PREFACE.

iii

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 ef-fect for 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 iden-tifying bodies, 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 cor-oner’s jury, from the faithful presentation of facts by the re-porters of 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. lie has toacknowledge also encouragements received from Capt T. E.Truworthy of California , and his publishers J. S. Goodmanand Louis Lloyd & Co.