drifts toward the
smoking ruins. Nature weaves a white shroud.
THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER.
Night draws down a black pall. The silence of
the grave settles upon the lonely spot. A flicker-
ing light from the funeral pyre sends up a glare
through the darkness, and the dead stare from
the blackened bars with eyeless sockets, and the
bodies are left to burn.
It is a horrible, heart-sickening sight, the
bodies still smoulder in the burning grave, and
the smell of their flesh arises on the darkening air.
THE ROBBERS. 61
CHAPTER IX.
THE BOBBERS.
'HE fire continued to burn. For a time the
wreck was left unguarded.
When it was, that so much plundering occurred
no one knows. The flames were lifting up their
lurid light, and covering the ghastly scene with a
sickening glare. The dead lay in every direction
amid the driving snow. A skull lay by itself
amid a blackened heap, whitened by the fire.
The heap of bodies lying in the sleeping-coaches
were still burning, and yet this appalling scene
did not intimidate the human vultures who were
looking for their prey. The ravening wolf that
prowls at night would be driven from such a
horrid place by very fear. The hearts of men
were on that fearful night more greedy than
wolves or vultures are, for amid that awful wreck
they sought for spoil. One and another of the
62 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
wounded had been robbed. Men were more
merciless to their fellows than the cruel flames.
One young man, who had lost both mother
and sister, was suffering from four broken ribs
and a severe gash in the head. As he looked up
and saw the men standing and watching, the
thought of robbers crossed his mind. He had a
valuable watch, a present from his father,
and two purses, one containing fifty dollars
in bills, and the other a few dollars in change and
his mother's jewelry. As the thought of thieves
came up, he turned around with his back to the
crowd and dropped his watch down his neck in-
side his shirt, and there left it suspended by the
chain next to his person. One purse he placed
inside his vest and in an inside pocket, and the
other was left in the pocket of his pantaloons.
Some one offered to assist him up the stairs.
As he reached the top this person disappeared
and another came. Taking him by the arm,
the robber drew it out in such a way that
the broken ribs gave intense pain and caused
the poor boy to faint and fall. As he fell, he
remembers to have felt a hand reached into his
THE ROBBERS. 63
bosom, and then he became unconscious, and lay
upon the snow. When he came to himself, his
purses and his ticket to California were gone, and
all he had left was the watch he had hidden and
the clothes he wore. Among strangers, with
mother and sister both dead, the poor young man
was at last taken to a hotel and telegraphed the
sad news to his father in the distant home.
Another gentleman, as he was being helped to a
hotel, was robbed of all that he had in his vest
pocket, on the side towards the one who supported
him. Still another was followed by a person who
pretended to be a physician and offered to assist,
but escaped by threats and such speed as he
could command.
Much valuable property was removed from
the bodies of the dead. One gentleman had
upon his person a valuable diamond pin, a com-
mander's badge, a Sir Knight's pin and other
valuable jewelry, but when his body was found,
nothing was left except a cheap pair of celluloid
sleeve buttons.
"Watches were removed from chains, and the
jewelry in trunks was taken or mysteriously dis-
64 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
appeared. More than $1,500 worth of valuable
articles were afterwards recovered by the Major
by a proclamation, and by detectives. A saloon
keeper was found to have appropriated shawls
and satchels, and others were found to have
diamonds and jewelry in their possession which
had been stolen.
A young man who had a splinter from the
cornice of the car driven through his collar bone
was robbed of $300 in money at the Eagle
Hotel where he lay, and a gentleman from Hart-
ford had his boots taken from his feet and carried
away.
The dead in the valley and the wounded in the
streets, and the survivors in other places were
alike subject to this villainous pillaging. A pair
of dominos, or black masks, were found, show-
ing how deliberate had been the robbery with the
villains who were out that night.
Scarcely anything of value was left after the
wreck. One gentleman who had $7,000 on his
person was killed and his pocket book found, but
the money was gone. Trunks containing the
wardrobes of brides, and the jewelry of the
THE ROBBERS. 65
wealthy, were burned and destroyed. Watches
were burned in the fierce flames until the gold
was melted into nuggets, and everything that
could be treasured by friends, whether it was the
clothes of the dead or the precious keepsakes they
had, or the bodies which were more precious
than jewels, all disappeared and not a relic or
trace could be found.
66 THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER.
CHAPTER X.
MIDNIGHT AT THE WRECK.
T twelve o'clock quietness had settled down
upon the scene. The streets were deserted.
All had formed the impression that the bodies
were to be burned, and had gone to their homes,
leaving the wreck still burning, and the dead to
be consumed. The engines had been ordered to
their houses. The lights glimmered from the
homes where the wounded were lying. A few
were at the wreck. The expressman guarding
the treasures in the safe, sat solitary and alone
through the long hours, while the flames which
were burning precious bodies, crackled and
threw their lurid light across the scene. The
smell of burning flesh pervaded the air even
half a mile away. A horrid sight was pre-
sented in the awful valley. The flames which
had blazed so high had consumed the wood and
MIDNIGHT A T THE WRECK. 67
furniture of the train. The gilded palaces were
reduced to mere skeletons of iron. The bridge
lay a mere network of blackened beams. The
trucks and wheels and heavy rods were lying in
every direction. But beneath these horrid ribs
of death, lay the blackened bodies of men,
women and children, burned, and still burning,
amid the snow and ice. Blue tongues of fire
shot here and there amid the blackened mass, as
if some unseen monster were still licking up the
life of its unburied victims. The white snow lay
like a winding sheet along the valley, but the
skeleton waa in the midst with the tall abutments
towering above and the precious bodies silent in
death beneath the ruins.
A long line of bodies lay packed on the bridge
just above the water of the stream. They were
covered with trucks and brakes, and heavy bars,
and the debris of wood and the ashes of the
wreck. Packed in a horrid mass they lay,
crushed and broken, and blackened by the smoke
and heat. Ghastly forms lay in this, open grave.
Headless, armless trunks were packed with the
broken limbs, and the heads from which the
68 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
brains were oozing, while the stumps of arms
seemed lifted from the blackened heaps as if in
mute supplication too shocking for any human
heart. The delicate form of a mother lay beside
her little child, but both reduced to mere black
lumps with scarcely a semblance to a human
form. A full sized woman lay amid the mass
but with no sign of either legs or arms except
the broken bones which had been crushed away
by the fall. Bodies of men also lay cut com-
pletely asunder, and presenting only the half of
the human form an awful, sickening sight.
Everywhere through the valley - there were
bodies lying silent in death. The pale flames
which flickered here and there, betokened where
many of them lay. Underneath the horrid bars
of iron, on the black, deceitful ice, in the watery
depths of the unconscious stream, packed in
heaps underneath the burning cars were the
dead ! It was an appalling and terrifying scene.
The darkness and loneliness, and the very deser-
tion, were enough, but through the very nerves
there came the horrid consciousness of the many,
many dead.
MIDNIGHT A T THE WRECK. 69
Fcir away were their friends, the night was
lonely, and the storm was pitiful, but scattered
through that grave were the bodies of the dead.
It was hard to realize it. but, to the hearts of
friends, these unburied were no strangers, and
yet they burned, in loneliness.
The railroad authorities came at half past one
o'clock. Five surgeons from the IIomo30pathie
College, in Cleveland, the superintendent, the
assistant superintendent, the train-despatcher
and others. The wounded were in their beds at
the time. The fireman was at the Eagle Hotel.
The engineer was at Mr. Apthorp's, two other
persons, also, who needed surgical operations,
were at the same house. The surgeons of the
road, as they arrived, sought first the employees
the fireman and the engineer and to these,
gave their professional attention. The surgeons
of the village had already attended to the passen-
gers, had dressed the wounds of most of them,
and were waiting for the proper reaction, to per-
form the amputation on those whose limbs were
broken.
Ten surgeons were, at one time, crowded into
70 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
one small house, where the worst cases were
placed. By morning, however, the amputation
was performed by Dr. J. C. Hubbard, as-
sisted by Drs. Fricker and Case, and about
twenty of the wounded, including the iireman
and engineer, were removed to the hospital in
Cleveland. This relieved many of those who
were at the Eagle Hotel, as they found comforta-
ble quarters at the hospital, and the .rest were
taken into rooms where a fire could be built, and
where a carpet covered the floor; but through all
the night the fire continued to burn. The hag-
gard dawn drove the darkness out of the valley
of the shadow of death. Seldom was revealed a
ghastlier sight. On either side of the ravine,
frowned the dark and bare arches from which
the treacherous bridge had fallen, while, at their
base, the great mass of ruins covered the men
and women and children, who had so suddenly
been called to death. The cherished bodies lay
where they had fallen, or where they had been
placed, in the hurry and confusion of the night.
Piles of iron lay on the thick ice or bedded in
the shallow stream. The fires smouldered in great
MIDNIGHT A T THE WRECK. 71
heaps where many of the helpless victims had
been consumed ; while men went about, in wild
confusion, seeking some trace of their friends
among the wounded or dead.
72 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
CHAPTER XI.
THE PUBLIC EXCITEMENT.
'HE morning dawned. Those who had
known of the event, awoke as if from a
fearful dream. The horror of the great calamity
haunted the sleeping hours, and came back with
returning consciousness. The dream was, indeed,
a sad reality. The bodies, which were wrapped
in the sleep of death and whose bed was the
driven snow, were the first thought at the awak-
ening of the living; nothing else was thought of
in the village. Those who had not heard of it
were startled by the news, but those who had
seen and known, were strangely impressed. The
smell of the burning flesh seemed to pervade the
air. The sight of dead bodies seemed to fill the
eye. The flames the fearful flames the
ghastly wounds, the blackened bodies and the un-
known, unburied dead were before the mind.
THE PUBLIC EXCITEMENT. 73
Death had descended like a bird of night, and
flapped a dark wing over the abodes of the liv-
ing, casting a shadow over the whole place, and
then descended into the valley and was still
watching its victims. There was something fear-
ful in such an awful devastation by the dread
monster.
But with this sense of the nearness of death,
came another still more fearful to the mind.
There was mingled with the thoughts of the
dead, another of the living, which was even more
horrible to the mind. A great shadow hovered
over the place. It was not the shadow of the
angel, which had descended, with its dark wings;
it was not the unseen messenger of God ; it was
not of the horror that walked in darkness, or the
destruction that wasted at noon of night, but a
horrible suspicion had seized the people; the hor-
rid selfishness of men haunted the waking thoughts
as terrible death had the sleep of night. Cru-
elty was ascribed to men, worse, even, than the
awful fall and death.
That burning of the bodies was ascribed to de-
sign. The impression was a general one. In-
74 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
dignation was mingled with horror; that retir-
ing to homes, while the bodies burned, was not
the result of indifference. Few were so heart-
less as to care more for sleep than for the safety
of the dead. Many could not sleep that night,
but, somehow, the impression had taken posses-
sion of the people that the burning was designed.
As the citizens returned to their homes late at
night, they had talked their suspicion, and grown
sick at heart. The firemen themselves had laid
the blame somewhere else than upon their chief.
It seemed too inhuman, and yet it was believed.
The station agent was known and trusted. His
character was well established. His humane and
kindly heart was not impeached. His Christian
life and courtesy were well known to all. But
the feeling was universal, and the suspicion
strong., The control of the company over the
cars, and all the contents, was taken for granted.
The responsibility of common carriers was known,
and no one could understand why orders
should be given to withhold the water, except it
was to destroy the traces of those who were on
the train. For the time this was believed. The
THE PUBLIC EXCITEMENT, 75
sentiment was so common that even an employee
of the road was heard to say that " ashes did not
count," but bodies did.
There was no foundation for the report. It
was all the result of that strange mistake. As
was afterwards shown, no such order had been
given, and the persons in command were not
responsible for the mistake; but for the time it
had its effect. That midnight hour showed h*ow
strong this conviction had become. The deserted
streets, the silent engines, the stabled horses all
betokened a thought which ruled the night. A
strange misunderstanding had controlled that
fatal hour, yet none the less powerful because
so strange. As men met in the morning, this
was the first thought which they expressed. It
was the main subject of remark. Many supposed
that the order had been given from the central
office, but had no means of correcting or confirm-
ing their belief. Others maintained that there
was a reason for the order, as the throwing of
water upon hot iron was likely to create steam,
and this, it was said, "would destroy more lives
than even the flames, and would deface the
7fi 7 'HE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
bodies." It was held by some to be the general
policy of railroad companies to allow wrecks to
be burned, and this was given as the reason: "that
steam would foe generated which would imme-
diately cover the wreck, and drive away those
who would rescue the living." Gentlemen of
intelligence and caution discussed that point with
earnest warmth.
Little knots of men would gather and express
their pent-up feelings. Others supposed that
this popular indignation was the result of the
terrible pressure and that weighed on the spirits,
as if indignation were the safety valve for the
oppressed heart.
These convictions of the people arose above
all other feelings. The better sympathies were
awakened and rebuked the very selfishness which
was abhorred. The passions which were excited
were to the praise of the better feelings of the
heart. The kind and generous emotions were
protesting against a cruelty which was imagined.
It was not supposed, at the time, that the same
humane feelings existed in the hearts of those in
command. It was a "soulless corporation," it
THE PUBLIC EXCITEMENT.
was said, and men did not stop to reason. A
horrible thing had occurred. A fatal mistake!
The awful negligence and the fearful burning
were combined. Somebody was responsible!
The citizens felt that it could not be themselves,
and yet the corporation remained unconscious of
the charge. For several days the popular feeling
continued. It was even reflected back in the
reports of the press. As the friends arrived they
partook of the feeling, and swelled its force. The
sentiment came back from distant places, and the
little village was intensely moved.
It was because the heart of a great nation was
moved, and the shock which appalled and para-
lyzed the whole land, sent back its chilling horror
to the very centre. Far and wide over the long
wires the startling message had made its way.
Families on the distant hill tops of the New Eng-
land States; men in the green valleys of the Cali-
fornia shores; at the distant south and in the
snowy north; in the great city and in the little
hamlet the fact was known. Everywhere the
shock was felt. Every eye was fixed upon the
startling head lines. Every heart was moved as
78 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER,
the news was read. All other things were forgot-
ten in the great horror. The greatest railroad dis-
aster on record had taken place. The Brooklyn
horror was eclipsed by a greater. Angola was sur-
passed. Norwalk and the many other catastro-
phies were all forgotten. Ashtabula was known,
and became the synonym, for the event. But
mingled with this startling news was the silent
question which the citizens were discussing on
that gloomy morning " Why was not the fire
put out? " Nor did the feeling cease, or the sur-
prise and sad suspicion die away for many a day.
As the tidings reached the neighboring coun-
ties, vast numbers began at once to flock in.
Trains arrived by other roads. Each train
came laden with passengers. The streets were
filled with people. All were excited. Sooner,
even, than the friends of the lost these crowds
reached the wreck. The friends at a distance were,
however, detained as it was not the purpose to
allow them to come to witness the horrid scene
until a suitable disposal of the dead was made.
The police stationed on the ground endeavored
to keep back the curious crowds, but in many
THE PUBLIC EXCITEMENT.
cases found it impossible. It was not known
whether the control was in the hands of the rail-
road company, or of the village authorities. They
were mostly railroad men who were superintend-
ing the work. The excitement of the citizens
was not diminished, as it seemed so doubtful who
were in control. The fact that the Mayor of the
city was in the employ of the road as assistant
engineer only increased this feeling. At the
time of the accident there was no coroner in the
place. The proper officer had previously de-
clined. Another had to be appointed in his
place. Access being denied to the spot, and the
supposition having obtained that the control was
in the hands of the Company rather than of the
village corporation the suspicion increased. The
very efforts of the authorities to protect the place
and keep back the curious strengthened the con-
viction. A strange feeling pervaded thy place and
was spread throughout many parts of the country.
It was the element which most excited the people
and which called attention from the widespread
public.
The only answer is that the calamity was too
80 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER,
appalling for man's reason, and those in com-
mand seemed to have lost their judgment in the
excitement of the hour and were held by the
misunderstanding which so unjustly arose.
There was no evidence that this burning was
intended. It is not reasonable to suppose it.
The report was entirely untrue, the suspicion
wrong, but in the excitement of the hour, it
was felt, and was a strange feature in the event.
SCENES A T THE MORGUE. 81
CHAPTER XII.
SCENES AT THE MORGUE.
T eight o'clock, work was begun upon the
wreck. Guards were stationed about the
spot. Planks were placed upon the ice. Men
were employed to remove the debris of wood and
iron. Boxes were procured, in which to place
the dead. A special policeman was stationed at
the head of the stairway; no one was permitted
to go on the ice, except the workmen, who
were engaged in removing the debris.
The mayor of the city was on the ground; the
stationing of the police was at his request, but
the removal of bodies and the preservation of
relics, was in the charge of an official of the road.
