38

THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.

became frantic with excitement, and rushed toand fro, calling for help, and it is said was keptwith difficulty from throwing himself into thetire.

The flames kept arising. They spread far andwide. They ascended high and still higher.They filled the valley. A cloud of smokeascended, too. It was black and dense andpitchy. It came from the paint and varnish,and the materials of that gilded wreck. It wasstifling to the breath and deadly to all whobreathed it. It enveloped the ruins. It evendarkened the sky and rolled a thick cloud throughthe awful gorge. The worst of fears began nowto be realized. Horror seized the living, for deathnow claimed its victims, and man was powerlessto deliver. Within the awful canopy the flamesshot up, and from among them came forth groansand shrieks and cries of agony and despair.

Then followed the most heart-rending scenesand incidents. Those who were without, butwho had friends still left in the burning cars,shouted loud and begged that the fire might beput out; they even sought to go back to get their