Chapters 9 & 10

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="02c285a1erlcgo.gif"> <div> <B>Ashtabula Bicentennial Celebration</B><FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>   </B></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapters 1,2 3"><U><B>Chapters 1,2 & 3</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>   |   </B></FONT><A HREF="id110.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapters 4 5"><U><B>Chapters 4 & 5</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>   |   </B></FONT><A HREF="id111.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapters 6, 7 8"><U><B>Chapters 6, 7 & 8</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>   |   </B></FONT><B>Chapters 9 & 10</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>   |   </B></FONT><A HREF="id113.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapters 11, 12 13"><U><B>Chapters 11, 12 & 13</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>   |   </B></FONT><A HREF="id114.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapters 14 15"><U><B>Chapters 14 & 15</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> <I> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="749" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 356 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="5cdf51a0.jpg" border=0 ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" width="245" height="282"></div> <div> <I><B>Above: Charles Collins</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Right: Charles Collins' vault</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>at Chestnut Grove Cemetery</B></I></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="5cbe8630.jpg" border=0 ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" width="488" height="355"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></I></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="758" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 1715 WIDTH="752"><div> <B>The Ashtabula Bridge Disaster of 1876 - Chapter 9</B></div> <div> <B>by</B></div> <div> <B>Darrell E. Hamilton</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>          There  were  many  heroes  the  night of the bridge disaster. There was the firemen, the locomotive Socrates' engineer and fireman and the ticket agent to mention a few. Probably one of the most unlikelyheroes was a woman.</B></div> <div> <B>           Miss  Marion  Shepard  of  Ripon,  Wisconsin  was probably the greatest heroine of the tragedy.  She was only slightly injured.  Instead of moving to safety to minimize the danger to herself,  she stayed and assisted others.  She stayed and saved lives while many men and woman would have only  thought  of  saving their own lives.  In fact,  many men and women that were  uninjured or slightly injured,  did exactly that.  They saved themselves and only themselves.</B></div> <div> <B>           After  freeing   herself  from the  wreckage of the car,  "Palatine",  she alone,  with  little assistance of others, managed to free most of the  passengers of the car  "Palatine"  that sur-vived the fall. </B></div> <div> <B>           She was  able to assist  many of the passengers out of the car before it was  engulfed in flames.  Some of  the passengers  had to be dragged  out of  the  car.  Once  all  the  survivors were  out  of  the  car,  her  work did not end there. It was not long before the flames had en-gulfed the car. Miss "Marion" who just dragged survivors a few feet from the car so she could  quickly  assist  others,  now  found  the  lives  of  the survivors in jeopardy again. She then drug the survivors  another thirty feet through the ice, snow and freezing water to the banks  of  the   river  to  safety.  More  passengers  survived from that car than any other car directly because of her heroism.</B></div> <div> <B>          Miss  Shepard's  heroism  did  not  end  there.  She was then seen taking broken planks from other railroad cars and smashing car  windows  to  free  passengers.  She  assisted  the fireman and other rescuers until no more survivors could be found. </B></div> <div> <B>          Miss  Marion  Shepard's heroism did not end there either. The survivors were taken to the engine house,  she was there wiping the blood from their faces and comforting them the best  way  she  knew  how.  When the survivors were taken to the  make  shift hospitals,  she went  with them and assisted the doctors throughout the night.</B></div> <div> <B>           Even  though  the  book  by  Rev.  Stephen  D.  Peet states that this young lady was un-injured, she actually had been injured although not serious.  Other much later newspapers articles and letters indicate she had been indeed injured.  