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THE OHIO RAILWAY DISASTER.o The- New York Herald of December SO gives an account of the terrible railway accident at Ashtabula,Ohio. It says:;”.‘/ One of the moat furious snowstormaever known in this vicinity had been raging nearly all day, and deep drift* made every ^roadway impassable. So severe fras the storm that very few* of the business places in Ashtabula kept open doors after four or five o'clock in the evening, and the trains from all directions wtere several hours behind time. At about eight o’clock p.m. the whole village was aroused by the general fire alarm, and the word soon spread t)aat passenger triin 'No.* 5. from the East had gone : j through the high bridge over = Ashtabula1 with a( large number of passengers, and that the whole train was on fire. A lurid glare in that vicinity confirmed the report, and in spite of • the terrible night nearly the whole village and all of the fire engines were soon en route to the depot, which is , situated about one mile distant from the village. The train wasdue at Ashtabula at a quarter-past five, and was nearlyIt* Lthree hours late.. It* had eleven cars, including one drawing-room car, three sleepers, one smoking car, two first-class coaches, and four baggage and express airs. It was drawn by two engines—the Socratesahead, followed by the Columbia, Ne. 360. DanielMaguire, engineer of the Socrates,, relates , that the train was running at a slow rate, and just as they had, fairly crossed the high bridge, which is not mere than forty rods distant from the depot, they felt a violent jar, and in an instant the coupling between the Socrates and Columbia had broken, and the whole train was precipitated from the bridge into the river some 65ft. below. The bridge ov£r Ashtabula river was an iron truss bridge, and had been in use about eleven jears. It ia supposed that the heavy droughts must have thrown the cars from the track, causing the cold irons to snap. The horrible scene below beggars all description. The span is about 100ft. wide, and through the space between flows the river about four or five feet deep, at this time thickly covered with ice. Int-o this space were the eleven cars and one engine and tender precipitated. The fall of 60ft. of course broke through the icy covering and shivered the ears. The seven passenger coaches altogether contained about 165 adults; besides a number of children. Most of th*se in theforward car are saved, with iniuries more or less
Newspaper Details
London Mid Surrey Times and General Observer
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, Jan 13, 1877
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Maryjane B.
OH, USA 13 Aug 2019
Other Publications Near London, Middlesex
London Standard
Morning Chronicle
London Morning Post
London Daily News
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