Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-08-07
AMONG THE wAsHoUTs.
FOrty-Ton Engine Passss Over a Broken Tres tle A Miraculous Escapo from Death Particu- lars or the Perilous Ride From an Eyewitness


 the East, beyond Denling, have been de- tained some ten days by reason of exten- sive washouts on the Atchison road, and the delay has been very annoying and in some cases a costly luxury as well to our leading houses.
 About three o'clocz Tuesday after noon, Trainmaster Allen, in charge of this division, telephoned the central office that owing to fresh washouts between here and Pantano, the West-bound train, which had all of the delayed New York mail, would be turned about at Benson and sent back to Deniing, in order to convey tO-day's passengers and Ils westward, and that the mails would have to lay there until connection could be made to this point. The San Francisco train would be sent from here on time, as usual.
 The central office immediately tele- phOned all of their subscribers of this
 CONDITION OF AFFAIRS, Which in turn led to negotiations be- tween Col. Bean and Messrs Cullum. Strauss, Hamburg and others, represent ing the business portion of the commit nlty, for the transportation of the Tucson letter mail in some way westward from Benson. It was finally arranged that the route agent at Benson turn over the wlshed-for mail to the postmaster at that point, ana the same would be sent west to Pantano by special engine, thence on over the bad track by hand car, where 1t would be met by an engine sent east from Tucson to receive 1t. Postmaster Corbett and Mr Bowker volunteered to go along, the former to receive the mails and the latter to do any necessary tele- graphing to ensure complete success. These gentlemen, with engine 3l, big l0-wheeler, known as "Mogul' and weigh ing 40 tons, in charge of Engineer Rob inson and Bremen G. c. Thomas, left Tucson about o'clock. The rest rest is better told by the parties own state ments:
 MB. CORBETT'S STATEMENT.
 The run down the canyon and where the washOuts existed was made in about an hour. and We were near to meeting the pay-car, which was understood to be just this side of the first break and where We expected to stay until the hand-car came along. About Q mile and a half before reaching the pay-car as 1t after wards proved, the engine suddenly lurched over to the left Mr. Bowker and were sitting on the firemans seat, and we all noticed that the bank had given away on the outer side and the engineer, who was running about seven miles an hour, checked speed still fur ther Just then, and about one hundred yards from where the bank slid out, was trestle bridge spanning a gulch about eighty feet wide; and which, so far as we knew, was all right As the locomotive was fairly on the bridge we felt the crash of timbers and felt her settling, leaning heavily towards the river side. The fireman jumped the instant the crash occurred, and l also sprang from the fireman's box tO the other side and down the bank about as quick as l knew how. Fortunately there was a brush growing on the bank by which I caught on and kept from going gown. The fire man did not fare so well, for after rolling down the bank he found his wrist pain fully sprained and shook mp generally. l believed if l stayed with the engine there was no show
 NIX. BOWkEK STATES
 That as the engine plunged downward and careened over, they were running perhaps five miles an hour. "I stepped down on my feet, preferring to go down the gulch standing up, although l was on the leaning side. and with scarcely any show if she tipped of. After the crash of the timbers, and as soon as the engineer felt the wheels were on the rails, he pulled the throttle wide open, and the engine seemed to span the re- mainder of the bridge at one jump. After coming to a standstill, we climbed down and ran back afoot to see how COrbett and the fireman had fared. fo l. the latter made toward the bank the space between the tender and engine was almost closed up by the sag i'll the track He went through luckily, only iamuing bis leg enough to scrape the skin of, and the fireman soon came up, tickled to death to be alive It was i'm possible to get back over the gulch with the engine; in fact, the track was only HELD UP BY THE FISH PLATES
 For nearly 9 feet, the supports being were considerably bent. Just as we had k came along with the mails. MT. Cor bett took charge of them, and the en- gineer and myself went back with the hand car about two miles east, until We reached the pay car Ahead of the pay car was a construction train that was go- ing into PantanO, by which we sent a report of the situation to Colonel Bean. At the pay car We found Surveyor Gen T and walked back to the wrecked bridge with us. We lugged the mails across, about quarter of a mile, and by the time this was completed were ready to drop down in the sand from fatigue and sleep until another engine came after Us, which arrived about midnight, and we ence We care for.
 How the engine ever crossed the bridge seems like a miracle, for if we had gone down there did not seem to be a ghost of a show. It was good for tune to meet Mir. Wasson, and We were glad to avail of his kind assistance and experience.
 SURVEYOR GENERAL wAssoS
 Was very busy amid a labyrinth of business which had accumulated in his absence. He corroborated the state ments of Messrs. Bowker and Corbett, and stated that the trestlework over which the locomotive passed was unsup- ported for about the length of the en- zine and tender, the ties and stringers being held up by the spikes and rails. Ehe chasm over which the trestle was built is between thirty and forty feet deep, and a torrent of water was rushing through among the huge rocks. Below the trestle the water had undermined the track for several rods on the dugway approach, and as the engine passed over 1t gave way and the track hung unsup- ported over the water. The danger of that trip cannot be exaggerated. To look at it, one would doubt if a hand car could safely pass over 1t.
 Colonel Beams kindness in affordiug the facilities asked for is highly appreci- ated by our business men, as well as Mir. l Aliens kindness, and also the other gen. 1 tlemen concerned.
 It does not seem possible to get trains to or from the East before Monday.