KINDNESS SHOWN.
The 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-town
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 attention 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
disadvantage 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 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.
Physicians were procured and nurses provided. Every accommodation which
hotels could furnish was paid for with a liberal hand. Those whose
clothing had been destroyed or injured, were furnished with new suits
throughout. The bills of physicians 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 managers had prided themselves on the success and
completeness of their system. The small number of accidents on the
line had been noticed, but the sudden and terrible calamity eclipsed
all this, 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 sympathetic.
The attention of religious people to the spiritual wants of the
survivors is worthy of mention. 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 connected 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
depression 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 separate rooms, the
conversations and prayers brought out the deeper feelings which had
been hidden.
It was with great solemnity that one and another 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 subdued. One young man in a spirit of
bravado as he entered the room of a companion, uttered an oath; but
the gentleman addressed arose in bed, lame and wounded as he was, and
with solemn 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 without thanking
God for preserving his life,” and apologized for having spoken as he
did. A gentleman and his wife who had escaped from the “Palatine,” were
together at the “American House,” happy in being spared to each other,
peaceful, loving and grateful; but they were especially 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 respectful 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 heart 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
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 the gratitude 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 Christian life was reviewed so
seriously, penitence sprang up within the heart, and then the gratitude
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 his heart’s inmost thoughts
to the clergymen who called in. He said: “I am not a professor of
religion, sir. I am a worldly man--a man of business--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 indescribable sensation of falling--(and here
he dropped his hands beside the bed with such expressive look and
gesture)--a passage of Scripture 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.”
[Illustration]