It wasn't  until  a  doctor pointed out to the blood on the back of her dress that  she  realized  that  she  might  be  injured.  All along she thought the blood came from one of the other survivors.</B></div> <div> <B>           Miss Marion Shepard was one among many heroes  and heroines  that  night.  When a lot  of   men  and  women  would have only thought of their lives and other people's  money, she risk her life time and time again. </B></div> <div> <B>            I always thought it would be nice to find out what happened to some of the survivors. I am now in the process of trying to find out what happened to  Miss  Marion  Shepard  and other  survivors  of  the  train  disaster.  I  have  found  the  person  who  was  the  last living survivor  of  the  train  disaster.  This  person  had quite a story to tell and lived to be over a hundred. </B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>The Ashtabula Bridge Disaster of 1876 - Chapter 10</B></div> <div> <B>by</B></div> <div> <B>Darrell E. Hamilton</B></div> <div> <B>   </B></div> <div> <B>          On Friday, January 19, 1877, the burial and memorial service took place for the unrec-ognized  dead.  Arrangements  were  made  with  the Associated Press to send an announce-ment  by  telegraph  throughout  the  country  at least three days before the funeral so as to give all who wished to attend, sufficient time to reach Ashtabula. </B></div> <div> <B>           A burial plot had been carefully selected at the top of  a  hill  in  Chestnut Grove  Cem-etery.  It  was  among the choicest lots on top of a beautiful hill that overlooked the village.</B></div> <div> <B>            It had been exactly three weeks since the disaster.  Had  it  been warmer weather,  the funeral would have had taken place much sooner. </B></div> <div> <B>            Unlike the day of the disaster,  the day of the funeral was pleasant and clear. Some of the snow had melted. Later on that evening, rain turned the snow into slush. </B></div> <div> <B>             On the day of the funeral,  all business was suspended and crape  was  hung  on  most doors in Ashtabula.  The hotels and most public building were draped in mourning for the victims of the train disaster. </B></div> <div> <B>           A special car was furnished by the  railroad for persons who lost friends and relatives in the wreck.  Many railroad officials and  Senator Haines were aboard. With all the people arriving by train and different parts of the county,  the streets became immensely crowded. Almost every resident  in the city was in attendance.</B></div> <div> <B>           The services of the day were opened at 12:30 at the Methodist Church, in which all the congregations  of  the city, except the Episcopalian, took part. The services were opened by the singing  "Oh, Think of the Home Over There",  by select members of the  Congregational, Presbyterian , Baptist, and Methodist Church Choirs. Prayer was then offered by Rev. J. O. Fisher,  of  the  Baptist  Church.  After  the  prayer  the  choir  sang,    "We   Are  Going  Home Tomorrow,"  a  song  composed  by  Rev.  Philip  P.  Bliss,  who  was  killed in the accident. A portion of the 49th Psalm was  read  by  Rev.  John  Safford,  pastor  of   the  Congregational Church,  after  which  Rev.  Mr.  White,  pastor  of  St. John's Episcopal Church in Cleveland made a few remarks.  He spoke of the terrible and  sudden  calamity, and made it a warning </B></div> <div> <B>for all to be prepared to give up this world, and to be  ready  to  meet  their  Maker.  He  was followed  by  Rev.  Stephen  D.  Peet,  formerly  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church,  who spoke of the  sacredness  of  human  life.  He  spoke  concerning  those whose lives had been graciously  spared,  having  since  heard  them  uttering  profane language, and referred in-decently  to  those   who  went  down to death with gaming cards in their hands. Rev. James McGiffert,  of the Presbyterian Church, was the next speaker.  He spoke of the bodies which had been so badly burned as to be beyond  recognition by human eyes, as yet recognized by God. His remarks were very appropriate and touching. </B></div> <div> <B>           After music by the choir, the  benediction  was  pronounced and the audience dismiss-ed. </B></div> <div> <B>           At the close of the service at the Methodist Church, which lasted for about a hour and a half, an audience of almost equal size gathered in the  Episcopalian  Church.  The regular service was conducted by Rev. Mr. Moore, pastor of that church.  </B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id113.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapters 11, 12 13"><U><I><B>Chapters 11, 12 & 13</B></I></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>