The superintendent of bridges and the train-
dispatcher, as isted in the work. Even Mr. Col-
lins, himself, the chief engineer, was there, and
worked in the water, and forgot himself, in the
82 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
sympathy he felt. Throughout the day the work
continued, and the crowds passed to and fro.
Men were employed who, in long rubber boots
and water-proof coats, worked all day long in the
ice and snow; it was a difficult and tedious task.
The wind blew cold, the water was deep, the
beams were heavy, the iron was netted together,
and the wreck was imbedded in the stream.
The bodies were frozen, they were packed among
the debris, and buried in the snow, but they were,
by degrees, removed.
The remains of men and women and children,
were taken by strangers' hands, and placed in the
rude deposits prepared for the occasion. This was
under the idle gaze of many a spectator, who had
gathered there. The hands of friends were not
there to lift the tender forms, many of these were
were far away. Those who could have been there,
and whose every nerve and fibre cried out for
their loved and lost, were detained by the trains
in the distant city. It was difficult for even the
citizens who were present, to realize what sacred-
ness there was to these precious forms. Death
had been robbed of its solemnity, and now it
SCENES AT THE MORGUE.
seemed a piece of business, to remove the bodies
which had burned. The friends had been pur-
posely kept back, that the revolting spectacle
might be kept from their sight, or that some de-
cent disposal might be made before they arrived.
These bruised and broken and blackened things,
did not seem like human beings, and the sorrow-
ing hearts alone could realize how sacred and
precious they were, even in all their deformity.
It was well that the shock was spared to many,
until the distance could be traversed.
Yet it was an awful, shocking sight, when the
removal had been accomplished. It was a horrid
thing to take these bodies, in all their deformed
and distorted shapes, from their beds of ice and
snow and iron and ashes and the coals of wood,
but it was still more horrid, to look upon them
as they were gathered in that gloomy morgue.
The freight house was turned into the place
for the dead; its doors were closed, and the
darkness of a winter's day settled down in that
cheerless place; it was cold, and bare and gloomy,
a fit place for death.
As the sleds arrived from the deep gorge be-
84 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
low, bringing the awful human freight, this large
room was nearly filled with the ghastly rows.
Thirty-six bodies were arranged, in boxes, in a
double line along the sides; a few had been
taken out, with their bodies uninjured, except as
they had died from the breath of fire. These
were placed by themselves upon the floor, and
from their very attidude, showed how awful had
been their death. They were mostly men. There
they lay, with limbs distorted, with hands uplifted,
with averted faces, and with all the agonized and
awful shapes which death by fire must produce.
One had endeavored to throw his coat over his
face, and lay with arms and coat above his head,
caught by the flames and transfixed in that shape.
Another had twisted his neck and face away,
until the head rested upon the shoulders and
back, and only the burned hair and whiskers could
be seen. Another lay with limbs drawn up and
body doubled, and yet his graceful shape and
form could be read, through the agony of death.
Others seemed to have stood, and held up be-
seeching arms and hands. With some, even the
stumps of arms were outstretched, as if in mute
SCENES AT THE MORGUE. 85
appeal. A few were drenched, with their cloth-
ing on, but partly burned, as if the water and
the fire together conspired for their death. These
all impressed the eve, with, the agony of death
by fire. The fear of such a fate, was that which
the survivors felt the most.
The agony, depicted in these few distorted
forms and faces, showed how well founded was
that fear. But, fortunately, there were but few.
Not a dozen bodies were taken out that, to any
human appearance, could have lived, if this fire
had been kept down. The rest were broken and
bruised, or else their bodies had been completely
burned.
A more affecting sight was that, of those who
were placed in the boxes, broken and bruised, as
they were, in every limb. The boxes could not
contain them, as their clothes were stiffened by
the water and ice and snow. Those, too, whose
clothes had been burned away, were so distorted
in limb and body that no box could hold their
forms.
Though dead, and stiff and cold, they seemed
as if they would start from their graves,
THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
and escape the fearful fate, which had seized and
destroyed their life.
And yet, even these would move the heart.
They were those whom somebody loved, and,
though seen in their distorted shapes and in that
horrid place, were dear to their friends and grate-
fully recognized. Some even impressed the eye
with what they were in life. Strong men, with
enough of clothing left, or with their form and
features sufficiently preserved, to show their gen-
tle breeding or their business habits, betokened,
through all the smoke and ruin, what they were
and how esteemed. Women, too, were there,
whose clothes were sufficiently preserved, to
show what taste and culture they may have pos-
sessed, and in their forms, though blackened
and burned, retained the grace and beauty
which hac^been admired.
A little child was there, beautiful in death; the
delicate little foot hid beneath the closely fitting
shoe, the nicely tapered limbs, the graceful,
lovely form, the tasteful dress, the hands so tiny
and so touching in their shape, one could but love
the little thing. Even the stranger wanted to
SCENES AT THE MORGUE. 87
take that sweet, that precious child, and clasp it
to the heart; but no, that awful gash, that cruel
blow had stricken all the beauty from the lovely
face. If now, the mother would kiss her darling
child, she must press her lip upon vacant air,
hoping that, as she pressed that loved form to
her aching heart, an angel spirit might catch the
fond caress.
There were other more revolting scenes than
these, but let the veil be drawn. The deformity
of death must not distress the living, and yet
those were happy, whose loved and lost had been
reduced to ashes, in that fearful burning, rather
than that they should thus find their precious
forms, for the sight would shock their very hearts,
and send back its warm affection to a chilled, an
appalled, a horror stricken soul. No! the rem-
nants of those deformed, defaced and half de-
stroyed human forms, were better in the hands
of strangers than with their friends. The grim
certainty of their death, but the uncertainty as to
whom the life belonged, were better with those
who had less of the yearning for possession, than
the friends.
88 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
Citizens could take up the poor remains, when
no one else could claim them, and could bury
them with all the attention and kindness which
was in their hearts, but no sense of possession
was ever theirs ; therefore, they were happy who
felt and knew that the sacred ashes of their
loved had been covered by the beautiful snow,
and the valley was their grave.
The stream could sound their requiem; the
lake could moan its lament, and every wave
might be supposed to carry a portion of their
precious forms to distant shores; but God alone
could gather the elements, and fashion it for the
future love. Nothing but the sacred urn of earth,
which contains all that is mortal of the human
race nothing but this, is the depository of those
loved forms which were once so full of life; but
everything in nature becomes the more precious
to the longing heart. Unseen fingers shall
weave their garments in the spring, and the
songs shall burst forth from those forest hills,
but the better land contains their spirits, and to
that, the living must go to claim their own.
THE RAILROAD OFFICIALS. 89
CHAPTER XIII.
THE RAILROAD OFFICIALS.
was well that the revolting sights of that
dark, that horrid morgue were denied to
many of the friends. Every effort was taken to
relieve the pangs of sorrow and to remove the
revolting features of that awful scene. Coffins
were soon procured. Each body was placed in
its silent, its narrow house. The keeper of the
morgue was stationed to watch the sacred forms.
He was a silent man. Tall and dark and gloomy,
he walked amid the dead, but beneath that silent
face he bore a kindly, a sympathetic heart. He
seemed himself to be struck with the grief which
went so deep into so many loving souls. His
tones were tender, his ways were kind. He
walked amid the dead until it seemed as if his
habitation must be the grave, but it was only to
express a sympathy for the bereft. His was a
90 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
gloomy, a melancholy task, and yet it was a
sacred trust, as those bodies which he guarded
so well, were very sacred to many hearts.
Thjere were other officials who were appointed
for the trying emergency, who seemed pecu-
liarly adapted for their work. A gentleman
was stationed in the office of the same building,
whose duty it was to guard the relics which
should be found. His position was indeed a
difficult one. He was an employee of the road
and yet had been appointed by the coroner to fill
this place. The very equivocal attitude in which
this double duty put him, rendered it a most
unenviable office. The list of articles was left
with him, and at the same time, the articles
themselves as they were found. If there was
obedience to the claims of humanity and regard
to his personal feelings, there might be a loss to
the company. If there was a regard to the
financial interest of the company and a desire to
shield it from loss, there was the fearful tempta-
tion to sacrifice his honor and break his trust.
The sympathy and courtesy of the man was
certainly manifest to all. Even the articles
THE RAILROAD OFP1CIALS. 91
which had been recovered by the Mayor's procla-
mation were consigned to him, and everything
belonging to the lost of the fatal train. The
very proof that persons were on it, depended on
the trifling things which were under his care.
A key, or watch, or chain, or cap, or dress, might
be an evidence in law. Thus the affection of
friends who sought for these with such avidity
and unwearied diligence, appealed to his humane
and kindly heart, and yet a loss to the Company
might ensue from every discovery made.
The freedom, too, with which these relics were
reached, by the constantly changing crowds,
rendered a loss by dishonest hands a probable
result, yet it was impossible to refuse access
to them, without being misunderstood. And
so the position was surrounded with embarrass-
ments, and yet the testimony was universal to
his courtesy and kindness through it all, and the
many relics which were found by friends, showed
how faithfully he performed his task.
On the ground where the train had fallen was
another official of the road. His work was to
superintend those who were gathering relics.
92 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
This position was a tedious, a difficult, and
in many respects a thankless one. With hands,
and feet, and rakes, and hoes, and in various
ways, the precious relics were fished from out
the stream. Everything was preserved. Bits
of rags, and pie.-es of jewelry; shreds of clothing
and gold watches ; a worthless strap or a diamond
pin; anything and everything which gave trace
of the passengers, were gathered and placed in the
hands of Mr. Stager and then deposited in the
morgue. With all the suspicion and all the
rumors, the public became at last satisfied that
the authorities were doing all they could to
gather relics for the friends, and that the traces
of the dead were not intentionally destroyed.
They were all railroad men who "were engaged
in this work. These tasks were performed by
humane men, under the shadow of the public
doubt and public grief, amid which, there was
excitement, and the haste of business and
the burden of care. Yet there were humane
hearts underneath all this machinery of life.
The employees of the road were, many of them,
melted to tears. Every one was subdued by the
THE RAILROAD OFFICIALS. 93
sudden death. Even the hardness produced by
their public life was softened by the common
sorrow. The tide of human sympathy burst
through even the most rocky hearts and over-
flowed all other feelings.
In the crowded office in the station house, the
telegraph was constantly at work. Its click and
buzz was heard as it talked with lightning tongues,
and reported the wide-spread grief, and responded
with short and comprehensive words. It seemed
as if all the nation had been touched. Those
nerves of wire penetrated the remotest fibres of
the nation's heart, and they seemed to be singing
with intensest pain. The arrow which had shot
its pang into so many hearts had left the bow-
string whizzing in the hand. The griefs of
many, many homes were expressed by those
very sounds. Hour after hour the messages
would come and go, and every word was fraught
with intensest feeling.
The division-superintendent sat at the table
amid the representatives of the press, and the
friends who crowded to the desk without, and it
seemed as if the silent man had his hand upon
"*'
*
04 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
the heart-strings of the land. How any one
could endure the strain of such a place and not
falter at his task, was a mystery to many. Only
those who are accustomed to the position where
so many human lives are under their constant
care could bear this crushing weight.
The noble man who came down upon the train
and went out upon the bridge, of which, as engi-
neer, he had the charge, is said to have wept like
a child as he saw the sight. That stern, care-
worn face expressed more than many knew.
As the questions were plied so thick and fast
by the representatives of the press, and were
sent home by those who knew something of the
facts, the same courteous reply went back. No
one apprehended the responsibility of his place
more than he. No one felt, perhaps, the doubts
and suspicions and public feeling more. No one
realized more the nature of the calamity in all its
bearings, and yet that same calm and courteous
manner remained. He was calm without, but
God only knew what he felt within. Those who
knew him best have told something of the tender
sensibilities of the man. On New Year's morn-
THE RAILROAD OFFICIALS. 95
ing he was with his wife at her father's home on
the east side of Ashtabula Biver, where they often
were. But on that morning as he stepped out
doors before breakfast, the coachman met him
and wished him a happy New Year. He re-
turned the greeting, but as he sat down to
breakfast, his feelings were deeply moved. The
tears came into his eyes. His face became suf-
fused and he seemed overwhelmed. At last the
brave man gave way and buried his head in his
hands and sobbed, and then he controlled himself
and said, " John bid me a happy New Year this
morning, but how can it be a happy New Year
to me?"
96 . THE ASH TABULA DISASTER,
CHAPTER XIY.
THE ARRIVAL OF FRIENDS.
'HERE was a succession of arrivals of
people: each day brought a different class;
first the officials of the road ; next the crowds of
curious men and women from the village and
surrounding country; then the representatives of
the press from the distant cities, Chicago and
New York; then the long swelling wave of the
sorrowing friends. From farther and farther
away this wave swept in. At last the two sides
of the continent were reached. Two oceans had
sent their echoes to moan over the graves of
those who had left their shores. The coast of
Maine and the Golden Gate had felt the shock.
First were those from the nearer cities. These
had either bidden good-bye a few hours before or
were waiting at the depot for the arrival of their
friends.
THE ARRIVAL OF FRIENDS. 97
New Year's day was nigh. A gentleman was
at Cleveland on his way to California. His wife
was on her way to meet him. Two children
were with her on this train. They expected to
spend New Year's together in that city. She had
telegraphed that she was coming. He was at the
depot awaiting her arrival. The train was late
but he waited there. At last the tidings came
and he took the train with the officials and
arrived in the night. The two children were
dead and the wife was awfully burned. She was
now lingering between life and death. The New
Year would find her dead and the man bereft
of wife and children.
Another had been waiting for a wife and child.
He came and found them dead. The dread real-
ity was worse than the worst of fears. But the
morning came. The friends at Cleveland has-
tened to the cars at an early hour thinking to
take them and reach the spot by 9 o'clock, but at
the hour assigned the train delayed. Those who
were warned of the wreck by the morning papers
also went to the depot, but they could not go.
Women, whose husbands were on the fatal train,
THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
were there and became anxious to start, but the
train delayed.
The fathers, whose sons were wounded, became
uneasy at the delay. Business men, who knew
that their partners were among the lost, won-
dered at the long delay. Mothers, whose little chil-
dren were among the dead, also were sick at heart;
but the train delayed. The suspense became too
much to bear; the train delayed. The agony in-
creased; some fainted in their seats, and were
taken to the air; the feeling became intense; that
busy depot became a house of weeping; sorrow
was depicted on every face. Sympathy moved
the hearts of strangers; those gloomy walls be-
came a prison to the heart; those heavy columns
and lofty arches seemed draped with mourning;
the iron roof seemed filled with bars; it was a
castle of despair. Even the stir and confusion of
the place mocked the grief. Never was that place
so full of sorrow; the train delayed. Some re-
turned to their homes and again came down.
The city was moved; the fact became known
upon the streets; excitement even entered the
business circles, yet the train delayed.
THE ARRIVAL OF FRIENDS. 99
A young man lay in the Culver House ; his
face was deathly pale, his breathing labored. He
was slowly dying. The father was in that train,
delayed, and became very anxious ; he was wealthy
and offered money. Yes, the expense of the train
he was willing to pay, but the train delayed.
At last, when patience was almost exhausted,
and the feeling was so intense, and the night be-
gan to darken, the train moved out. The sus-
pense was relieved, but the time was still too
long, and the distance great. They arrive at last.
The son is dead. He breathed his last among
the wounded. Strangers were there to lay him
out, but the friends could only bury him.
The arrival brought the whole reality to view.
No one could tell the horror, it musi be seen to
be known. The search for friends must be car-
ried on in the night. That horrid morgue was
dark and covered with gloom; the scene of the
wreck was also covered with the evening shades.
Most of the bodies had, by this time, been re-
moved ; those which remained were deeply bur-
ied beneath the ruins. The valley was lonely and
sad. The death itself, which had come down
100 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
with one fell swoop, had ascended, leaving only
the ashes of the burned, the dust of death which
had been gathered by hands of iron, eaten by the
tongues of fire, and the night winds were making
them their sport. O! how the heart went down
into that lonely valley, where so many perished.
The night was full of tears; it was the second
night. From one end of the land to the other,
the fact was known ; the greatest railroad acci-
dent on record had occurred. In that fall, so
many went down ! From the distant east to the
distant west, the lightning had flashed their
names. It was a stroke that spanned the heav-
ens, and revealed how black they were.
This sorrow was continued. Day after day
brought new scenes. Each train brought in new
groups of friends. All were moved by a com-
mon feeling, but their sorrow was visible. In
that dreadful morgue there were scenes which
can never be described ; God only knows what
agony was in the hearts of many. The sorrow-
ing company trooped in and out, and varied
every hour; men and women, fathers and moth-
ers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, and
THE ARRIVAL OF FRIENDS. 101
even the children of the lost. Some already were
dressed in mourning. Others had come in haste
and stopped for nothing. The friends of the
deceased from different places would meet at
this spot drawn together from a distance by the
common bereavement. Different circles had been
bereft by each one of those who had so suddenly
died. Often two or three would come looking
for the same person. A different state of feeling
concentrated at each separate spot. The morgue,
the office, and the wreck, all had their circles and
their scenes. Citizens and friends as they came,
visited each in succession. The search for relics
on the ice; the search for bodies in the morgue;
7 O '
and the sending of messages in the busy office,
brought different feelings to those sensitive
hearts. There was a language in each place
which spoke more than words.
