Cover created by Transcriber, using an illustration from theoriginal book, and placed in the Public Domain.
THE
Ashtabula Disaster.
BY
Rev. Stephen D. Peet,
OF ASHTABULA, OHIO.
ILLUSTRATED.
CHICAGO, ILL.:
J. S. Goodman—Louis Lloyd & Co.
London, Ont.: J. M. Chute & Co.
1877.
Copyright, A. D. 1877,
By J. S. Goodman and Louis Lloyd & Co.
Ottaway & Colbert,
Printers,
147 & 149 Fifth Ave., Chicago.
Blomgren Bros. & Co.,
Electrotypers,
162 & 164 Clark St., Chicago.
PREFACE.
The narrative of the greatest railroad disaster on recordis a task which has been undertaken in the following pages.No event has awakened more wide-spread interest formany years, and the calamity will not cease to have its effectfor a long time to come. The author has had unusualfacilities for knowing the particulars, and has undertakenthe record of them on this account. A familiarity with thelocality, the place and the citizens, personal observation onthe spot during the night, and a critical examination of thewreck before it was removed in the morning gave him anexact knowledge of the accident which few possessed. This,followed by intercourse with the survivors, with the friendsof the deceased, and the representatives of the press, and bycorrespondence, which resulted from his assistance in identifyingbodies, and searching for relics, all added to hisacquaintance with the event and its consequences. Theauthor is, however, happy in making an acknowledgmentof assistance from the thorough investigation of the coroner’sjury, from the faithful presentation of facts by the reportersof the press, especially those of the “Inter-Ocean”and the “Cleveland Leader,” also from the pictures takenby the artist Frederick Blakeslee, and from the articlespublished and sent by various friends, which containedsermons, sketches and biographical notices. He has toacknowledge also encouragements received from Capt T. E.Truworthy of California, and his publishers J. S. Goodmanand Louis Lloyd & Co.
ivThe discussions before the country in reference to thecause of this accident, the author has not undertaken togive. These have been contained in the “Railroad Gazette,”the “Railway Age,” the “Springfield Republican,” the NewYork and Chicago dailies, and many other papers.
Prominent engineers, such as C. P. Buckingham, ClemansHerschel, E. C. Davis, L. H. Clark, Col. C. R. Morton,E. S. Cheseborough, Edward S. Philbrick, D. V. Wood,F. R. Smith and many others have passed their opinionupon it.
The accident at first seemed to involve the question of theuse of iron for bridges, and whether the European systemwas not better than the American, and a comment uponthis was given by Charles Collins, when he testified that$25,000 more would