CARE OF THE SURVIVORS.

57

were taken. On the other side the access to thewreck was only through the deep snow and downthe steep bank. A line of men was formed atlast. Up both sides of the track the woundedare helped, passed from hand to hand where theyare able to stand. Others were borne by thecitizens, and so by degrees, with pains andgroans and amid the wild excitement, the mostof them were removed.

The nearest house to the scene was a placecalled the “ Eagle Hotel,” kept by Patrick Mul-ligan. Into this, by some chance, eleven of thewounded were carried. It was a horrid place.A dirty bar-room. Rooms which had neverknown a carpet, but whose floors were soon cov-ered with snow and water; little bed-rooms justlarge enough to hold a bed and wash-stand,without carpets or stove; beds that consisted offilthy sheets and miserable straw ticks. It wasa house forbidding in every respect. Into thisplace the wounded were taken, bleeding andgashed, and laid two by two on the miserablepallets. There they lay in the clothes whichthey had on, covered with blood, cold and cheer-