“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.