THE WRECK.
The cars lay at the bottom of the gorge. That which had been such
a thing of speed and a line of beauty, now lay wrecked and broken,
and ready to be burned. It was indeed a beautiful train, and was
well known for its elegance and beauty. At this time it consisted of
two locomotives, one named “Socrates” and the other “Columbia;” two
express cars, two baggage cars, two day passenger coaches, a smoking
car, a drawing-room car called “Yokahama;” the New York sleeper named
“Palatine;” the Boston sleeper named “City of Buffalo;” the Louisville
sleeper called “Osceo.”
The bridge broke in the centre. The engineer of the Socrates suddenly
heard a sharp crack, like the report of a torpedo, and looked out and
saw the engine behind sinking. With great presence of mind he opened
the throttle valve an instant, and putting on all steam drove his
engine forward. It was “like going up hill,” but the Socrates reached
the abutment and was safe. The Columbia, as it was drawn 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
forward and downward, and landed at the foot of the abutment, while
the locomotive fell on to it, completely reversed, with its headlight
towards the train which it had been drawing. The other express and two
baggage cars also fell to the side of the bridge, forming a line across
the chasm with the rear baggage against the east 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, in the midst of the
ice and the snow and water of the stream. Upon this the first passenger
coach 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. The palace cars followed, but as they fell
they leaped clear of the abutment and flew out into the air to the left
of the bridge with their trucks hurled beneath them, and dropped 76
feet down and 80 feet out, and landed in the centre of the chasm.
The first drawing-room car “Yokahama” landed on the ice, and the
sleeper “Palatine” beside it to the right. The sleeper “City of
Buffalo,” however, as it flew through the air struck across the two,
knocking the “Yokahama” on its side and crushing it in through its
whole length, and landed on its forward end, with its rear end resting
on the other two and high in 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 seemed as if every limb and sense were being
scattered and only the soul was left in its solitariness.
More than one imagined that he was the only survivor, that all the
rest had perished in an instant. Many thought their time had come. The
thought of fire also arose in many minds, and the fear of a death that
might be more dreadful than that by the crash.
Without, the wreck was strewn among the iron beams and columns of the
broken bridge and scattered in 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 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 stupefied 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 what was their wound. Some sank
into the water and were with difficulty rescued by their companions
and dragged out upon the ice and snow. Many, as they got out, found
themselves amid the rods and braces and hardly knew which way to
turn. Some emerged from the doors and fell into the snow and water. A
lady climbed out a window and walked on the sides of the car that lay
wrecked beneath, and climbed down the back of a man who was willing
to become a ladder for her escape. Another escaped with broken limbs
which by force she had dragged from beneath the wreck, and then by the
rods and braces drew herself to shore through the water into which she
had fallen. Another still was able to get out of the car where lay
her child and nurse, and was dragged in her night clothes through the
water and snow, and across the ice and then stood upon the bank in
the storm like a spectre, 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
that she cannot be saved, but begs her husband to cut her throat lest
the fire should reach her and she be burned to death. She is, however,
rescued and the whole family is safe. A gentleman gets out but finds
that his limbs will not obey his will, but sink beneath his weight, and
he is obliged to crawl on hands and knees to a place of safety. After
all others have escaped, 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 struggling to get out or were already dead.