In the hotels at the upper town, there were
also many exciting scenes. As the friends gath-
ered from near and far, they passed from place
to place, watching for some trace of the lost.
Some became so overwhelmed by the great
calamity that they were obliged to go home, and
102 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
send others who were less afflicted to continue
the search. Fathers were almost crushed by the
fearful blow, and went in and out of the gloomy
morgue and upon the cheerless ice, and into the
busy depot, sick at heart, and depressed, and
would return to their hotels, weary with the
search, and lonely amid the throngs, for the sons
or daughters on whom they doted, had gone for-
ever. A young man came alone, and sought his
mother for four long and weary days, but could
find no trace. Each night he returned to the
hotel with every lineament of his face expressive
of the grief which was in his heart, and would sit
down among the throngs of strangers, desolate
and bereaved.
Brothers and friends came, seeking, but finding
not, and with tearful eyes would return at night,
their sorrow growing deeper as their search was
vain. Whoever expressed a sympathizing word
to those bereaved and stricken ones, knew how
deeply the arrow had reached, and how the soul
was riven, but there were none who knew it all.
To God's eye and that alone, was the grief re-
vealed, and in His bottle were the tears pre-
THE ARRIVAL OF FRIENDS. 103
served. There were times when it seemed as if
the grief were too much to look upon.
A woman was seen to pass through the morgue.
Her hard, care-worn face and humble dress
showed her to be acquainted with poverty and
accustomed to toil. But her husband was gone,
and as the horrid scenes came before her gaze,
and the awful death was known, she fairly stag-
gered in her steps. Her glaring eye and strange,
wild look betokened a mind almost deranged.
Yet, the pity did not end, for another would
come, so broken and so weak, and so subdued, in
the widow's garb, and then the trembling father,
and even mother, stricken and bowed and almost
heartbroken, so that it would seem as if there
was no end to grief.
104 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
CHAPTER XV.
THE WAVE OF SORROW.
>HEKE was a storm of grief. The waves
were tossing high upon the sea of life, and
their crests were lifted far and wide, and drop-
ping tears upon the deep. The solemn murmur
was echoed all along the shore. It intruded upon
the business thoughts. Its roar was heard above
the noise of commerce, and the city's hum. It
was a melancholy sound, men for once were led
to give up their eager haste, and ask, to what all
this love of gain might tend. The serious affairs
of life were brought to mind. The interests of
eternity were compared to those of time. All
eyes were directed to this wreck of life. All
hearts were moved by this suddenness of death.
But this wave of sorrow did not cease. When
the storm was over, and men lost their wonder,
the wave swept on. Long after the calamity had
THE WA VR OF SORRO W. 105
failed to engage the public ear, and had disap-
peared from the public press, the wave was
spreading still, and while others had forgotten
the great event, it moaned along the shore. It
reached the most distant homes. It swept into
many sorrowing hearts. It was a wave of grief.
A father had bidden his only son good bye, in
a distant city of the east. He was a lovely youth.
He was destined to the west. There were those
whom he loved, in a central city; one awaited
him there to whom he was betrothed. The
morning news brought the sad tidings to both
those cities, it sent a shock to those loving hearts.
Two husbands were, together, on the Pacific
coast. Both were expecting their wives home,
they (a mother and daughter, together with a
son) were on that train. Eight months they had
been away, on an eastern trip. They had a large
circle of friends and relatives, on an island, on
the coast of Maine. They were on their return.
They bore with them, many gifts, from friends.
Thirteen quilts, which had been pieced among
the visiting circles, and many other valuable
presents. It had been a happy summer to them
106 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
among those friends. They had hoped to reach
their home, by New Year's day, but had been
delayed. The father looked into the San Fran-
cisco papers and read the tidings of the horrible
event. The son, who was saved, also telegraphed
from the scene of the disaster. These were the
startling words : " Mother and sister are
both dead. My ribs are broken, my head is hurt,
I have been robbed and am penniless among
strangers." On that second night both those
men were on their way to the scene of the dis-
aster.
The Sabbath dawned. It did not seem like
Sabbath. All time lost its marks. All days
were alike in the sweeping grief.
There was a congregation gathered on that
distant island. The news reached some at the
hour of service. Tidings were conveyed to the
church. The shock went through the house,
and the grief was such that the services were
broken up. The circle of friends embraced the
whole community. Those who had been visiting,
and had so recently left, were now stricken
down by this sudden death. So the wave in-
THE WA VE OF SORRO W. 107
vaded the sanctuary of God. It overwhelmed
the Sabbath sacredness.
That Sabbath passed. The survivors hardly
realized it was a holy day. One looked out from
his window, and wondered if there were any min-
isters in town, and inquired where the churches
were, for he could see no spires, and only a few
chimneys and the tops of houses. The bells rang
out " everting bells." It was Sabbath evening.
Yes, New Year's eve ! But. O how strange !
The distant friends were on their way. Many
of the dead were lying there. The festivities of
the day were to be turned to mourning.
A father of a lovely girl, arrived that Sabbath
evening. He had bidden her good bye only two
nights before. She was a favorite child, every-
thing had been done to make her education com-
plete. No expense was spared. She had just
finished school, and was now starting out for a
winter's visit. A few days before, there had
been a wedding scene, her dearest friend was
married, and she was the bridesmaid. It was a
very accomplished circle and a delightful party.
That daughter was dressed in white, her dress
108 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
was trimmed with " Forget-me-nots." Her pic-
ture was taken in that dress. Pier friends re-
member her as thus " garlanded and adorned,"
but it was a passing vision. . The New Year was
to have seen her in a distant city, a delightful
circle awaited her there. The first circles of two
cities were interchanging greetings, she was the
bright messenger between the two. At either
end of that treacherous track, there were gar-
lands and greetings. The white feet passed out
from the one circle but they never reached the
other. Into the valley that form went down, in
that ill-fated car she perished, and now the
father is looking for, but can find her not, like a
vision she has departed. The white garments
and the shadowy feet belong to an angel now.
They have passed out from earthly scenes into
the Heavenly land. In a furnace of fire the
Saviour walked, and took her to himself. His
form was like to the Son of Man, and the smell
of fire was not in her garments, but through the
fire she passed into glory; and now the
father seeks her, and can never find her never!
cintil, as an angel spirit, he beholds her there.
THE WA VE OF SORRO W. 109
Strangers meet liiin, and tell him it is all in
vain ; she was in that car, and no trace of her
remains. His heart is crushed, but his ways are
calm, self-controlled and courteous, in the midst
of grief; he returns to his home, without his
daughter. She has flown to other circles and he
cannot find her, but his hair catches the light of
her departure, for it turns white from grief. In
the midst of the furnace, he receives something
of a transforming power, and the tinge of the
better land strikes across his brow.
In a city of Ohio was a public school, and in
charge of it was one who had endeared himself
to his pupils, and was well known as the super-
intendent. When news of the accident was first
received, fears were excited, that Mr. Rogers
might be on the train A dispatch was sent to
Niagara Falls, where it was known he was to be.
His bride was with him, for they were married
on the Tuesday before, and preparations had been
made for their reception at home. Tidings
came back that both were on the ill fated train.
There was most intense anxiety in the place.
All classes felt upon the subject, and the least
110 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
scrap of information was eagerly sought. Two
gentlemen at once started for the scene, and
on Sabbath a dispatch was read in church. The
worst of fears were realized and the sorrow deep-
ened. Again dispatches were received, that Mr.
and Mrs. Rogers were burned to death and no por-
tion of their bodies could be recovered. A special
meeting of the school board was called for appro-
priate action, and "the most affecting and de-
pressing sense of the great calamity came home
to all." "A deep gloom was cast over the whole
city and mainly put an end to the festivities of
the New Year's day."
There was a family in a distant place in the
"West. It was the family of a well known
physician. A mother was there. She was the
physician's wife. The husband had left his
home for the distant east to visit an aged parent,
and was on his return. He had visited a brother-
in-law on his way home. The tidings go out
that he is lost, and the family is at once stricken
with grief. The "whole community where he
dwelt was moved." The " sense of personal
bereavement extends through the place" and
THE WAVE OF SORROW, 111
reaches the surrounding towns. The deepest
feeling was manifest and it " seemed as if all the
citizens were mourners at once." "All mourned
as though one of their own household had fallen,"
The church and community and even the country
around were affected, and afterward gathered at
the funeral with the expression of their regard
and giving token of the friendship which he had
acquired. Dr. Hubbard was dead. A fragment
of his body was found, and his death was mourned
by the vast assemblies which crowded two houses
of worship in his village home. When laid away
with public obsequies, and by the different orders
to which he belonged, two cities were represented.
And so the wave swept on. It subsided from
the public gaze, but its effects were felt. Widows,
almost crushed, wept in secret for those they
loved, and over their orphaned children, and
lifted np their hands in agony of prayer. The
letters as they carne to the author only showed
how wide was this silent, this unknown sorrow.
The friends would write from the distant cities
and say, " how cruel had been the blow," " how
sad the case;" but no one could tell the silent
112 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
loneliness which lingered in those homes. Bit-
terness was mingled with the grief; and the
sweet love of woman was turned so as to almost
curse the Company "which had lelt those dreadful
pits for the destruction of those precious lives;"
even "God's forgiveness was asked" that the
feeling of indignation was so intense.
The secret mourning which followed the terri-
ble crash was even now the most melancholy
result of all. The sad refrain must linger for
many a day. Through all the noise of business
and the sounds of mirth the plaintive note min-
gles, and the sad calamity has not lost its effect.
The secret sorrow was the worst of all. At first
the wave broke upon the shore and drew back a
quick returning current. The friends came at
once and public sympathy was moved, but long
after they had returned and the event had sunk
away from the public mind, there was a wave
which swept into lonely hearts and echoed in
unknown homes.
THE SEARCH FOR RELICS. 113
CHAPTEK XYI.
THE SEARCH FOB RELICS.
'HE week began with a search for relics.
It was a difficult task. The wind was cold ;
the water was deep and frozen over. Snow and
ashes filled the air. A confused heap of iron,
tin roofs, broken trucks, and other debris were
mingled into one mass of ruins.
A company was organized for the work, with
the train-dispatcher at the head. Men were
hired, police were stationed, the ice was broken,
great iron beams and rails and rods were drawn
out, trucks and wheels and brakes and bolts
were moved away, and every spot was searched
for traces of the dead. Watches, jewels, shreds
of clothing, hands of women and arms of men
were found. It was a place where dia-
monds lay; a stream where nuggets of gold
114 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
were washed ; a mine when; they dug for treas-
ures, all that men seek in distant lands, but there
were human lives which could not be found.
Everything was closely scanned. Curiosity was
fed by the constant search, and yet, to friends,
the results were meagre.
A single bone was found, around which a
chain was wound. It was the remains of a lady's
arm.
A watch was found, the gold was melted, the
works were lost, but it bore the number and the
pattern which proved it to belong to Rev. Dr.
Washburn, the Rector of Grace Church, Cleve-
land.
A gentleman made diligent search for some
remains or relics of Dr. Ilubbard, of Des Moines,
Iowa, and at last found a shawl strap and check
which bore his name. The Doctor's brother
arrived from Boston, bringing his aged mother's
description of his clothing: Woolen socks (which
she had knit for him), and two pairs of drawers,
one worn inside of his socks. By this descrip-
tion a limb which had been saved from burning
with the remainder of the body, by lying in the
THE SEARCH FOR RELICS. 115
water, was identified as his, and taken home for
burial.
A cap was found which proved that a young
man named Marvin was lost. He was the only
son of a widow, and her only support.
A simple string was all that another had, to
prove that a body was that of a mother. It was
a present from a daughter, and was tied about
the hair, and had not been burned.
A key, indentified by a duplicate sent by his
partner from Chicago, was the proof that E. P.
Rogers was on the train.
A coat was recognized as belonging to Mr. J.
Rice, of Lowell.
A pair of initial sleeve buttons were found
which proved that Boyd Russell, of Auburn,
N. Y., was among the lost. The body had burned,
diamond pins and badges and valuable jewelry
had disappeared, but these remained.
The father and friends of Miss Minnie Mixer
after long search had given up all hope of finding
a single trace of her remains. At last her
mother came and identified a chain which had
been her daughter's.
116 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
The watch of Mr.G.Kepler, of Ashtabula, was
identified.
A wife did not know her husband was on the
train. She missed his letters. She heard that
he had gone to Dunkirk. She searched the relics
and found his knife.
A lady from Toronto, a Mrs. Smith, came
searching for her husband from whom she had
heard just as he left Buffalo for Detroit. He
had seven thousand dollars on his person. A
pocket was fished up from the stream. It con-
tained the pocket-book and the name and a bank
certificate, but the money was not there. A letter
was discovered among the relics. It bore no
name except that of the writer, as the envelope
was gone. A brother from Massachusetts came.
He found no trace except the letter. He went
to Chicago and sought some of the survivors and
still did not satisfy himself. He returned and
consulted the author of this book. Only two
persons were saved from the car which he was
in. They described the occupants of the car one
by one. "In one seat," said they, "was a gentle-
manly man, quiet in manner, and intelligent."
THE SEARCH fOR RELICS. 117
He was going to " South America by way of Cal-
ifornia." "That's my brother," was the tearful
answer. In a low toned voice and tender accents
we talked, and it seemed as if the brother could
not rest until all was told. Yet there was but
little to be said.
An old lady was on the train who was from
the east. She was described as sitting in the
middle of the car, a young man with her. He
was teaching school at the time in Illinois, and
had spent his vacation in going after her. She
was seventy-nine years of age. Her angular
features and loud voice had attracted the atten-
tion of passengers. The same lady was described
to the author. A description of her given by
two young men on the train was recognized by
the friends, and a photograph of the young man
shown to them was recognized in turn. Thus
o
two more were identified as being on the train.
A family, consisting of a gentleman and his
wife and two children,were in the drawing-room
car. They were described to the author as
"neither stylish nor very plain," "just a com-
fortable, respectable and happy family." Mr. T.
118 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
C. Wright, of Tennessee, had noticed them as
they sat together, and was impressed, and told
what a happy family they were. They were
sitting in the state-room and enjoying one an-
other's company. The little girl was described
as having "light hair and curls which hung
round her face and was very pretty, but had
poor teeth." This description was sent to the
" Inter-Ocean " of Chicago by the author. A
letter was afterwards received from Mrs. H. H.
Gray, of Darlington, Wis., enquiring about a
family which was lost ("annihilated" it was
written). ~No one could find any trace of them.
An answer was returned, " Look into the ' Inter-
Ocean' of January 16 and read my letter." The
next letter received was from the administrator
of the estate. It described the gentleman as a
man of " extensive business, very energetic and
honorable," and contained the photographs of
two children. "This whole family were on their
way from Bethlehem, Pa., to Gratiot, Wis."
The only survivor from the drawing-room car,
was a Mr. Ormsbee, from Boston, who was near-
sighted and could not tell much about those in
THE SEARCH FOR RLLICS. 119
the car. Mr. "Wright, who was in the smoker at
the time of the fall, belonged in this car. His
description had already been recognized by the
author, but the photographs were shown to Mr.
Ormsbee, and he, after close examination, with
solemnity said, "They were the children who were
in my car." Another photograph of the whole
family was afterwards sent to Mr. Wright,of Nash-
ville, and was recognized as the likeness of the
family which he had noticed in that state-room.
There is an affecting story about this family:
It is supposed that they were in the state-room
at the time of the fall and by some means the
wife and children were held in the wreck and
could not be extricated. The father tried to save
them but the flames arose. He could escape
himself and actually did get out of the car and
away from the flames, but the little girl cried out,
" Papa! oh, Papa! take me!" and he went back,
exclaiming, " I would rather perish with my
family; I can't live without them," and so all
perished together.
130 THE ASH TABULA D/SASTER.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE PASSENGERS.
(HE following account of the passengers on
the ill-fated train has been gathered with
great difficulty. Communication with survivors
and correspondence with friends have been the
sources of information, and the description is
given more for the satisfaction of the friends
than for any general interest. It must however
be remembered that each name has its own asso-
ciations. This is true especially of those who
died. Their names are freighted with precious
memories and carry a weight of affection which,
though unknown to the public, must make even
the very mention of it exceedingly valuable.
If it is a consolation to know the last words of
the dying, certainly the scenes attending the
death of those who perished in this disaster must
have a melancholy, a tragic interest.
