The citizens of Ashtabula did all in their power. The disaster was no sooner known than many of them hastened to the rescue. Great exertions were made by those who were present, not only to save the living, but as far as possible in their separate action to extinguish the flames. The survivors were no sooner in a condition to be removed than persons were found who were ready to take the worst cases among them to their own homes. Some of the wounded who were left near the depot, especially those who were at the Eagle Hotel, were removed to the hotels up-town and comfortably provided for. Ladies called upon them wherever they were, and carried to them such delicacies as would tempt their appetites, and flowers to please the eye, and vied with each other in giving attention to the strangers, all of them showing how much their sympathies had been moved by this sad calamity. The mayor of the city was very energetic amid the excitement of the first few days. He not only met the responsibilities of his office with promptness, but he showed the kindness of his heart in that he took one of the wounded, a Mr. Tomlinson, to his house, and there cared for him until he died.

Mr. Strong, the station agent, also, though laboring under the oppressive sense of being misunderstood, did all that he could under the circumstances. Several of the firemen have borne testimony to the great exertions which he made during the night of the fire. The disadvantage under which he labored on that night was that he was not present at the depot at the time of the accident, but was at home, about half a mile away. The orders from the central office in reference to surgeons reached him through the telegraph office up-town, and his first duty was to obey them, but as he reached the scene of the fire the very sympathy which he felt, led him under the excitement of the moment, to give those answers which did so much damage and which were so much misunderstood.

The railroad authorities continued to furnish everything that might relieve the sufferings or restore the losses of those who survived. Physicians were procured and nurses provided. Every accommodation which hotels could furnish was paid for with a liberal hand. Those whose clothing had been destroyed or injured, were furnished with new suits throughout. The bills of physicians were paid. Return tickets were furnished and sleeping-car accommodations afforded to the wounded to their very homes. As friends came in search of the lost, they at times received free passes each way, and even escorts in some cases were furnished. Bereaved mothers and fathers and the widowed, were permitted to visit the place in search of relics at the company’s expense.

The event was a calamity to the road as well as to the passengers and their friends. The managers had prided themselves on the success and completeness of their system. The small number of accidents on the line had been noticed, but the sudden and terrible calamity eclipsed all this, and now the grief was great and widespread. The horror was overwhelming and the excitement high. It was impossible to know this without feeling it as a personal affliction, and no doubt the sense of it led to the death of the man who, of all others, was the most sensitive and sympathetic.

The attention of religious people to the spiritual wants of the survivors is worthy of mention. Clergymen called and conversed with them as opportunity was offered. The survivors were hardly able at first to give expression to their feelings, as the confusion of the place was so great. Several were crowded into the same room. The wounds inflicted on the head prevented connected thoughts. The pains and weakness, and the shock to the nervous system rendered the condition of nearly every one critical, for several days. It seemed uncertain whether they might not sink away under the terrible reaction and depression caused by the excitement and exposure. Wounds and bruises which no one supposed they had, were felt, and new ones discovered every day. But as one and another were removed to separate rooms, the conversations and prayers brought out the deeper feelings which had been hidden.

It was with great solemnity that one and another would recount the peculiar method of escape. More than one said that he thought “his time had come.” One said that he did not expect to live, and that he took his card in his hand that his name might be recognized if he should die.

The suddenness of death was full of solemnity to all. Even the most reckless and hardened were subdued. One young man in a spirit of bravado as he entered the room of a companion, uttered an oath; but the gentleman addressed arose in bed, lame and wounded as he was, and with solemn voice and determined manner, exclaimed: “I will not permit the name of God to be used in that way in my presence—especially at such a time as this.” The young man felt the rebuke, and turned around hid his face, and soon retired. A few days after, he came back and said that “he had not arisen from his bed a morning without thanking God for preserving his life,” and apologized for having spoken as he did. A gentleman and his wife who had escaped from the “Palatine,” were together at the “American House,” happy in being spared to each other, peaceful, loving and grateful; but they were especially delighted to receive a letter from their pastor in the distant East, and read, to those who called, sentences from it so glowing with that pastor’s affection and sympathy.

The ministration of women was one of the delightful things connected with the event. A betrothed had no sooner heard of the wreck and of the survival of her lover, than she hastened to his side and spent the days in caring for him and comforting him by her presence.

When the clergymen visited those different persons at their hotels, they were most respectful in their cordial response to prayer and words of counsel. Even those to whom the subject had not altogether been agreeable before, listened and seemed stirred to the heart with grateful emotions. The time and place for prayer was given, and such nearness to the Almighty God was never known before. It seemed as if the veil of eternity had opened, and the presence of God was felt. A loving wife, so gentle and so good, had come to her husband’s side. The affection and the care were great, but the gratitude to God was more, and the piety of both became suddenly deep. It was like the stream in the prophet’s vision. As the past of Christian life was reviewed so seriously, penitence sprang up within the heart, and then the gratitude to God, and then the consecration, and then the delightful swelling love and peace, and then the faith that seemed to hide itself in God’s own heart, and there was a mingling of the emotions as if the ocean of God’s presence was receiving them to its own deep love, and they were taking the first baptism of the Spirit.

The goodness of that precious wife, now had its triumph. It brought the husband’s heart and soul to the same deep faith and piety which she had possessed.

A gentleman, too, who had never made a profession of religion, but whose conversation showed much of acquaintance with the world, and habits of observation, was led to unburden his heart’s inmost thoughts to the clergymen who called in. He said: “I am not a professor of religion, sir. I am a worldly man—a man of business—but I have been brought up religiously, have had a praying father and mother, and it seems to me as if I had some faith, for as I was going down in that wreck, and felt that indescribable sensation of falling—(and here he dropped his hands beside the bed with such expressive look and gesture)—a passage of Scripture flashed into my mind, and has been running in it ever since. These are the words: “The foundation of the Lord standeth sure.” The clergyman turned to the Bible, and found the text, and was impressed with the wonderful appropriateness of it: “The Foundation of the Lord standeth sure and the Lord knoweth them that are his.”