PERSONAL INCIDENTS.
The 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 narrated. 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 passengers 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 perished, 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:
“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 compelled 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
supplied her with reading matter. She begged of him to help her.
He said, “I would be glad to, but my old 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, coming out of the car. She then walked on the ice
to the bank, where she was helped up the embankment 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.
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 manner of her escape:
“Mrs. Swift retained her senses and her presence 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 herself. 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 contemplate. She finally, with the
aid of Mr. White, got him out. He was then delirious, and hardly
knew where he was going. Her anxiety 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 Ripon, Wis., proves to 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 a piece 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 agonizing
cries of suffering and burning humanity were hushed, as they
suffocated or the cruel flames sent death to relieve them. I got my
man away, but the other was still there. This one was delirious
from pain and excitement. I was anxious 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 citizen 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 washing away the blood from the face of a wounded man. And the
citizens of Ashtabula also speak of her, and say that it seemed so
strange to see her, while all the rest were wounded and bleeding,
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.”