THE PASSENGERS. 121
"We give below an account of the passengers in
the different cars in succession, beginning at the
front and going through, with as much accuracy
as possible, to the last one in the train.
From the first car, more persons escaped
than from any other. There were at least six-
teen of these. Mr. C. E. Jones of Beloit, Wis.,
was sitting in the front seat; Mr. and Mrs. Mar-
tin and two children, of Lenox, Ohio, who were
a third of the way back from the front; J. M.
Mo wry of Hartford, Conn., and Dr. G. A. Gris-
wold of Fulton, 111., were sitting together in the
middle of the car ; Thomas Jackson of Water-
bury, Conn., and Mr. A. H. Parslow of Chicago;
Victor Nusbaum, from Cleveland, and Charles
Patterson of the same city, were toward the rear.
This constitutes all the survivors on the right side.
On the opposite side, toward the front, were
Edward Trueworthy and Joseph Thompson, of
Oakland, Cal., with Alfred Gillett of Cranberry
Isle, Me., sitting in two seats, facing each other.
Mr. Thompson is described as having a smoking
cap on, while Mr. Trueworthy had a shawl across
his shoulders. Mr. Gillett was the only one out
122 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
of this group who was killed. In front of them
were a Mr. Walter Hayes of Lexington, Ky.,
with Miss Sarah Mann, who was also killed.
Thomas Jackson of Waterbury, Conn., Robert
Monroe of Rutland, Mass., Mr. Alex. Monroe of
Somerville, Mass., Wm. B. Sanderson, Alex'r
Hitchcock, of Port Clinton, Ohio, and Charles
E. Rickard of Biddeford, Me., were upon the
same side of the car.
Mr. F. Shattuck of Mt. Yernon, Ohio, is
known to have been in this car and to have
been killed. Mrs. Fonda and her nephew, D.
Campbell, of Milledgeville, 111., have already
been described as among the dead.
There was a lady sitting at the right hand
near the front who was " slight built and had a
child with her about two years old." The child
was described as being " quite forward, for his
age, talking well, and was very bright and in-
teresting." Just behind them was a lady who
was described as " large, full formed, dressed in
a plaid trimmed with black." A younger lady
eat behind her who was " tall, well formed, dressed
in dark clothes and spent most of her time in
THE PASSENGERS. 123
reading a book." These were all killed. It is
probable that the trucks of the car above struck
down justabove where they were, as all in this part
of the car seem to have perished. Their bodies lay
near where they sat, but were too much crushed
and burned to be recognized by their friends.
The author could have identified them had he
received descriptions in time.
About the middle of the car upon the left side,
were two ladies sitting together, both of them
dressed in black. The one was older than the
other and had been to the East to bury a daughter
who had died of consumption. Both of these
were killed.
The second passenger car was well filled. There
were many ladies in it. It is not known for a cer-
tainty who were its occupants, as no one has yet
been found by the author who had escaped from
it. The dead who are supposed to have been in
it and have since been recognized or otherwise
proven to have been on the train, were as
follows: George Keppler, of Ashtabula, O.; L.
W. Hart, of Akron, O.; Isaac Myer and Birdie
Myer, his daughter; Mrs. George and Mattie
124 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
George, of Cleveland, O.; Maggie Lewis, of St.
Louis, Mo.; Mr. E. Cook, of Wellington, O.;
Mrs. Lucy C. Thomas, Buffalo, N. Y.; Win.
Clements, Bellevue, O.; Mr. M. P. Cogswell,
Chicago; Miss Annie Kittlewell, Beloit, Wis.;
L. C. Grain, New Haven, Conn.; Boyd Itussell,
Albany, N". Y.; Doctor Hubbard, Polk City,
Iowa, and others whose bodies have not been
recognized, amounting in all, according to the
testimony of many survivors, to at least forty
passengers.
In the smoking car were about sixteen persons.
A group was at the rear end. It consisted of
Mr. Tilden, the superintendent of water works;
Geo. M. Reid, superintendent of bridges, and
David Chittenden, of Cleveland. The conductor
and news-boy were near by. Mr. Stowe, of
Geneva, Ohio, was standing near and
listening to the conversation. 'As men-
tioned before, this conversation was upon the
weight of the engine and the amount of water it
used. Mr. Stockwell was sitting on the other
side, having just bought a cigar of the news-boy.
Another group had dispersed but a little time
THE PASSENGERS. 125
before. It consisted of three who called them-
selves "the three blondes," as the accidental re-
semblance to one another had amused them.
These were, Mr. J. M. Mowry, of Hartford,
Conn., who afterwards went into the first passen-
ger car; Mr. J. C. Earle, of Chicago, 111., and
Col. A. Maillard, of California, both of whom
remained. Two brothers were in the car Mr.
R. Osborn and F. Osborn, of Tecumseh, Mich.,
who were sitting together. Two young men were
in another seat C. D. Meranville and Wm. B.
Sanderson. Mr. L. C. Burnham, of Milwaukee,
Wis.; Mr. C. Lobdell, Troy, N. Y.; Thos.
C. Wright, Nashville, Tenn., and Mr. Harry
Wagner, conductor of the sleeping coaches, were
in the same car. Of this number, Mr. Stowe,
Mr. Chittenden, Mr. F. Osborn, Mr. Stockwell
and the sleeping car conductor were killed. The
stove fell from one end of this car to the other,
making a clean sweep by carrying everything
before it. As it hit the end it broke through
the timbers and then set the car on fire. Those
who were struck by it were instantly killed.
Mr. It. Osborn, whose brother perished by his
126 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
side, was very badly hurt and barely escaped
with his life. The car stood after its fall at an
angle, so that those who were within, were obliged
to go up an inclined plane and to get out at the
upper door. Most of those who escaped, went
up the north side of the track.
The destruction of life was greatest in the
second coach, because, as has been mentioned,
the car struck upon its side and was badly
smashed; yet it is a singular fact that the bodies
from this were better preserved than from any
other car in the train, as they fell into the stream
where the water was deepest, before the flames
could reach them.
The following description was sent by the au-
thor to the "Inter-Ocean" of Chicago,and has since
proved its correctness by the fact that several have
been recognized by the description given in it:
'The drawing-room car contained the following-
described persons:
"A lady from Chicago, who is described as being
'very handsome; she had left her husband at
Dunkirk, and was returning home,' so a passenger
learned.
"Next, a lady and gentleman. The lady is
THE PASSENGERS. 127
described as being 'quiet in manner, and evi-
dently a person of culture.' She was about
twenty-two years of age. The gentleman was
short, had black whiskers and mustache. Oppo-
site, and afterward in the state-room, was a party
consisting of a gentleman, his wife and two chil-
dren, a girl and boy [who have been already
described].
" Next was a tall gentleman having on a long
ulster overcoat. He was from Boston, and was
going to California; was a merchant tailor. My
informant, Mr. Thomas 0. Wright, thinks that
Mr. Bliss was not in this car. He says others
were in the rear of the car, but does not remem-
ber them. Mr. Ormsbee of Boston, was in the car
and is the only survivor. He was at first pinned
down hands and feet and could not extricate him-
self. Afterward something fell on the top of the
car, and loosened him and he reached up his hand
and dragged himself out. As he went out he
heard the lady in the corner of the car calling for
help. He has seen the photograph of Rev. Dr.
Washburn and recognized it. The probability is
that that gentleman was underneath the only part
which was struck by the ' City of Buffalo,' and
was instantly killed."
It is still a question whether Mr. and Mrs.
Bliss were in this car.
128 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
The gentleman and lady who have been de-
scribed above, are supposed to have been Mr. and
Mrs. Hall, of Chicago, rather than Mr. and Mrs.
Bliss. The gentleman was reading to the lady the
book "Near Nature's Heart;'' as the newsboy
passed, he took out " Daniel Deronda," read it a
little, and afterward bought " Helen's Babies."
Mr. Orrnsbee, the sole survivor from the car,
judging from photographs which have been
shown him, declares that they were not Mr. and
Mrs. Bliss. Mr. Burchell, of Chicago, however,
maintains that Mr. and Mrs. Bliss were in this car,
and his statement is worthy of credit. There is
no doubt that they were either in this or in the
" City of Buffalo," and it is probable that no
trace of them- will ever be found.
The occupants of the " Palatine " were, Mrs.
Bingham, of Chicago; Mabel Arnold, North
Adams, Mass.; H. L. Brewster, Milwaukee, Wis ;
B. B. Lyons, of New York city; Mrs. Annie
Graham, of New York; Miss Marion Shepard,
Ripon, Wis.; Geo. A. White, Portland, Me.;
John J. White (?) of Boston, Mass; Chas. S.
Carter, of New York; Mr. L. B. Sturges, Minne-
THE PASSENGERS. 129
apolis, Minn.; Mr. J. E. Burchell, Chicago, 111.;
Col. A. Maillard, of San Eafael, Cal.; Mr. H.
W. Shepard, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Lewis Bochatay,
Kent's Plains, Ct.; John J. Lalor, of Chicago,
C. H. Tyler, St. Louis; and Jos. D. Pickering
and nephew, of Buffalo, N. Y.
The persons who were in the " City of Buffalo "
are as follows: Mr. Henry White, of Weathers-
field, Conn., who broke the glass door and got
out; Mrs. Bradley, of California; Mr. J. P. Hazel-
ton, of Charleston, 111., and Mr. Gage, of Illinois,
who escaped and afterward died. The nurse and
child of Mrs. Bradley, who occupied the rear
state-room, perished. Mrs. A. D. Marston and
her mother and boy; Mrs. Trueworthy and
daughter, Mrs. Coffin, of California; Mrs. Moore,
of Hammondsport, X. Y.; Mr. Hodgkins, of
Bangor, Maine; "a gentleman going to South
America, very polite and fine looking," who
afterwards proved to be Mr. J. Spooner, of Peter-
shaw, Mass.; Mr. D. A. Rogers, of Chicago; Mr.
Barnard and Miss Mixer, daughter of I^r. Mixer
of Buffalo; Mr. Rice, of Lowell, Mass.; Mr.
J. F. Aldrich, of Des Moines, Iowa; and, it is
130 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
supposed, Mrs. H. M. Knowles, and child of
Cleveland; twenty-one in all. The probability
is that all who were in this car were so com-
pletely destroyed that scarcely a vestige of them
remained. There has been the most thorough
search for even the least scrap that might give
trace of their presence in the ill-fated coach. It
is probable that the fall at first served to crush
those who were in it, and that the position of the
car gave a draft which intensified the heat so as
to consume the bodies. The fire burned here the
longest, and was still burning at two o'clock in
the morning.
here were but few in the "Osceo," which was
the rear sleeper. These were Mrs. Eastman, and
Mrs. W. H.'Lew, of Rochester, K. Y.; Mrs.
T. A. Davis, Kokomo, Ind. ; the brakeman Stone
and the colored porter who was killed.
THE EXPERIENCE OF SURVIVORS. 131
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE EXPERIENCE OF SURVTVOKS.
! VERY one of those who got out of the train
had a different story. These are valuable
because they bring before us a picture of the
scene in its different features, k-ome one escaped
from every car but one. From the second pas-
senger coach no one was left to tell the tale.
Every one perished in the fall or crash. From
the first and third and fifth, many escaped; from
the fourth, only one; from the sixth, three; and
from the last, all but one. The story of Mr.
Parslow, who was in the first, has been given
through the public press, and it is given here as
descriptive of the experience common to others.
He says:
" The first intimation he had of the affair was
the sound of the crash of the bridge. Then he
felt and realized the sensation of the downward
tendency of the coach. He clutched one of the
132 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
seats to steady himself. All of a sudden, in the
flash of a second, the passengers were thrown to
the end of the coach which had reached the
water. The broken pieces of ice, the snow, and
fragments of the car came in with a rush, lie
caught the stove, which had not yet been cooled
from its heat, thinking to save himself thereby
from drowning. In doing so he burned his hand
to a blister, while the other portion of his body
was freezing in the water. lie remembered the
crashing of the smoker upon his car. As soon
as he could collect his thoughts he went to work
to extricate himself, but how he did it was unable
to state. He only knew he was out of the car
and into the fragments of ice and floating pieces
of the wreck. From there he managed to reach
unbroken ice and from thence he climbed up the
height and was the first of that scarred and
bruised number to reach the top. In doing this
it is to be remembered that the poor man bad a
piece of gilt molding, one inch wide, three-quar-
ters of an inch thick, and eight inches long, in a
portion of his body. It had entered the left
shoulder, back of the collar-bone, and penetrated
under the shoulder-blade into the side. He
scarcely realized his situation until he had been
conveyed to the nearest place of comfort. In his
car were from 40 to 45 passengers; in the
THE EXPERIENCE OF SURVIVORS. 133
sn;oking-car he thinks about the same number.
In his opinion there were not less than 200 pas-
sengers in all. He says when he got out of the
car on the ice the screams of the dying and
crushed broke upon his ears, and \vere the most
pitiful sounds that were ever heard. lie said
that all occurred in such a remarkably brief space
that he cannot now realize how it was that so
much of human misery could be crowded into a
speck of time."
The experience of those in the smoking-car was
quite remarkable. Several who escaped from this,
have told of the fall. There were but four killed
in it. Among them was Harry Wagner, con-
ductor of the sleeping cars, who, it is said, was
driven against, and even through, the end of the
car, by the stove, which swept through the whole
length with terrible force.
O
The conductor, Mr. Henn, speaks of this and
says that the stove shot past him on one side
and something else fell with a crash on the other
side, but he escaped. Mr. J. M. Earle's experi-
ence was quite remarkable. He gives expression
to the feelings which many had in almost tragic
words. He says:
134 THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER.
"It did not seem to me as if we had fallen. I
was thoroughly collapsed for a minute or two.
Then I heard two or three crashes cars tum-
bling off the bridge and striking ours. At the
second crash I threw myself on the floor and
crouched down under the seats. I did not know
but the next one would crush us all. There were
several people near me, and I told them to crouch
down.
In the coming down the feeling was a beautiful
conglomeration of swimming and swinging I
didn't know whether I was on my head or heels.
I can't describe how I felt when the car struck
the solid ice. Every part of my body seemed to
be going in opposite directions. I did not expe-
rience a dead calm, but a feeling of intense agony;
and that continued until I came to myself. It
must have been half an hour certainly before I
knew what I was doing. Then I got up and
struggled around. The terrible noise made by
the falling cars made me hold my breath when I
thought it was about time for another to come
down.
The story of Mr. George A. "White is the most
interesting of all. For, he not only describes the
car " Palatine," from which so many escaped, but
he gives such an account as no other one has
done. His statement is given at length:
THE EXPERIENCE OF SURVIVORS. 135
"In going down there was hardly any sound.
The only thing we heard was that heavy breath-
ing which bespeaks a fear of something terrible
to come. The first sound that greeted my ear
was after we struck the ice. The breaking of
the glass was like rifle shots, and the train com-
ing down made a terrific roar. Our car fell as
it rode, bodily and straight, which saved our
lives. As soon as the car touched bottom I
could see nothing, all was dark. 1 groped my
way out through the east end of the car. Behind
us was the Buffalo car, standing on end, almost
perpendicular, resting against the abutment of
the bridge, one end having taken our platform.
"I think none of the Buffalo-car passengers were
saved. The coach fell on end, and I never heard
a sound from it after the fall, and no one came
out. All was death in my estimation. The
Buffalo was full of passengers. The parlor car
was just ahead of us, and no one came out of it.
I think all the passengers it held were killed.
"At the right of us,facing the west,was a car that
lay on its side. The top of it was close on to ours.
Our car lay just as it was running. I went up over
the roof of the other car to take a look up and
around. I saw a gentleman and, I think, a lady,
following me. On looking into the car, I saw a
large number of people lying together in a mass.
136 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
The car was crushed at its bottom and sides. The
scene within was horrible, heartrending inde-
scribable. It was enough to unnerve the bravest.
There were maimed and bruised men, women,
and children, all held down by the cruel timbers.
They were in different stages of delirium and
excitement. Some were screaming, some wera
groaning, and others praying. There was hardly
any one within who seemed rational.
"I saw the encroachments the tire was making.
While on the roof of that car I took a speedy
survey of the situation. I realized the terrible,
yawning chasm. I shall never forget the horrors
of that night."
The experiences of the survivors of the " City
of Buffalo " are also given. So many perished
in this car, that a description of those in it may
be of interest to their friends.
The story of Mr. H. A. White, of Weathers-
field, Ct, as published in the daily papers, is as
follows. lie says:
"The first thought that came into my mind was
that I was dead; that it was no use for me to stir
or try to help myself. I waited in that position
until I heard two more crashes come, when all
was quiet; I then tried to see if I could not raise
what was on and around me and succeeded. I
THE EXPERIENCE OF SURVIVORS. 137
opened my eyes and the first thing I saw, was the
glass in the top of the door that opened into the
saloon in the rear end of the car. I struck that
immediately with my hand and thrust my head
through it. I spoke then. Up to this time there
was not a shriek or voice heard in the car that I
was in all had been stilled."
