42

THE ASHTABULA DISASTER.

CHAPTER VI.

THE ALARM IN TOWN.

•35f*IIE citizens of the village were sitting by

vy their fires, or at their tables, or in theirplaces of business. A sound was heard! It wasa sudden, startling sound. To those who wereliving near the depot, it was a succession ofsounds; first a crash, then a fall, then a distinctsound for every car. To those who were at adistance it was a single, but a prolonged ar.dterrible crash. To those who were within doorsit seemed like a sudden fall of a distant building,or the nearer slide of a heavy body of snow, butmuch more ominous. Some imagined theyheard a sound that followed, which they supposedto be the wailing of the wind. It startled theinhabitants in many houses, and was heard morethan a mile away. Presently the sharp alarm offire was heard, and the bells rang out their peal-ing notes.