Chapter XVIII: The Experience of Survivors

Every 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. Some one escaped from every car but one. From the second passenger 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 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. He 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. He
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 had a piece of gilt molding, one inch
wide, three-quarters 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 smoking-car he thinks about the same number. In
his opinion there were not less than 200 passengers 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 were the most pitiful sounds that
were ever heard. He 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, conductor 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.

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 experience was quite remarkable. He gives expression to the feelings which many had in almost tragic words. He says:

“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 tumbling 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 experience 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:

“In going down there was hardly any sound. The only thing we
heard was that heavy breathing 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 coming 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. I 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. The car was
crushed at its bottom and sides. The scene within was horrible,
heartrending--indescribable. 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 were groaning,
and others praying. There was hardly any one within who seemed
rational.

“I saw the encroachments the fire 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 Weathersfield, Ct., as published in the daily papers, is as follows. He 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 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 proceeded from that direction, and the only conclusion she could arrive at was that their bodies had been crushed.