Telegram Herald

THE IRISH HORROR.
Seventy-Four Victims of Wednesday's Railway Disaster.
DETAILS OF THE AWFUL OCCURRENCE
The Unfortunates Locked in Cars That Dash Down a Steep Grade to Be Crushed into Atoms—Trainmen Under Arrest
A FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT
Armagh, June 13.—Many anxious friends are making inquiries for missing children at the infirmary to which the persons injured in Wednesday's railroad accident were taken. Crowds surrounded the building and the discussion of the terrible disaster engrossed the attention of the entire community. The interior of the Infirmary presents a sad spectacle. One of the wounded, a boy named Cleveland, has died. Both of his parents and his two brothers were killed outright.
The dead now number seventy-four. Others of the wounded are in a critical condition.
Dublin, June 13.—The railroad accident near Armagh is without parallel in the history of railroading in Ireland. The train carrying the Sunday-school excursion bound for the popular little seaside resort of Warren's Point was made up of two sections, and fully 1,500 children and their relatives and teachers were on board.
This train, a short distance out of Armagh, was ascending a steep grade to a bank that rises to a height of fifty feet, when the engine of the rear section gave out and was unable to draw the heavy train. In some way which is not now clearly understood several of the rear cars became detached from the balance of the train and started down the steep grade.
In a few seconds the cars were going down hill at a terrific rate of speed, with the brakes either utterly useless, or, from negligence on the part of the guard, without proper attention. Had the track on the level just below the grade been clear for any considerable distance, the detached cars might have lost their momentum and the terrible accident that followed been averted, but unfortunately, the regular train from Armagh followed just behind the rear section of the excursion train, and with the locomotive of this train the detached cars came into collision with terrific force, wrecking the locomotive as well as the cars themselves.
The scenes at the wreck immediately after the accident were heartrending in the extreme. The rear section of the excursion train, from which the ill-fated cars had become detached, was stopped after proceeding but a short distance and the passengers as well as those of the forward section soon ran back to render what assistance they could to those of the little children in the wrecked cars, where maimed and mangled bodies still showed symptoms of life. The dead and the dying little ones were scattered in inextricable confusion among the jagged timbers and twisted iron work of the wreck, and the groans of the imprisoned sufferers mingled in an awful din with the shrieks of their more fortunate companions who stood by powerless to afford assistance.
People from the surrounding country flocked to the scene and set to work to remove the victims from the wreck. Physicians were summoned from Belfast and other points and attended to the wants of the injured, while the dead were taken from the ruins as fast as possible and placed in rows upon the grass.
The engineer, fireman and guard of the rear section of the excursion train, and the traffic manager's clerk were arrested charged with causing the accident, and remanded without bail.
The manner in which the doomed coaches came to be detached from the train of which they formed a part seems at this hour to be unexplained. It is asserted that they were deliberately uncoupled by a train hand when it was found that the engine could not pull the entire train any further. However this may be, there is no doubt that the disaster is primarily due to obsolete appliances, the brakes being the old-fashioned hand-brakes, with worn links.
As soon as the people in the detached cars saw what had happened and began to realize their danger they tried to escape from their perilous position through the doors of the coaches, but found them locked. Even the forlorn hope of a leap for life from the flying train was denied them, and nothing was left but to await the swift and certain death to which they were rushing headlong.
When the officials on the forward portion of the train saw the detached coaches sliding down the grade they started in pursuit in the hope of reaching the cars in time to recouple them to the train, and so save them from destruction. They forced the train down the steep incline in pursuit of the runaways at break-neck speed, and for a short distance was very close upon the doomed coaches, but they were too late. The shock came with the pursuing train 300 yards away. All was over and the engineer had barely time to stop his train to prevent its crushing headlong with its load of human freight upon the frightful wreck.
There is scarcely a family in Armagh that had not a member on the ill-fated train, and the excitement in that city is intense.
The embankment from which the coaches were hurled by the collision is seventy feet high, and both engines and cars were almost ground to powder by the shock of the collision and the terrible plunge from the embankment which followed.
There were many touching scenes after the work of relieving the sufferers was begun, and the children in many cases bore their severe injuries with great patience and fortitude. There are many cases in which whole families were killed. A private in the Irish Fusileers who was in one of the detached coaches got out upon the foot-plate before the cars had attained a very high speed, and, foreseeing the danger seized four of the children and dropped them from the coach, saving their lives. He offered to do the same service for the others in the coach but they were frightened, and drew away from him and perished in the wreck.
Immense crowds visited the wreck during the day. Dr. Ryan, who is at the head of the school to which most of the excursionists belonged, is one of the most prominent Methodists in Ireland. The train consisted of fifteen carriages. The children paraded the streets of Armagh before boarding the train, and there was a general merry making on the part of the whole town before the start. Most of those killed were about 12 years of age. There were few very young children.
There were seventy-two killed all told, of whom sixty-four have been so far identified.