He then says that he heard a voice below him
and that he endeavored to help a man out of
the car after he had got out himself, but failed.
Mrs. Bradley who, with her nurse and child,
was in the rear state-room near the section where
Mr. White was sitting, speaks of this same silence.
She called repeatedly but heard no sound except
that of her own voice. She looked below her for
her child and nurse. All she could see was that
they were underneath the wreck. She vainly
tried to lift them but their bodies seemed to sink
lower and lower in the debris. Not a sound pro-
ceeded from that direction, and the only conclu-
sion she could arrive at was that their bodies had
i
been crushed.
138 THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER,
CHAPTER XIX.
PERSONAL INCIDENTS.
'HE personal incidents which occurred were
numerous. Many of these have been
brought to public attention through the press,
yet there are others which have not been nar-
rated. Every one had his own story, but in the
confusion of the scene no one is really supposed
to have a clear view of the whole event.
These incidents are told by the different pas-
sengers who escaped and by the citizens who
hastened to the rescue. The following are given
as showing the experiences of the women who
were on the train. There were many who per-
ished, and it is affecting to read the story of their
sufferings while so helpless in the wreck. But
the heroism manifested by those who escaped, is
especially worthy of note.
The "Cleveland Leader" contains the following:
PERSONAL INCIDENTS. 139
"At the time of the disaster a man rushed down
to the scene ready to help; he saw a woman
struggling for life and went to her assistance; he
carried her by main force to the solid ice, and
then, urged by the cries of the mother, went back
to the rescue of a sweet child of three or four
years of age; the treacherous wood in splintering,
had caught the child in its grasp, and the fire
completed the terrible work. The man was com-
pelled to see the child enveloped in flames, and
to hear her cries of 'Help me, Mother!' ringing
out in the agony of death and on the ears of the
cruel night. In a moment she was lost, swept
up by the sharp tongues of fire, while her mother
in helpless agony fell to the earth in a deadly
swoon."
Mr. Reid, one of the passengers, saw a woman
held in the ruins and burning. She was calling
out amid her groans, " Shoot me, and get me out
of this misery." The saddest sight he saw was a
woman looking at her burning child.
Mrs. Lew says when the crash came she was
lying down with her head near the open window.
The next thing she knew was that her head was
out in the open air, and her body inside of the
car. As soon as she got her head out, she saw
the newsboy who had a few minutes before sup-
plied her with reading matter. She begged of
J
140 THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER.
him to help her. He said, "I would be glad to,
but my oid mother is dependent on me for her
entire support. If I am killed what will she do?"
Mrs. Lew again entreated him to assist her. He
then came so near to her as to be able to take
hold of her hand by extending his arms full
length. As they joined hands the newsboy
pulled and Mrs. Lew threw herself forward, com-
ing out of the car. She then walked on the ice
to the bank, where she was helped up the em-
bankment by men and taken to an eating-house,
where her wounds were dressed.
A villager saw a woman caught, back of the
platform railing, and .attempted to pull her out.
It was only by superhuman effort he succeeded,
then only to find them both up to the waist in
the water. "Can you save me?" she asked him,
in tones that went to his heart. "Yes, if you
hold on," he said. She did hold on to him with
all her strength, and he got her safely to the
shore, although in the water several times.
The story of Mrs. Bingham has been already
told. She owed her life to her own determined
spirit, though it is remarkable that any woman
with a broken limb could summon the courage to
break a window and then jump into the water and
draw herself to the land.
PERSONAL INCIDENTS. 141
The heroism of Mrs. Swift has been mentioned
by the papers, and the author takes pleasure in
adding his testimony to the noble and lovely
spirit which she manifested through all the sad
scenes. The following is an account of the man-
ner of her escape:
"Mrs. Swift retained her senses and her pres-
ence of mind. She was badly injured at the
time, but did not realize it. When the accident
occurred there was a terrible crash ; the bell-rope
snapped like the report of a pistol, and the lights
were extinguished. As the cars went down there
was no noise. Her husband was hurled across
the aisle and held down senseless. She was
wedged in between two seats, but extricated her-
self. She spoke to her husband, but he made no
reply, and she thought he was dead. The agony
of her mind at that moment was fearful to con-
template. She finally, with the aid of Mr.
White, got him out. He was then delirious, and
hardly knew where he was going. Her anx-
iety was all for her husband. Miss Shepard, Mrs.
Graham and Mr. White then took or assisted
everybody out of the car, reassuring them by
words and deeds, and thus aided in saving many
lives."
Miss Shepard, of Bipon, Wis., proves to
142 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
have been a heroine in the terrible tragedy.
Many of the survivors have spoken of her as so
brave in the midst of the danger. She "was
very cool and collected," says Mr. Sturgis, "and
she acted in a heroic manner. She helped the
women out, and while I was trying to get the
men out, she was on the outside smashing the
windows with apiece of timber, clearing the way
for those inside."
Mr. White, of Portland, says :
"She was one of the bravest and best women I
ever met. She got out by herself. When I at
last came out of the Palatine, after I was satisfied
that there were no more persons in the car, the
gentlemen who had had their legs broken were
still lying within a few feet of the burning cars,
and their lives were now again in jeopardy.
"To save their lives was my next endeavor. I
couldn't take the two at once. So I took hold of
one and dragged him some thirty feet away.
Poor fellow! he had several ribs broken, and his
ankle was swollen to three times its size. I was
very weary at this time. The fire was all the
time encroaching, more and more, and the ago-
nizing cries of suffering and burning humanity
were hushed, as they suffocated or the cruel
flames sent death to relieve them. I got my man
f
PERSONAL INCIDENTS. 143
away, but the other was still there. This one was
delirious from pain and excitement. I was anx-
ious for both. A citizen from Ashtabula came
along, and I asked him to watch my charge while
I brought back the other to a place of safety.
He said he would. I had just reached the other
man, when I looked around and saw that the cit-
izen had deserted his post. But there stood Miss
Shepard by me. "We stood in full eighteen inches
of snow and six inches of water, the ice having
been broken and crushed by the cars. She said
coolly, 'Can't I do something to help you? I
am uninjured.' I got the other man away to a
place of safety, some twelve feet back from the
car. It wasn't over seven minutes after the fall
before our car was burning, too." Mr. C. E.
Torris says: He saw her standing on the ice and
dipping her handkerchief in the water and wash-
ing away the blood from the face of a wounded
man. And the citizens of Ash tabula also speak
of her, and say that it seemed so strange to see
her, while all the rest were wounded and bleed-
ing, moving around the engine room, assisting in
every way, calm and self-possessed. She seemed
more like some good angel who had been sent at
such an hour to bestow the gentle ministration of
her sex upon the suffering.
144 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
CHAPTER XX.
KINDNESS SHOWN.
'HE citizens of Ashtabula did all in their
power. The disaster was no sooner known
than many of them hastened to the rescue.
Great exertions were made by those who were
present, not only to save the living, but as far as
possible in their separate action to extinguish the
flames. The survivors were no sooner in a
condition to be removed than persons were
found who were ready to take the worst cases
among them to their own homes. Some of the
wounded who were left near the depot, especially
those who were at the Eagle Hotel, were removed
to the hotels up-to\vn and comfortably provided
for. Ladies called upon them wherever they
were, and carried to them such delicacies as
would tempt their appetites, and flowers to please
the eye, and vied with each other in giving atten-
KINDNESS SHOWN. 145
tion to the strangers, all of them showing how
much their sympathies had been moved by this
sad calamity. The mayor of the city was very
energetic amid the excitement of the first few
days. He not only met the responsibilities of
his office with promptness, but he showed the
kindness of his heart in that he took one of the
wounded, a Mr. Tomlinson, to his house, and
there cared for him until he died.
Mr. Strong, the station agent, also, though
laboring under the oppressive sense of being
misunderstood, did all that he could under the
circumstances. Several of 'the firemen have
borne testimony to the great exertions which he
made during the night of the fire. The disad-
vantage under which he labored on that night
was that he was not present at the depot at the
time of the accident, but was at home, about half
a mile away. The orders from the central office
in reference to surgeons reached him through the
telegraph office up-town, and his first duty was
to obey them, but as he reached the scene of the
fire the very sympathy which he felt, led him
under the excitement of the moment, to give
146 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
those answers which did so much damage and
which were so much misunderstood.
The railroad authorities continued to furnish
everything that might relieve the sufferings or
restore the losses of those who survived. Physi-
cians were procured and nurses provided. Every
accommodation which hotels could furnish was
paid for with a liberal hand. Those whose cloth-
ing had been destroyed or injured,were furnished
with new suits throughout. The bills of physi-
cians were paid. Return tickets were furnished
and sleeping-car accommodations afforded to the
wounded to their very homes. As friends came
in search of the lost, they at times received free
, passes each way, and even escorts in some cases
were furnished. Bereaved mothers and fathers
and the widowed,were permitted to visit the place
in search of relics at the company's expense.
The event was a calamity to the road as well
as to the passengers and their friends. The man-
agers had prided themselves on the success and
completeness of their system. The small num-
ber of accidents on the line had been noticed, but
the sudden and terrible calamity eclipsed all this,
KINDNESS SHOWN. 147
and now the grief was great and widespread. The
horror was overwhelming and the excitement
high. It was impossible to know this without
feeling it as a personal affliction, and no doubt
the sense of it led to the death of the man who,
of all others, was the most sensitive and sympa-
thetic.
The attention of religious people to the spir-
itual wants of the survivors is worthy of men-
tion. Clergymen called and conversed with them
as opportunity was offered. The survivors were
hardly able at first to give expression to their
feelings, as the confusion of the place was so great.
Several were crowded into the same room. The
wounds inflicted on the head prevented con-
nected thoughts. The pains and weakness, and
the shock to the nervous system rendered the
condition of nearly every one critical,for several
days. It seemed uncertain whether they might
not sink away under the terrible reaction and de-
pression caused by the excitement and exposure.
Wounds and bruises which no one supposed they
had, were felt, and new ones discovered every
day. But as one and another were removed to
148 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
separate rooms, the conversations and prayers-
brought out the deeper feelings which had been
hidden.
It was with great solemnity that one and an-
other would recount the peculiar method of
escape. More than one said that he thought
"his time had come." One said that he did not
expect to live, and that he took his card in his
hand that his name might be recognized if he
should die.
The suddenness of death was full of solemnity
to all. Even the most reckless and hardened were
subd ned. One young man in a spirit of bravado
as he entered the room of a companion, uttered
an oath; but the gentleman addresssd arose in
bed, lame and wounded as he was, and with sol-
emn voice and determined manner, exclaimed:
"I will not permit the name of God to be used
in that way in my presence especially at such a
time as this." The young man felt the rebuke,
and turned around hid his face, and soon retired.
A few days after, he came back and said that "he
had not arisen from his bed a morning with-
out thanking God for preserving his life," and
KINDNESS SHO WN. 149
apologized for having spoken as he did. A gen-
tleman and his wife who had escaped from the
"Palatine/ 5 were together at the "American
House," happy in being spared to each other,
peaceful, loving and grateful; but they were es-
pecially delighted to receive a letter from their
pastor in the distant East, and read, to those who
called, sentences from it so glowing with that
pastor's affection and sympathy.
The ministration of women was one of the
delightful things connected with the event. A
betrothed had no sooner heard of the wreck and
of the survival of her lover, than she hastened
to his side and spent the days in caring for him
and comforting him by her presence.
When the clergymen visited those different
persons at their hotels, they were most respect-
ful in their cordial response to prayer and
words of counsel. Even those to whom the
subject had not altogether been agreeable before,
listened and seemed stirred to the hea^t with
grateful emotions. The time and place for prayer
was given, and such nearness to the Almighty
God was never known before. It seemed as if
150 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
the veil of eternity had opened, and the presence
of God was felt. A loving wife, so gentle and
so good, had come to her husband's side. The
affection and the care were great, but tne grati-
tude to God was more, and the piety of both
became suddenly deep. It was like the stream
in the prophet's vision. As the past of Chris-
tian life was reviewed so seriously, penitence
sprang up within the heart, and then the grati-
tude to God, and then the consecration, and then
the delightful swelling love and peace, and then
the faith that seemed to hide itself in God's own
heart, and there was a mingling of the emotions
as if the ocean of God's presence was receiving
them to its own deep love, and they were taking
the first baptism of the Spirit.
The goodness of that precious wife, now had
its triumph. It brought the husband's heart and
soul to the same deep faith and piety which she
had possessed.
A gentleman, too, who had never made a
profession of religion, but whose conversation
showed much of acquaintance with the world,
and habits of observation, was led to unburden
KINDNESS SHO WN. 151
his heart's inmost thoughts to the clergymen who
called in. He said: "I am not a professor of re-
ligion, sir. I am a worldly man a man of busi-
ness but I have been brought up religiously,
have had a praying father and mother, and it
seems to me as if I had some faith, for as I was'
going down in that wreck, and felt that inde-
scribable sensation of falling (and here he
dropped his hands boside the bed with such ex-
pressive look and gesture) a passage of Scrip-
ture flashed into my mind, and has been running
in it ever since. These are the words: "The
foundation of the Lord standeth sure." The
clergyman turned to the Bible, and found the
text, and was impressed with the wonderful
appropriateness of it: "The Foundation of the
Lord standeth sure and the Lord knoweth them
that are his."
152 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE MEMORIAL SERVICES.
'HE time at length arrived for laying away
the uuburied dead. Nobody had recog-
nized them. God alone knew them, and there-
fore to his sacred earth were they consigned, that
at the resurrection day he might bring them forth
to the knowledge of all. Garnered in the har-
vest of flame, they were to be laid away in God's
store-house.
The hands of strangers were outstretched to
bury them, for the hearts of others could only
mourn for them, without claiming the poor rem-
nants which were so unrecognizable.
Their sepulchre was in Mie stranger's soil,
though their memory was in many a home.
The village of Ashtabula, made memorable by
so direful a calamity, was now to become the
sacred burial place of these bodies which per-
THE MEMORIAL SERVICES. 153
ished. Most sacredly did the citizens of the
place regard this trust, which God in His provi-
dence had committed to them. No event in the
history of the place had so awakened sympathy
and aroused the people, and now every attention
that was possible, was to be paid at the last sad
funeral rites. The town gave itself up to mourn-
ing. Arrangements had been previously made
for the occasion, and the authorities of the city,
the social organizations and the religious bodies
were all prepared to honor those who were to be
laid away in their midst.
A beautiful lot had been chosen in the ceme-
tery which overlooked the whole city, and there,
among the sacred remains of their own beloved,
the citizens resolved to place those who were in-
deed strangers to them, but whom somebody
loved. Among the choicest lots of that beautiful
hill, a place had been chosen for their deposit.
The winding-sheet of snow had been drawn
aside, and the graves had been dug, and multi-
tudes assembled from the vicinity, and the result
was that an immense assemblage was gathered
for the solemn services. A special train arrived
154 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
from Cleveland, bringing the officers of the Rail-
road, and the friends and parishioners of Rev.
Dr. Washburn and others. By noon all the
places of business were closed, and the citizens
gathered at the services or arranged themselves
in the long procession. The first church service
was held in the Methodist house, as it was the
largest in the place, and at this the clergymen of
the village took part. The opening prayer was
made by Rev. I. O. Fisher, of the Baptist Church,
with a few touching words in memory of P. P.
Bliss. Rev. Mr. McLeary, of the Methodist
Church, read the hymn, "We are going home
to-morrow." An appropriate selection of Scrip-
ture was read by Rev. Mr. Safford, of the Con-
gregational Church, after which Rev. J. C.
"White, of the St. John Episcopal Church of
Cleveland, delivered, an eloquent discourse on the
subject of the sacredness of human life. He
was followed by Rev. S. D. Peet, who spoke of
the need of a sympathy which should be un-
selfish and universal, and of the need of a pre-
paration for death. Rev. Mr. McGiffert, of the
Presbyterian Church, also made remarks upon
THE MEMORIAL SERVICES. 155
God's knowledge and of the unrecognized dead.
The choir sang another of the songs of P. P.
Bliss ''There is a light in the valley." . The
services were impressive, and the great congre-
gation which had assembled, seemed moved by
deep sympathy. The closing remarks of Mr.
White were especially appropriate, being a beau-
tiful illustration, showing that life itself was but
a great bridge, one end of which lay in life's
beginning, and the other stretched into the great
unknown. It spans a chasm full of fire, of death
and doom. There are flaws in it which were put
there six thousand years ago, and although many
have gone over it in safety, it is at any moment
liable to fall with some precious soul into the
abyss. God had provided a means of escape,
and happy was he who would avail himself of it.
