The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-10-17
down WENT THE IREsTLE
A Freight Train Drops Over Eighty
Feet on, the Boulder
Branch.
Train Hands and Four Stow
aways Have q Miraculous
Escape.
Only One Limb was Broken, Bus All
Were BruiseA-Incidents Of the
Accident.

Only One Limb Was Broken Bu7 All
Were Observation-Disclosures Of the
Accident.
Seven men riding on freight train had
. most miraculous escape from death yes
terday afternoon. few minutes after
four O'Clock the train consisting Of an en-
CINE, four cars loaded with ore and . ca
boose crashed through trestle falling dis
tance of eighty feet. It happened ON the
Boulder branch Of tho Northern Pacific,
near . place called Zenith. The trestls il
100 feet long with twelve degree curve
and IL the highest and longest on the road.
While every man on the train was injured.
none were hurt seriously. Their names are;
Conductor Finnie, head out and body
bruised. Engineer Mayhem, bruised about
hip and chest. Louis Sundfords, fireman,
right arm broken. The others were, D. w.
Rowe, A. J. Withrow, James Jameson,
and Richard Odolf. None of these
received serious injuries. All are
at the hospital except the brakeman, and
will be out in few days. They were badly
shaken up. Those outside Of tho train
hands were stealing ride in the ore cars.
The cause Of the accident can be traced
to nothing else than the effectiveness of
the trestle. Engineer Mayhem says he was
going over the trestle ct speed Of eight
miles an hour. The crash came very sud
denly, the first thing he realized being that
the engine was going down. 1.-THE thing
happened too suddenly for action; there
was nothing to do; to jump at such dis
sance would be fatal and Rrasped hrm
hold Of something, and in less time than it
takes to tell it We were at tho bottom. The
entire train went down at once, falling as
fat as though it was lowered very carefully.
The wheels found footing amid the mass
ss sRs snens did
ing 9 IRE. The whistle blew continually
until all the steam was exhausted. All the
men crawled out az fast as they could and
every man was more or less crippled. We
knew the Helena mixed train for Boulder
was soon due and this train was tagged. It
was rather queer sensation to fall that
distance with train of cars and the only
way can account for not being killed 10
that my time had not como"
Louis 6undfords, the fireman, says he
tho tender, holding on to the side Of the
tender. The whole trestle seemed to give
way at once and it was not over second
before the train was at the bottom. The fire.
man says he was Knocked senseless. When he
came to himself he was pinned fast by one
he got loose he did not know. His right
arm was broken and tho pain was 90 in
tense that he did not know much Of any
thing. He only knew that when he pulled
himself together he was lying on the ground,
wet al the way through. When tho passen-
ger train arrived, some one gave him stiff
drink Of whisky to drive the chill of and
help him stand the pain.
IL w. RoWe says he and two other men
were engaged by an employment agent in
they arrived there they could find nothing
to do and started to come back to Helena.
At the station they saw q train of orc cars
ready to start and went to ind
the conductor TO see il he. would let
waiting to get chance to speak to the con-
ductor another man asked the same priyi-
lege. The conductor refused positively to
!et anyone ride on tho train. From this
they knew 1t was no use to ask the same
TO the middle car and jumped in. When
the accident occurred Rowe says he felt
things giving away, and the next thing he
knew the car he and his companions were
in brought up at the bottom Of the Rulch
Nth q crash. Rowe vas sitting down on
bruising his hip and Other parts Of his body.
Rowe says he did not know his two travel
ing companions. He had only recently
come from North Dakota, and met them at
the employment agency.
The passenger train from Helena for
Boulder was stopped at the scene of the ac-
cident, and there being no way to pass, it
had to retern. It brought the injured men
along. On the passenger train was q gem
tleman who had in his Rripsack three bot
tiles Of fine whiskey. Learning the condi-
ton Of the injured and their need Of stimu-
lants, the three bottles were turned over to
the conductor Of the passenger train and
dealt ont to the mon. Ono Of them. who
was apparently suffering moro than the
others, was handed full bottle. When he
got through with it there was not enough
left to cover the bottom Of the bottle. The
owner Of the wiskey turned the empty bot
tie upside down, gazed at the few drops
that ooxed out and remarked sadly: "What's
. quart OF whiskey among ono injured
man."
A curious coincidence OF the accident was
that seven mon were hurt and one OF those,
Richard Odolf, was one Of seven who had
just struck ON the Montana Central for an
increase Of pay from &2.8 to $3.50 day.
They had been loading tiles near Bernioe.
Odolf was trying to work his way back to
Helena on the train when the accident oc-
CURED.
Smoke .As.es Booth.