CHAPTER XVII. The Passengers 120 CHAPTER XVIII. The Experience of Survivors 131 CHAPTER XIX. Personal Incidents 138 CHAPTER XX. Kindness shown 144 CHAPTER XXI. The Memorial Services 152 CHAPTER XXII. The Suicide 159 CHAPTER XXIII. The Character of Mr. Collins 166 CHAPTER XXIV. The Loved and Lost 170 CHAPTER XXV. Sketches of Character 177 CHAPTER XXVI. P. P. Bliss 183 CHAPTER XXVII. The Testimony of Witnesses 197 CHAPTER XXVIII. The Lessons of the Event 203 The Coroner’s Verdict 207 THE ASHTABULA DISASTER. CHAPTER I. ASHTABULA. The scene of this direful event is situated on the Lake Shore Railway, midway between the cities of Cleveland and Erie, and about two miles from Lake Erie. The village itself contains nearly thirty-five hundred inhabitants. At the mouth of the river is another small village, making in all a population of nearly four thousand. Between these points of the village and harbor many families of the poorer classes have made their homes, the most of them being Swedes, Germans and Irish. There are a few fine residences in this part of the town, but the homes of the more prominent citizens are at least a mile away. Near the depot there are several small places of business, two or three saloons, three hotels: The American House, the Culver House, and the Eagle Hotel, kept by Patrick Mulligan. It was one of the worst places for a railroad disaster. Near the depot, not six hundred yards away to the eastward, was a deep and lonely gorge. Across this the ill-fated bridge was hung. It was just at the point where the trains from the East were likely to slacken speed. Below that bridge the stream ran darkly. The only access to the gorge was by a long flight of stairs which was at the time of the calamity covered with a deep bank of snow. No road existed to it, and the spot could be reached by teams, only as a track was broken through gardens and down steep banks and across the valley and along the stream. A solitary building was in this gorge. It was the engine house. Here were the massive boiler and engine which were used for pumping water from the stream to the heights above, and so to the tanks at either side of the station house, in the distance. Situated close by the river, and almost under the shadow of the bridge itself, this lone house became to the wrecked travelers a refuge from the fire and storm. On the heights above towards the depot, another engine house was situated. It was the place where the “Lake Erie,” a hand fire engine stood. Two cisterns for the supply of water were located near,