A second service was also held at St. Peter's
church, at which Rev. Dr.James Moore officiated,
assisted by Rev. Geo. Carter, of Cleveland.
The procession then formed, which was ar-
ranged in the following order:
Marshal Fassett and Coroner Richards; Clergy,
in sleighs; Bearers, in sleighs; Assistant Marshal ;
156 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
Masonic Association; Friends of deceased, in
sleighs; Assistant Marshal; St. Joseph's Society;
Ashtabula Light Guard; Ashtabula Light Artil-
lery; Citizens generally.
Arranged in a long line in front of the churches
and alone: the main street, with the different
O *
badges and insignia of office, this procession
formed one of the most impressive pageants ever
witnessed in the place, it was more than a mile
long, and as it moved at the toll of the bell and
with the impressive sound of the funeral dirge
from the bands present, every one was affected
with the solemnity of the occasion.
Contrasted with the white snow which covered
the landscape,this array of mourning and sympa-
W
thizing friends and citizens moved slowly to the
last resting place of the dead. As the head of
the column entered the cemetery where were
gathered the sacred remains which were to be
deposited in the graves, the members of the
Masonic societies divided, and, acting as pall
bearers, silently took up the coffins which had
been arranged in a line for them, and bore the
precious freight to the open graves, amid the
THE MEMORIAL SERVICES. 157
tears of the spectators, who were touched by so
unusual a sight. " It was, indeed, a scene which
appealed to the heart with sombre power and
deep sympathy." The nineteen coffins con-
taining the secrets of death which will be given
up only at the resurrection carried between the
slow-moving ranks of uncovered men; the sad
fa'.'es and intent gaze of the silent witnesses; a
few mourning women, in black, standing apart,
made sacred by their sorrow one gray-haired
man, whose wife and child had been swallowed
up in the gulf, among them; a dull, gray sky
overhead; the fitful wind sweeping through the
bare branches of the trees; the shroud of snow,
broken only by those yawning graves; the sad
strains of the funeral dirge, in time with the
sobbing of the women; the solemn hush which
men feel always in the presence of death. The
exercises at the grave were opened by the Rev.
Mr. Moore, who read the burial service of his
church. A selection of Scripture was read by
the Rev. Mr. McGiffert, after which the Masons
proceeded with their ritual, and at its close the
assembled thousands, dismissed with a benedic-
158
THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
tion, proceeded to their homes or to the evening
trains which were to convey them out of the
city.
THE SUICIDE. 159
CHAPTER XXII.
THE SUICIDE.
the Ashtabula "Telegraph 1 ' appeared the
following article :
ANOTHER VICTIM OF THE BRIDGE DISASTER.
"Our community received another shock on
Saturday last, hardly less severe than that
of the news of the disaster itself. The announce-
ment that Charles Collins, the Chief Engineer of
the L. S. & M. S. road was dead, without any
cause but that he was found lifeless in his bed,
carried every one back in mind to the bridge
calamity, and there was an intense eagerness for
an explanation. The evening papers brought
that explanation, but with it an increased effect
upon the sensibilities of our citizens. He was,
to be sure, found dead in his bed, but beside him
were the implements telling the manner of death.
He died by his own hand. The story of his
death we abstract and condense from the Cleve-
land dailies, as follows : Mr. Collins' assistant
160 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
Mr. I. C. Brewer, of the Toledo division, sought
his presence at his office on Water street, on Sat-
urday morning, but not finding him or hearing
of him, passed over to his residence, and being
informed by the colored man in charge that he
was not there, determined to make an examina-
tion of the house for the settlement of the ques-
tion whether he was in the house. Upon pass-
ing through the house everything indicated order
and quiet, but loneliness, until the bedroom was
reached. Here he found the person of his search,
dead, and in the first stages of decomposition,
marked with blood, a revolver at hand, with
which the deed was done, and the handle of an-
other just showed from his pillow. The deter-
mined purpose that controlled him was shown by
the means for making his destruction sure. A
razor was also found upon the bed. It was found
that the muzzle of the revolver had been placed
in his mouth, and the direction of the ball was
upward through the roof of the mouth, and out
through the upper and back part of his head.
The tirst shot seems to be the fatal and only one.
"In casting about for a cause for this violent
and shocking death, circumstances point to the
effect upon his mind of the bridge accident at
this place. We find that he laid it deeply to
heart, and when he first beheld the scene, he wept
CHARLES COLLINS.
THE SUICIDE. 161
over it in an outburst of grief. That effect he
seems not to have been able to shake off. It fol-
lowed him night and day, leaving no taste for
food, and driving sleep from his pillow, until he
was led to say to some of his more intimate
friends, that he believed it would drive him crazy.
His was a gentle, sensitive nature, and his pro-
fession carried to its utmost perfection and suc-
cess, which was shown in the superior condition
of the road, and all its appointments were his
chief pride. This pride, we apprehend, never
extended to this bridge, as his rather guarded
observations in reference to it, from the begin-
ning, sufficiently indicate. In the minds of many
of the best informed in this community, he rather
shrank from the responsibility of it. The special
care of it, therefore, seems to have been in a great
measure, at least, committed to other hands.
Whatever his feelings, however, he could not in
his position escape responsibility. The sense of
that responsibility seems to have had a striking
effect upon him in the recent examinations by
the Legislative Committee, and conferences in
which he was present on Wednesday afternoon
and evening the night, probably, upon which
the fatal act was committed. His state of mind
was not unobserved by some of his intimate com-
panions. We are told that Mr. Brewer, his
162 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
trusted assistant, had, at his earnest solicitation,
consented to remain witli him during Monday
and Tuesday nights, and was surprised at the
alarming state into which his mind had fallen.
It was further shown by the act, and the man-
ner of it. He had tendered his resignation to the
Board of Directors, on the Monday before, when
with tears he said, ' I have worked for thirty
years, with what fidelity God knows, for the
protection and safety of the public, and now the
public, forgetting all these years of service, has
turned against me.'
" The resignation was, of course, not accepted,
and he was assured that his view was entirely
unjust and unworthy, but all to no effect. The
thought of possible injustice still haunted him.
"On Wednesday night Mr. Brewer intended
to go, as he had done the two previous nights,
and stay with him at his residence on St. Clair
street. But, upon calling at the office and being
assured that he had left no word for him either
in regard to the evening or concerning the trip
of inspection contemplated for Thursday, he con-
cluded that the deceased had left for his home in
Ash tabula, where of late he spent much of his
time. Thus affairs rested till Saturday morning,
when, learning that he was not in Ashtabula, Mr.
Brewer feared that some evil had befallen him.
THE SUICIDE. 163
and going to the house he inquired of the colored
man, went through the house to the family bed-
room, and found the remains of the deceased as
described above.
"There is little doubt but that Mr. Collins in-
tended to go on the proposed tour of inspection
on Thursday, for his traveling-bag was found
neatly packed in the bed-room. It is probable
that the act was one of momentary desperation,
when the troubled thoughts of the previous days
and nights, weighing upon him, made life hard
to bear.
"Mr. Collins' family had been in Ashtabula,
where his wife's relatives reside, for several days,
and the colored man supposed that he was alone
in the house. But the quarters of the latter are
in the back part of the house, while Mr. Collins'
room is in the front. It is supposed that Mr.
Collins came in without the knowledge of any
one and went to bed on Wednesday night.
Everything in the bed-room confirmed this opin-
ion. The various articles of his dress were dis-
posed about the room, his collar and necktie
upon a stand near the head of the bed, his pants,
shirt and coat were laid over a chair, and his
shoes and stockings under the edge of the bed.
The vest was carefully placed under the mattress.
The scene presented to view upon entering the
164 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
room, was most horrible. Three chambers of the
large revolver at the right of the corpse were
empty, but only one wound was found. There
was a hole in the wall of the room, recently
made, such as a ball would make, and it seems
evident from this fact that the deceased was
sitting up when the fatal discharge was made.
There was no appearance of a struggle, but the
discoloring of the blood from the wound which
had flowed from the mouth and nose, was terrible
to behold. The face was badly stained and pre-
sented a horribly ghastly appearance. From the
fact that decomposition had already begun, it is-
inferred by the coroner that death took place
some 48 hours before, or on Thursday morning.
"The deceased was born in Richmond, N. Y.,
in 1826, and was, therefore, 51 years of age. He
was from an old and highly respected family, re-
ceived a liberal education at one of the eastern
colleges, and his professional education and grad-
uation, from the RenssaelorPolytechnic Institute.
In this latter institute he gaA^e full promise of the
abilities which he was destined to display in after
years. Immediately after graduation he was em-
ployed for several years in practical engineering
in various parts of New England, and next took
charge of some important work on the Boston
and Albany railroad. He came to this section of
THE SUICIDE. 165
Ohio in 1849 to take charge of locating the C. C.
0. & I. railroad. He was an engineer also in its
construction. Next he was for a time superin-
tendent of the Pairiesville & Ashtabula road, and
when the L. S. & M. S. consolidation was brought
about, he was given his present position.
"As an engineer, Mr. Collins enjoyed the con-
fidence of many of the leading railroad men of
the country. Among them was Commodore
Vanderbilt, whose friendship he also enjoyed.
"We are told that when any work was to be
performed upon the great lines of which he had
control, Mr. Collins' plans and methods were
always accepted by the great commander, without
question, as the cheapest and best."
t
166 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE CHARACTER OF MR. COLLINS.
'HE funeral services of Mr. Collins were
held at Ashtabula on Wednesday, Jan. 21st.
The occasion was one of great interest. The
Cleveland "Herald" of the following day, says:
"It was the last tribute of respect that could
be paid by the citizens of the place to a man who,
while not a permanent resident, was one among
the most respected and loved. He held a prom-
inent place in the hearts of the people as an ex-
emplary man and faithful friend, and their at-
tendance upon the services yesterday was the last
act of respect to his mortal remains. Besides
the citizens of Ashtabula present, there were
many of the leading railroad men of this city,
who had known and respected Mr. Collins during
the many years they had been his friends and
business associates.
" Rev. Mr. McGiffert made a few remarks
upon the life and character of the deceased.
THE CHARACTER OF MR. COLLINS. 167
He said that the assembly of people had been
called together to pay the last tribute to a man
known for honesty, uprightness and truthfulness
in all things. He was known in all his dealings
for that strict probity of character, that conscien-
tiousness which go so far toward making up the
perfect man. He had also the gentle qualities of
love and affection for those near and dear to him.
The last time he parted from his wife, a few days
before his death, not knowing, however, that
they were never to meet again, he said to her
that he wanted her to remember during their
separation, how well he loved her. He was
thoughtful always for the welfare of his business
associates, and to the young men under him he
was a father, a kind friend and firm supporter.
In the midst of his many business and worldly
cares he did not lose sight of his church relations,
and the fruits of his life in this regard are left to
testify for him. The spiritual benefit of his
employees was not lost sight of while other cares
were piessing upon him. After land at Collin-
wood had been set apart for the erection of a
chapel for railroad men, he subscribed first $150.
then $350, and when there seemed to be some
trouble in raising the necessary amount, he said
that the chapel should be built in the spring, any
way.
168 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
"At the request of the family,Mr.J.H.Devereux,
representing the railroad acquaintances of Mr.
Collins, then made a few remarks. He said that
ever since the accident at the bridge, there had
been passing through his mind the idea of fall-
ing waters, and the song of Moses and the lamb
came to him most vividly. In some manner the
character of Moses and that of the dead engineer
had assimilated themselves together in his mind.
Moses was the type of a perfect engineer. He
ran the line of the Israelites through the wilder-
ness to a land of security. He had those char-
acteristics of a noble, true man, wjiich made him
great, and in just these particulars did Mr. Col-
lins excel, and they made him the leading engi-
neer of this broad land. The speaker referred to
the veneration of the deceased, and referred to
the fact that he always rested on the Sabbath day,
and that his office was always closed on that day,
and that he often went to the house of God.
Mr. Devereux attempted to say a few words to
the friends, but found himself too much moved
to speak further, and closed with a few words of
prayer."
Mr. Collins was a man who was held in high
esteem by all who knew him. At the memorial
services which were held in Cleveland, the Rev.
Dr. Hayden, his pastor, said of him:
THE CHARACTER OF MR. COLLINS. 169
"Mr. Collins had a praying mother, and when
one owes so much to a praying mother as I do,
he will not fail to make important mention of
this fact. In 1849 he came to Ohio and began
the work of laying out the Cleveland, Columbus,
Cincinnati and Indianapolis railroad. Here,
amidst the hardships of pioneer life, there were
many temptations to desecrate the Sabbath, yet
during all this time the young man remembered
ths influence of the good mother, and manifested
a high moral sentiment throughout. His life
work on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern
railroad was begun in 1851, and from that time
till the moment of his sudden death, his constant
attention was given to this great thoroughfare,
and his death itself was a sacrifice to it. The
busy engineer always had time to look after the
betterment of his employees, and there is to-day
many a family living upon its own lot, through
his beneficence."
170 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
CHAPTEK XXIY.
THE LOVED AND LOST.
'HERE was a young lady on that train.
W JJ Accomplished and beautiful, she had al-
ready become the object of admiration to many,
and was the pride of fond parents. Blooming,
buoyant and hopeful, she was a delightful com-
panion. Her light, rosy complexion so radiant
made her a picture of health. She used to
laugh and say to her mother, "I never have
any compliments except that I am such a
healthy looking girl." Her mother writes:
" On her sweet, fair hand she wore a slender
thread of gold which held the setting of a very
brilliant, though not large, diamond. On the
same finger she wore a heavy, plain, gold ring."
Her wardrobe was very complete and almost en-
tirely new. Her jewelry consisted of turquoise,
pearls, Florentine mosaics and Genoese silver.
THE LOVED AND LOST. 171
Everything she had in the way of ornament or
jewelry, she had with her. She had a link gold
necklace and gold handkerchief ring, with a small
ring for the finger attached by a slender chain,
A Chegary medal in the form of a Greek enam-
eled cross, was in her trunk, the sign of honor
from the school where she had graduated. In
that trunk were also many dresses, beautiful and
expensive and becoming to her form. All she
had, she took with her. Her bridesmaid's dres&
was with her; she was dressed in it only
the week before at the wedding of her
dearest friend; she also had it on at a
wedding the night before she started. Yet
she was not a mere child of fashion! She
was born to social position and always accustomed
to society; it was the daily habit of her life
but brought no excitement with it. She
really cared but little for parties, and often spoke
in that way. She was an active member of
the Episcopal church and very conscientious in
the performance of her duties. Her love of
sacred music seemed like an inspiration; I have
watched her face become almost transfigured by a
172 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
holiness of expression which would flit across it
while she was singing. She had been kept sin-
gularly free from the little vanities and excite-
ments of a young lady's life,by the grace of God,
who kept her as pure a child as when He
gave her to me a precious infant. Oh ! it comes
to me now how carelessly I thought of my
treasure. How little I appreciated the great
trust that God had given me. How I thought
of her as an ordinary girl."
The thought of her death had never entered
the minds of her parents. But she died, and
everything connected with her was strangely
swept away. The sad consolation of weeping
over her silent remains was denied. Her pic-
ture, for which she stood two days before her
starting, was the only mercy which God had
vouchsafed the parents. Her mother again
writes: "It would indeed be a comfort to me to
have even one little thing which would seem a
part of herself, but we have not one trace of her
personal belongings." Her funeral was attended
in the city of her home, but the remembrance of
her sweet spirit and beautiful voice was all that
the friends had to comfort them.
THE LOVED AND LOST. 173
The following are the eloquent, heart-felt words
which dropped from the lips of an aifectionate
and aged pastor at her funeral, as the sweet
fragrance of her life and spirit came before
his mind. He says:
" I dare hardly venture a few words upon the
sweet singer of our Israel, who was but yesterday
the charm, and the graceful and elegant ornament
to our choir. Here she won the confidence and
love of all of us. Here she uttered those sweet
sounds which captivated all hearts. Here she
became known to us as the happy, the cheerful,
the glad and always unselfish and noble-natured
girl, the almost idol of her bereaved parents and
the pride and joy of her companions. Here on
the last day of our Holy Communion service she
was present and joined with us in that hallowed
song of love and worship which she now repeats
and sings with the angels and blessed spirits of
that other and better world, in the presence of
God and His holy angels."
Thus passed away the beautiful, the lovely, the
song-like spirit of sweet Minnie Mixer.
The story has been told of a young man who
so anxiously looked for some trace of his mother's
body during those sad days in which so much
sorrow was concentrated.
174 THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER.
A description of that mother's character has
been well drawn, by those who knew her.
Mrs. Adelia A. Moore, ol Hammondsport, was
a member of the Episcopal Church and the fol-
lowing are the tributes of affection bestowed
by the clergymen who officiated at her funeral.
