The second passenger car was well filled. There were many ladies in it.
It is not known for a certainty who were its occupants, as no one has
yet been found by the author who had escaped from it. The dead who are
supposed to have been in it and have since been recognized or otherwise
proven to have been on the train, were as follows: George Keppler,
of Ashtabula, O.; L. W. Hart, of Akron, O.; Isaac Myer and Birdie
Myer, his daughter; Mrs. George and Mattie George, of Cleveland, O.;
Maggie Lewis, of St. Louis, Mo.; Mr. E. Cook, of Wellington, O.; Mrs.
Lucy C. Thomas, Buffalo, N. Y.; Wm. Clements, Bellevue, O.; Mr. M. P.
Cogswell, Chicago; Miss Annie Kittlewell, Beloit, Wis.; L. C. Crain,
New Haven, Conn.; Boyd Russell, Albany, N. Y.; Doctor Hubbard, Polk
City, Iowa, and others whose bodies have not been recognized, amounting
in all, according to the testimony of many survivors, to at least forty
passengers.
In the smoking car were about sixteen persons. A group was at the
rear end. It consisted of Mr. Tilden, the superintendent of water
works; Geo. M. Reid, superintendent of bridges, and David Chittenden,
of Cleveland. The conductor and news-boy were near by. Mr. Stowe, of
Geneva, Ohio, was standing near and listening to the conversation. As
mentioned before, this conversation was upon the weight of the engine
and the amount of water it used. Mr. Stockwell was sitting on the other
side, having just bought a cigar of the news-boy. Another group had
dispersed but a little time before. It consisted of three who called
themselves “the three blondes,” as the accidental resemblance to one
another had amused them. These were, Mr. J. M. Mowry, of Hartford,
Conn., who afterwards went into the first passenger car; Mr. J. C.
Earle, of Chicago, Ill., and Col. A. Maillard, of California, both
of whom remained. Two brothers were in the car--Mr. R. Osborn and F.
Osborn, of Tecumseh, Mich.,--who were sitting together. Two young men
were in another seat--C. D. Meranville and Wm. B. Sanderson. Mr. L.
C. Burnham, of Milwaukee, Wis.; Mr. C. Lobdell, Troy, N. Y.; Thos.
C. Wright, Nashville, Tenn., and Mr. Harry Wagner, conductor of the
sleeping coaches, were in the same car. Of this number, Mr. Stowe, Mr.
Chittenden, Mr. F. Osborn, Mr. Stockwell and the sleeping car conductor
were killed. The stove fell from one end of this car to the other,
making a clean sweep by carrying everything before it. As it hit the
end it broke through the timbers and then set the car on fire. Those
who were struck by it were instantly killed.
Mr. R. Osborn, whose brother perished by his side, was very badly hurt
and barely escaped with his life. The car stood after its fall at an
angle, so that those who were within, were obliged to go up an inclined
plane and to get out at the upper door. Most of those who escaped, went
up the north side of the track.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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