Rev. Mr. Gushing said of her:
"Can I ever forget her presence and her image
under my own roof during three of the most pain-
fully anxious days of my life,watching through the
long, long winter night; wakeful to every sound,
to every movement, to every want; the low,
soothing voice, the noiseless step, the gen tie hand
wiping away the clammy sweat, and standing by
us, patiently and willingly, until the crisis was
past ? (Mrs. C. dangerously ill of pneumonia is
the occasion referred to.) I could not but refer
to this, not only as an expression of grateful
acknowledgement which is justly due, but also as
speaking for many others to whom she was a
friend indeed, because a friend in need just that
kind of need in which, above all other needs, we
feel the weakest, the most utterly powerless in
our own unaided selves.
"In this way, and in these kind offices, she may
be said wherever residing and through all the
mature years of her life, to have gone about
THE LOVED AND LOST. 175
doing good, unostentatious, unpublished good;
and the crowning beauty of it all, as respects her,
is that she claimed no merit for these disinter-
ested acts, expected no human recompense, but
performed them; went at any one's call, be-
cause she deemed it her duty to go, or because it
was the impulse of her sympathizing heart. She
was truly the Good Samaritan of her sex."
The Rev. Mr. Gardner also said:
"And oh! how much we shall all miss her; we
shall miss her as a busy parish worker; we shall
rni-ss her in the Sunday-school, and her class of
little children will sadly miss her; so will the
Ladies' Sewing Society miss her, for she was one
of its chief workers, but memorials of her in
the Society's work will long remain even longer,
perhaps, than any of us shall live to see. And
the sick and afflicted will most surely miss her;
for it may be said of her as it was of her Divine
Master, she 'went about doing good.' For this
work she had a peculiar fitness going in and
out among the sick as if it were her special call-
ing. Many are the families where she has min-
istered, and with one voice they will attest all
that I have said of her. But above all, her
family will miss her the wife and mother, the
sister and near relative are gone, gone before,
not lost."
THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
And the Rev. Mr. Hurd said of her:
"Of the estimable lady whose death we com-
memorate, it may be said that one has been taken
out from the bosom of this church and of this
community, who was inspired and wanned with
all its life, religious, social and domestic; alive
to, and promoting according to her ability, every-
thing which conduced to its welfare and im-
provement. All the consolation which may ever
be legitimately drawn from Christian character,
may be justly claimed and appropriated here.
She was indeed a good woman, and one of the
saints of God."
SKETCHES OF CHARACTER. 177
CHAPTER XXY.
SKETCHES OF CHARACTER.
'AJSTY noble characters were lost to the
j world in this great calamity.
Very few disasters ever reached so far, or
brought bereavement to so many communities.
The breadth of the land was swept by it. There
never was so widespread mourning for any death
which brought loss to only private circles. It
was more like the mourning which follows the
death of some public officer some great and
good man when a nation is called upon to weep.
It was, indeed, almost a national calamity.
The very mention of the names of the dead, and
the places to which they belonged, shows how
many communities were afflicted, and the very
funerals which were held, indicate how many cir-
cles were bereaved.
They were not all private mourners, nor were
178 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
they merely different circles of friends sharing
in. a common sorrow. Churches mourned their
beloved pastor or the most useful members;
villages and even counties were made to feel the
loss of the skilful physician; the whole land-
yes, the world has been impressed by the silence
which came so suddenly upon the tongue of the
sweet singer of Israel ; and the various circles of
society, from the highest to the lowest, were
affected by the death which invaded so many
classes.
Out of this number of worthy characters who
went down in that awful plunge where so many
mourn, it is difficult to select, for it is easy to
say many things in praise of all. Indeed, a vol-
ume might be written which should contain
nothing but the memoirs of the lost. The fol-
lowing sketches are given out of regard to those
who have so kindly encouraged the author in the
task which he has undertaken, as well as from an
admiration of the characters which have been so
faithfully portrayed by those who knew the per-
sons well.
The name of E. P. Rogers has been men-
SKETCHES OF CHARACTER, 179
tioned. Of him, Rev. Dr. Collyer has spoken,
and the following selection from a sermon
preached in Chicago is given, as descriptive of
his character.
Speaking of all of those who perished in the
train, he sajs:
''They are lost to this world before their time.
Hundreds of homes will have a shadow on them
many years. Children are fatherless and mother-
less. Men and women are weeping. The whole
world about us is poorer and sadder, and there
is no compensation which can reach the case.
Here was our fellow-townsman, Mr. Rogers, in
the prime of his life, steady and true as the day,
a man whose bond you would not want if you
had his word, or even his word if you knew he
had made up his mind. There were a mother
and sister in his old Eastern home, to whom his
presence in the world was as the shadow of a
great rock in a weary land ; people here trusting
their property to him as the soul of prudence
and honor, and resting without a fear on his
sturdy strength. Gone in the midst of his days,
with the kiss of his mother and sisters fresh on
his mouth. Gone with the world in his heart,
the sweet, unwholesome world in which he was
so glad to live. Gone with these things all to be
180 THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER.
done that only an honest and trusty man can
do. Gone from every place that knew him, and
was glad for him. Gone and not a trace of him
friendship or kinship or love could recognize.
Gone into heaven, and wanted on the earth. It
is no great comfort, I fear, to those who were
very near him to think of him in the eternal rest.
They want him here, and ought to have him here,
and would have him but for that which human
integrity and clear manhood might have pre-
vented. It is such sad things as this that put the
most terrible emphasis on this question. God
asks, 'Why will ye die ?' and starts the wonder
when we shall summon the better spirit to do
whatever can be done to put an end to these great
disasters."
The following biographical outlines are given
by Rev. L. Hand of Polk City, Iowa:
"George Francis Hubbard was born in Ipswich,
Mass., May 12th, 1841, and so had passed his
35th anniversary. His parents removed to
Claremont, N. II., before he was a year old, in
which place he spent his childhood and youth.
He studied at Meriden Academy, Dartmouth
College, and Harvard Medical School. His first
professional work was in St. John's College Hos-
pital in Annapolis, Md., during the war. He
SKETCHES OF CHARACTER. 181
came to Polk City eleven years ago last Septem-
ber, and a year later was married to Eliza E. Tone,
who survives him with three daughters. His
life work has been here; here he has won his
fortune, his good name and a warm place in the
affections of our citizens. During these eleven
years he has applied himself with great diligence
to his professional work. Few men have been
able to endure so much labor and fatigue. You
all know of his long rides, sometimes lost on the
prairie in the stormy night, long seeking some
known object to guide his way, sometimes swim-
ming his horse across the high river.
"During this time he has studied to keep
abreast with the progress made by his profession,
reading medical journals, attending the meetings
of the profession and most of the time directing
the reading of a student in his office. Few
physicians carry to their patients more of sym-
pathy and personal interest, making his visits
more like those of a wise friend than that of a
professional man. A man who was very intimate
with him for years, told me that few persons
knew how severely he studied his cases. There
is a limit to the sympathy any one man can give,
but no one could come nearer to carrying erery
patient upon his heart as though it were that of
a personal friend. His bearing was that of mod-
182 THE ASH TABU LA DISASTER.
est self-distrust which forbore claiming to fully
understand his work or making large promises of
cure. He carried to the sick bed a cheery kind-
liness, mingled with that dignity and self-reliance
which quickly commanded confidence.
" As a citizen he had that public spirit which
made him prompt to sustain our educational and
religious institutions, or any interest that pro-
motes the public weal. As a member of our
Common Council he stood alone in opposing the
change in an ordinance which opened the door
for the licensing of saloons in our village. He
has long been a member of the orders who have
charge of this burial service to-day,
"He became a member of this church, some
eight years ago. For it he has faithfully worked
and generously given. Many is the long ride I
have shared with him when all these matters were
fully discussed, and it appeared how closely he
cherished and valued these interests of religion.
He was by temperament, conservative and cau-
tious, not the most hopeful, but his hold was
steady and firm to any work to which he applied
himself. It will be asked in many circles, how
can we get along without him, but nowhere with
more feeling and fear than in this little church
circle."
P. P. BLISS.
P. P. BLISS. 183
CHAPTER XXVI.
P. P. BLISS.
of the saddest things connected with
the whole calamity, and the circumstance
which made the event a personal bereavement to
many thousands of people, was the death of Mr.
P. P. Bliss and his wife.
His name will always be associated with Ash-
tabula in the sad memories of that hour. Yet
there are brighter visions connected with that
name, which have a tendency to relieve the gloom
of that whole calamity.
The very mention of those loved persons brings
up the memory of their sweet songs. These
songs may be supposed to echo in the air, and to
mingle with all the mourning, so as to give
almost a melody to the melancholy sounds. It
is, indeed, a plaintive song. Yet there is a hope-
ful, soul-thrilling strain running through it all.
184 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
The memory of the sweet singer is a joyful,
happy one, bringing delightful associations to the
minds of all who knew him. Few persons ever
endeared themselves to so many people in so
short a life; but his spirit delighted others with
its very sweetness.
The early days of Mr. Bliss were spent in toil.
His parents were in humble circumstances, and
while yet a youth, his father died, leaving him to
meet the obstacles of life with only the counsel
of his mother, whom he loved, but dependent on
his own exertion for a livelihood. For a time
the young man was engaged as a hired hand upon
a farm. His home was at this time in the west-
ern part of Pennsylvania, where also, he received
a partial education as a pupil of the collegiate
institution at Towanda, Pa.
After a short period of study he went to
Rome, Pa., and taught a district school. Here
he met the lady who became his wife and to whom
he ascribed the main part of his success. She
was the daughter of O. F. Young, Esq., of Eome,
an Elder in the Presbyterian Church. He
used to say to his friends, "All I am, I owe to
P. P. BLISS. 1$5
my wife." Under the influence received from
her, he entered upon the study of music, and first
felt the stirrings of that gift which made him so
useful. Together they went to Prof. Root's
Normal Academy at Geneseo, N. Y., where he
made great advancement in music, and won the
admiration of his gifted teacher.
It was, however, in Chicago, that his musical
career really began; but it is a singular fact that
fire was the element that brought out the genius
oi the man, as well as that in which his spirit
was released from his body, and borne to higher
realms.
He often remarked that it was the great fire
which made him, because it liberated him from
secular occupations, and led him to devote him-
self to the Lord's work. At the time, he was
in the employ of the firm of Root & Cady, but
the flames which laid in ruins the great city,
also swept away his house, and from that event
forward he seemed to have no home except where
the service of song might lead him. He became
connected with Rev. Dr. Goodwin's church as
chorister and superintendent, and there,
186 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
he won all hearts, not only by his singing,
but by his remarkable devotion as a Christian.
The choir meetings were always opened with
prayer; he spoke and wrote personally to the
members of the choir on the subject of religion ;
and he trained and improved them so that they
sung from the impulse of loving and pious
hearts. Dr. Goodwin bears testimony to his
usefulness in this position, and says that Mr.
Bliss' services in the choir, rendered his ministry
more earnest, pleasant and fruitful.
It was, however, in connection with the pre-
cious revival work that the genius of Mr. Bliss
was brought to that higher flight which gave
such a broad influence, and caused his song to be
heard throughout the land. About six years ago,
Major Whittle and he first ventured out in the
gospel work. It was then that he began to put
words to music, both of which had sprung from
the deep melody of his own heart.
At a meeting held in Kockford, 111., a story
was told which thrilled him with its interest, and
under the inspiration of it, he with a glowing
heart, composed that noble song, "Hold the
P. P. BLISS. 187
Fort," which has done s.o much to arouse and
cheer the Christian people in every land.
From this time his own hymns inspired the
melody which he sang. There was the inspira-
tion of a heart full of love, united to a voice rich
and expressive of emotion. "The effect of his
singing was wonderful." "Melting in the fervor
of his emotion, with tears tilling his eyes, he
sang his modest lyrics until every heart owned
the spell." He was the author of the most pop-
ular songs used in the Moody and Sankey
meetings. Any one who has heard these, may
know what power they have had in moulding
character, and in stirring souls to a lofty de-
votion.
The hymns "What shall the harvest be,"
"Whosoever will," "More to follow," "That Will
be Heaven for me," "Almost Persuaded," were
written by his pen, and the music inspired by
his genius.
He also wrote the music of many other of the
favorite hymns which have been sung by so many
thousands. He wrote many of his songs upon
the sudden inspiration of some incident. For
188 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
instance, when Mr. Moody at one of his meet-
ings told the story of the wreck of the steamer
at Cleveland, and had said that it was because
the lights on the pier were not burning, he was
thrilled with the anecdote, and impressed with
the truth it illustrated, at once wrote out that
beautiful song, "Let the lower lights be burn-
ing," and set it to music.
For the last three years, Mr. Bliss has given
himself to the work of composing and singing
for the revival meetings. This was done through
the earnest persuasions of Mr. Moody. His suc-
cess was very -great. It was said at his funeral
that probably no other man has ever reached so
many hearts by song as he. Mr. Moody said :
"This man who has died so young, his hymns
are now sung around the world. Only a few
days ago a book came to me from China, and
there were his hymns his hymns translated into
Chinese. They are going into all the world
all around the world."
Eev. Dr. Goodwin said that it was a joyful
thought that, though dead, the brother's work
had just begun.
P. P. BLISS. 180
A little time ago a friend from South Africa
had written how he stopped for a night's rest in
the Zulu country, when Brother Bliss' song,
"Fold the Fort," burst upon his ear from a
company of natives. Just so his influence for
good would spread and increase.
Some of his songs seem to be almost prophetic
of his death. The last one which he sang in the
Tabernacle just before starting for the East was
one which will always be associated with his
name :
I know not the hour when my Lord will come
To take me away to His own dear home,
But I know that His presence will lighten the
gloom,
And that will be glory for me!
I know not the song that the angels sing,
I know not the sound of the harp's glad ring,
But I know there'll be mention of Jesus our
King,
And that will be music for me.
I know not the form of my mansion fair,
I know not the name that I then shall bear,
But I know that my Saviour will welcome me
there,
And that will be heaven for me.
Another has been spoken of by a friend as
also prophetic even of the manner of his death,
190 THE A SH TABULA DISASTER.
although it was composed on the occasion of that
other fire which consumed his home and the
homes of thousands of others in the doomed
city. It reads:
Hark ! the alarm, the clang of the bells!
Signal of danger, it rises and swells!
Flashes like lightning illumine the sky,
See the red glare as the flames mount on high!
Chorus Roll on, roll on, O billows of fire!
Dash with thy fiery waves higher ami
higher;
Ours is a mission abiding and sure
Ours is a kingdom eternal, secure.
On like a fiend in its towering wrath,
On, and destruction alone points the path;
Mercy, O heaven! the suiferers wail;
Feeble humanity naught can avail.
The manner of Mr. Bliss' death was remark-
able. He had been with his wife to the home of
his parents in Towanda, Pa., where his children
were staying, but as he had an appointment at
Chicago for the Sabbath, he hastened to return.
Kissing the children a last farewell he left
Rome, Pa., and took the Erie train at Waverly,
for Chicago. His last stop was at Hornellsville,
where the strange presentiments came upon him
which were so near to persuading him to forsake
the ill-fated train and take another route.
P. P, BLISS. 191
Then came that ride over the Lake Shore and
the awful plunge into the chasm at Ashtabula.
His wife was with him. "United in life they
were not divided in death."
It is said that but a short time before, the good
man was seen reading his Bible, and at the hour
of his death was quietly composing a hymn.
The two died together as the fatal flames ap-
proached, giving their lives as a song which
should reach the better land.
Like martyrs they died singing their songs of
faith, at least in their hearts, and together sharing
the baptism of fire.
Memorial services were held in the Tabernacle
at Chicago, where he was expected on the follow-
ing Sabbath, at which Mr.. Moody, Mr. Sankey,
Rev. Dr. Goodwin, and Rev. Dr. Thompson took
part. The Tabernacle was appropriately draped
and the exercises were very impressive.
The funeral services were held at Towanda, Pa.,
the home of his mother, on Sabbath, January 7th.
Rev. Dr. Goodwin, of Chicago, preached the
sermon, and Major D. W. Whittle gave an ad-
dress full of interesting reminiscences, which
193 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
brought tears to the eyes of many. At its close
Mr. Bliss' last hymn, found among his papers
and entitled "He Knows," was sung, "it
breathed the full spirit of his life."
So I go on in the dark, not knowing
I would not if I might
I would rather walk with God in th^ dark
Than walk alone in the light;
I would rather walk with Him by faith
Than walk alone by sight.
Rev. Dr. Goodwin in speaking of this funeral,
afterward said that he thanked God he had the
privilege of going to it. "Not a shadow had
come over his face or the face of the friends
whom he went to see.
"There was the gray-haired grandmother of
eighty-three years, her face already shining with
the light of the Heaven to which she was so near.
When the news was told her she said, 'Only a
step has Philip gone in advance of me.' The
parents of Mrs. Bliss walked calm, without a
murmur, through the valley of the shadow.
"Of the thirty or forty relatives, with but one
exception, all, old and young, accepted Jesus
Christ as the foundation upon which they stood.
MRS. P. P. BLISS.
P. P. BLISS. 193
The faces of these bereaved ones shone as faces
never shine till God comes into the heart and
banishes sorrow.
"Who ever saw a funeral service turned to an
inquiry meeting? Yet at that service twenty-
five persons avowed their determination to serve
God, and at the evening service ten or fifteen
more did the same."
Another memorial service was also held at
Chicago on January 15th, at Rev. Dr. Goodwin's
church, where Mr. Bliss began his public life as
a singer, and where his memory is cherished ten-
derly, affectionately.
The large church was crowded, nearly three
thousand people present.
His pastor on this occasion paid tribute to the
character of his friend. He said:
1st. "He was one of the most hopeful men I
ever knew. His life was unclouded, or at least
the clouds came not to tarry. Not that he was
exempt from trouble. He had his share of trial,
discipline, and disappointment. He knew what
it was to be misapprehended to have mean and
selfish motives imputed. He knew what it was
to stand by the bedside of one who was dearer to
194 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
him than life, whom he expected might at any
time be called away. But his mind was in the
promises of God. His heart was above the
clouds and was assured of the truth. Mr. Bliss
will be better known in the future as the singing
pilgrim.
"As he Went on in the Christian life the Hal-
lelujah grew more frequent. There are few of
his songs, wherever they begin, which do not
before they close, land us in the glory of the
Heavenly Land. Take even 'Light in the dark-
ness, Sailor.' The last verse begins, 'Bright
glorious the morning, Sailor,' and it ends with a
<Glory, Hallelujah.'
"The second feature of his character was his
peculiar benevolence.
"I know not what proportion he set aside, but
I have known the fund to amount to $1,000 in
six months. He was unselfish in everything.
His devotion was always fervent. When our old
church was burning, Mr. Bliss, pointed to the
cross that surmounted the gable and to the great
front window illuminated by the flames and asked
a member of the Sunday-school, ' Why will you
not come over to us on the side of the cross? It
never looked to me more beautiful than it does
now, high above the flames, surrounded by stars,
and it is certain to have the victory.'
P. P. SLISS. 195
"All these features culminated in the last trait.
He was the gospel singer of the age.
"Why is it that while so many hymns pass
out of mind, some, like 'Rock of Ages,'
'Just as I am,' 'Jesus, lover of my soul,' have
become the hymns of the Christian church? Is
it not because the words of God's truth, and
especially of the Gospel, are in them ? You do
not read John Wesley's sermons but you sing
Charles Wesley's hymns. Recall some of Mr.
Bliss' hymns, 'I am so glad that Jesus loves
me,' ' No other name is given.' There is not in
the range of English hymnology one writer who
put God's truth into song with the power and
sweetness that Mr. Bliss has.
"You remember the story of Mr. Latimer,
how he wandered drunk into the Tabernacle and
was so aroused by Mr. Sankey singing, 'What
shall the harvest be.'
"Throngs and throngs are yet to go up from
this world to testify that the songs inspired of
God while Mr. Bliss was on his knees led them
to Christ."
The "Advance," of Chicago, contains the fol-
lowing: "It takes much from the sadness of the
singer's awful death that his life was so rounded
and complete. His work had been so well done
that death could not surprise him and find him
196 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
with his mission unaccomplished. He had made
his mark, and the mark will remain. His life has
stopped, but hi, work goes on; in every church
and in every home all over the world, and years
from now, when even his name may be lost, his
songs will still continue to inspire faltering men
and women with courage, to bring consolation
into the house of mourning, to arouse faith in
the human heart. For such a life, so perfect, so
successful, so far-reaching in its influences, spent
in the most beneficent of labor and lost at the
post of duty, there should be no tears. Other
voices will take up his strains, and the work will
go on without stop. Their simple beauty is not
marred, nor is their wonderful influence upon the
popular heart lessened by his death. Noble and
impressive in his physique, affable and genial in
his contact with every one, earnest and untiring
in his work, he will long be missed as a leader in
the evangelical movement which is now stirring
the popular heart; but he harf left his impress
upon the world, with results more lasting than
the work achieved by heroes of the battle-field or
masters of state-craft. His harp is forever silent;
his voice is forever hushed; but the songs which
he sang can never die. Their melody, like the
brook, goes on forever."
TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES. 197
CHAPTEY XXVII.
TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES.
'HE following is the testimony of some of
the more important witnesses before the
Coroner's Jury. It is taken from the short hand
report made at the time, but abridged as much
as possible.
MR. A. L. ROGERS TESTIFIES:
I was foreman of the raising of the bridge;
superintended the screwing of nuts to bring the
strain upon the vertical rods; Arnasa Stone ex-
amined it and said my part of the work was well
done; after knocking out the blocks, the bridge
settled six inches; it settled gradually as we put
in thinner blocks and took them out to put in
still thinner ones; it was not in use during this
time; Mr. Stone then decided to reconstruct the
bridge, by changing the position of certain irons
and braces; the bridge was constructed after this
design, with one exception; the struts running
from the bottom cord to the middle of the first
199 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
pair of braces were not put in till afterward ; a
change was made in the arrangement of the
upper cords, which were shortened; after these
changes Mr. Stone examined it without taking
out the blocks, and pronounced it good; the false
work remained in position from October, 1865,
to November, 1866.
Cross-examined When the bridge was first
put up, it settled, and I made the remark that
if it kept on, it would go into the creek; per-
haps I told it to half a dozen others; said it
was not Mr. Collins' bridge, but Mr. Stone's;
said the bridge had cost a great deal of money,
but don't recollect saying it would cost the com-
pany a great deal more; was discouraged because
the bridge acted so, and that I couldn't see how
to remedy it; remember all this was before the
modifications were made; Mr. Congdon was with
Mr. Stone when the bridge was examined; the
plan of changing the braces was then adopted.
Mr. Albert Congdon, testified as follows: At
the time of the construction of this bridge I was
employed by the Lake Shore Road as master
machinist; knew something about the construc-
tion of this bridge, as I had charge of the work
in making the bridge; found a lack of material
to fill the place for which it was designed ; told
Mr. Thompson about it, and he wanted to know
TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES. 199
if he had better let Mr. Stone know it; told him
he had better; a short time afterward 1 was told
to take the plans and finish the construction of
the bridge as I thought it should be done; do not
know how far the work had piogressed at the
time 1 assumed control; the braces were not
marked so as to designate the position they were
to occupy; never calculated the strength of the
tension of compression members; did not say
much to Mr. Tomlinson or any other man about
the bridge, as I did not consider myself a
competent bridge man; from the time of Mr.
Tomlinson leaving, I had the management of
constructing the bridge; Mr. .Rogers told me
that Mr. Stone had given him orders to erect it,
but he did not know how; I asked him why he
did not go and tell Mr. Stone so, and he said that
he did not like to; I then told him as much as I
knew.
Testimony of the man who drew the plans for
the Ash tabu la bridge.
Joseph Tomlinson is sworn. Resides in Otta-
wa, Ont. Is General Superintendent of Light-
houses in the employ of the Canadian Govern-
ment. Was engaged in bridge-building from
1840 to 1870. He made the drawings for the
iron Howe truss bridge over Ashtabula Creek
the one which had lately fallen. He did this
200 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
under instructions from Mr. Stone. He never
approved of a wrought-iron Howe truss over a
large span. It makes an unnecessarily heavy
bridge, and all the strain accumulates at the end
braces. Notwithstanding its weight, it would
have been a strong, durable bridge had the main
braces been sufficiently strong. They were not
made as large as designed, and it was his inten-
tion that they should be strengthened, but his
connection with the Company was severed on
account of a difference that arose between him-
self and Mr. Stone concerning the bridge.
Mr. A. Gottlieb, engineer of the Keystone
Bridge Company, at Pittsburg, Pa., was next
called. He testified as follows:
When the wrecked bridge was constructed, the
building of iron truss bridges was in its child-
hood, compared with the progress made since
that time.
The first objectionable point in the bridge,
therefore, was the unnecessarily great dead
weight; the second, the lack of sufficient section
in the upper cord; also the manner in which
the beams forming said cord were bound to-
gether, which brought much more strain on some
of them than on others.
I have made a careful examination of the
TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES. 201
wrecked bridge as it lay at the bottom of the
river, and also of the map of the bridge as made
by Mr. Tomlinson, and I think that I have ob-
tained a very good idea of the construction of the
wrecked bridge. I do not think that the Howe
truss pattern is very well adapted to a heavy iron
bridge. During my examination I did not see
anything in the plan or construction of the
bridge that would lead me to think that the
extremes of heat or cold would injure it. I nev-
er knew of any other wrought iron bridge con-
structed on the Howe truss pattern.
Before the committee appointed by the Legis-
lature of Ohio, the following testimony was also
given by Mr. Arnasa Stone, the former President
of the Road :
Mr. Stone swore that he designed the bridge,
but only superintended the drawing of the plan,
while the details of construction were given into
the hands of Mr. Albert Congdon, who was super-
vised by Mr. Joseph Tomlinson.
I have never constructed any other Howe truss
bridge with wrought-iron braces, and know of no
other anywhere in the country. When Mr. Rog-
ers made the mistake of putting in the braces it
was not negligence in permitting him to continue
the superintendence of the erection of the bridge,
202 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
for there was no other particular in which he
could have made a mistake. It was not even
unwise to permit him to continue. When the
bridge was changed in correcting the mistake
there were no more braces inserted.
Chas. Collins, the engineer of the road, testified
before the same committee, as follows:
About the time the bridge was built, my duties
were so heavy I was relieved from looking after
the bridge. I never mentioned to any one that
the bridge was not mine and that I did not want
anything to do with it, since it was placed under
the charge of a bridge-man; I thought it out of
place for me to say anything about it. I never
knew of another bridge being built of wrought
iron on this plan. I think the bridge was rather
an experiment.
LESSONS OF THE EVENT. 203
CHAPTER XXYIil.
LESSONS OF THE EVENT.
'HE narrative of this great disaster is fin-
ished ; space does not admit of the
addition of further material.
All that remains to be said is of a religious
nature. Mr. Devereaux, as representative of the
friends of the Road, beautifully alluded to Mose&
as a Civil Engineer. So we, in conclusion, go to
the word of God for the lesson of the hour.
Moses went up the mountain and received the
patterns of all things which were to be made; but
the Israelites were not permitted to transgress the
bounds set at the base, "lest they die." Skill in
art and architecture was in those days regarded
as an inspiration from God, as was proved in the
case of Bezaleel, who had knowledge of all in-
ventions.
In our day we have invaded the region of
204 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
storms, and have thought to seize the forces
which belong to the Almighty; but the result
has been death death unforseen, unexpected,
appalling, heartrending. Men have found by
hard experience that it is dangerous to la^ hold
of these grand elements of nature. Until they
have become more reverent, conscientious, God-
fearing and unselfish, they are not fit to enter the
dangerous precincts where the Almighty dwells.
In some way, even if knowledge is attained, the
sin and selfishness of men will bring the light-
nings and the fire out of the mountain, and men
shall surely die.
The great forces of nature have a sacredness
about them, and the laws of the universe an in-
violability, which will admit of no wantonness or
careless handling for selfish ends. But until a
sense of accountability to God prevails, the safety
of property and of human life cannot be secured.
No coroner's jury, no legislative committee, no
congressional enactment, will make men realize
how sa.-red are many of these responsibilities
of life. The haste to get rich and the de-
sire to make men serve the purpose of money-
LESSONS OF THE E VENT. 205
getting, and the control over many to the enrich-
ment of the few,will destroy the sense of account-
ability and blind men, so that they run profanely
into the very place where God has the hidings of
his power, but the result is that they do not know
how to handle the lightnings and to control the
storms, and they are appalled at the calamities
which their own temerity has brought down.
The people must understand that with all this
control over the elements, the increase of knowl-
edge and power, there is no safety anywhere
except in God. It is sad that this lesson has to
be impressed by many deaths when it is taught
by every one. The terrible experiences of many,
concentrate because we will not listen to the hints
given gently to each of us. The storms and hur-
ricanes and great shocks and calamities and hor-
rid deaths, come because we will not listen to
wisdom; and yet God is not in the storm or in
the earthquake, but is in the still small voice.
"* It is indeed well to say that safety must be
secured, selfishness shall be rebuked, laws should
be studied, skill employed, this blundering, heed-
less, reckless mode of life must be stopped; but
206 THE ASH TABULA DISASTER.
where in all the advance of art and education, has
there appeared immunity from accidents or safety
from death. No, with all the conservatism which
may be advocated, with all the plans for skilled
labor and with all the attainment of knowledge,
i there not need of that which God alone can
give, even the bringing in of a better hope.
If there were no vanities, errors, or per-
versities to bring destruction from out the ele-
ments which men have not learned to control,
even then death would come. There must be a
higher life which is not subject to the destructive
forces. The mercy of God and the deliverance
wrought out for us by His Son has respect as
much to the material creation as to the moral
state. In some way we shall attain to a further
control of the unseen forces and shall know more
of the great laws of God. But happy are we if
the death which must come, shall be like that of
Moses, who, after his long wanderings and faithful
discharge of duty, went up Mount Pisgah and
looked over the promised inheritance to which
the people should enter, but lie himself took up
his dwelling place with God.
THE CORONER'S VERDICT. 207
THE CORONER'S VERDICT.
"It is from a careful consideration of the evidence elicited
from professionals and experts that our verdict is made up
in the matter of the bridge, and should it seem severe upon
the railway company, or upon any of its past or present
officials, it is because the truth, as shown by the evidence,
demands it at our hands. We cannot do less and feel that
we have discharged our duty. Mr. Amasa Stone, President of
the company at the time of the erection of this structure,
had been for years a prominent and successful railroad con-
tractor and builder of wooden Howe truss bridges. With
the undoubted intention of building a strong, safe, and
durable wrought-iron bridge, upon tue Howe truss plan, he
designed the structure, dictated the drawing of the plans
and the erection of the bridge, without the approval of any
competent engineer, and against the protest of the man who
made the drawings under Mr. Stone's direction, assuming
the sole and entire responsibility himself. Iron bridges
were then in their infancy, and this one was an experiment
which ought never to have been tried or trusted to span so
broad and so deep a chasm. This experiment has been at a
fearful cost of human life and human suffering. Unques-
tionably, Mr. Stone had great confidence in his own abili-
ties, and believed he could build and had built a structure
which would prove the crowning glory of an active life and
an enduring monument to his name. That the officials of
the railroad regarded the bridge as safe we have no doubt,
a< two of them were on the train that went down, and all
were more or less frequently passing over it. That the fall
of the bridge was the result of defects and errors made in
designing, constructing, and erecting it. That a great
defect, ajd one which appears in many parts of the struc-
ture, was the dependence of every member for its efficient
208 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.
action upon the probability that all or nearly all the others
would retain their position and do the duty for which they
were designed, instead of giving each member a positive
connection with the rest, which nothing but a direct rupture
could sever. That the railway company used and continued
to use this bridge about eleven years, during all which time
a careful inspection by a comp'etent bridge engineer could
not have failed to discover the defects. For the neglect of
such careful inspection, the railway company alone is
responsible. That the responsibility of this fearful disaster
and its consequent loss of life rests upon the railway com-
pany, which, by its chief executive officer, planned and
erected this bridge; that the cars in which the deceased
passengers were carried into the chasm, were not heated by
lieating apparatus so constructed that the fire in them would
be immediately extinguished whenever the cars were thrown
from the track and overturned; that their failure to comply
with the plain requirements of the law places the responsi-
bility of the origin of the fire upon the railway company;
that the responsibility for not putting out the fire at the
tune it first made its "appearance in the wreck, rests upon
those who were the first to arrive at the scene of the disas-
ter, and who seemed to have been so overwhelmed by the fear-
ful calamity that they lost all presence of mind, and failed to
use the means at hand, consisting of the steam pump in the
pumping-house and the fire engine Lake Erie and its hose,
which might have been attached to the steam pump in time
to save life. The steamer belonging to the Fire Depart-
ment, and also the Protection fire engine, were hauled more
than a mile through a blinding snow-storm, and over roads
rendered almost impassable by the drifted snow, and arrived
on the ground too late to save human life; but nothing
should have prevented the Chief Engineer from making ail
possible efforts to extinguish what fire there remained.
For his failure to do this he is responsible. The persons
deceased, whose boc4ies were identified and those whose
bodies and parts of bodies were unidentified came to their
deatli by the precipitation of the aforesaid cars, in which
they were riding, into the chasm in the valley of Ashtabula
creek, left by the falling of the bridge, as" aforesaid ; the
crushing and burning of cars aforesaid, for all of which
the railway company is responsible."
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
HE Peet, Stephen Denison
178l The Ashtabula disaster
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