The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-07-11

and terror that arose. l was wedged
in by some one, my friend prob
ably, but he was 8 bent
and twisted and doubled up under
the seat and about my benumbed legs
that | could not tell what it was except
that it was a human being living at one
time. but dying now, as | could catch
the gasping breath and the death knell
coming from the poor fellows throat. 1t
was terrible, but a merciful release, a
painless death, to what some of the
others had to suffer. Many were caught
and pinioned to their seats or squeezed
against the walls of the car or against
the engine that had dashed into and
through the cars. Wherever they were
there they stood or lay, pleading in vain
for help and seeing every moment the
warm flames creeping closer and closer.
winding about their limbs and licking
their faces and n by one their cries
were stillcd as they gave up the fight
for life. My escape was simply
a miracle and came about through no
effort of my own. | was forced or
and after hard work extricated my legs
from a mass of wreck and human forms
and found myself standing in the outside
All Ddtly Iult. pul u'lNCs
There was no delay in ready assistance,
bat all efforts were fruitless until the ar
rival of the city fire department. The
flames could not be stayed on their terri
BILE march of death until water had been
poured in the wreck for hours, it seemed,
to the agonized onlookers. but in reality
all that human power could do was done
then. At daylight a subdued and fear
full crowd of several hundred stood at
the station gazing with fearful eyes upon
the sickening sight, while all
about them was the ~smothering
odor or burning human flesh arising
from a mass of blackened, heaped up
w~reckage. Now and then ones eyes
glanced upon little shreds Of clothing or
scared flesh and bones, of little piles of
what might have once been human be-
ings. each and all blackened and roasted
to a herrible degree. Probably the most
fearful sight, if any n could be worse
than another. was the appearance Of the
front of the boiler of the freight engine.
In the first shock the front end of the
boiler was broken in, and as the engine
ploughed its way through the mass Of
humanity, four Door fellows were ac-
tually scooped up in the cauldron,
wounded and helpless, and there they
lay slowly roasting to death before the
very eyes of the spectators who
would, but could not, aid
them. These were afterwards tished
out 10y pcacemeal with the tireman's
hooks and mercifully covered with sheet
ing.
Aid for the wounded was soon on
hand; there was nothing but to hide
them from sight as soon as possible. The
..l.a. E+,, hr;ll;A. yr,, tr,,,-
formed into a morgue, and as masses of
hastily removed there and either
stretched at full length or huddlcd in
little heaps.
Enormous crowds had gathered about
the morgue, but the doors were closed.
Some mOrbidly curious crept up to the
windows only to fall back aghast at
what had been seen. The nineteen re-
mains Of what had been human were
covered with sheeting, through which
bare, blackened limbs now and then
protruded, while blood soaked through
the white cloth and puddlcd on the floor.
Coroner Sherman with his assistants
stepped from one to another search
ing fot letters or some means
) of identifying n mass from the
other, This was difficult. In half a
/, dozen instances the entire head had
f: been burned off leaving only the black
ened trunk. grim and ghastly, dcfying all
efforts OF identification. Their names
: and other data could only be secured
from their surviving friends: no one
: could tell one trunk from another. All
! had become alike in their common fate.
Among the entire nineteen beheaded,
! dismembered bodies, but two had re-
:, tanned anything resembling the features
of a human beng. 1t was here in the
= morgue that the most touching and aw-
!, full discovery Of the night was made,
| The coroner tenderly removed from one
D form the clottcd sheet to find beneath il
/. the unmistakable form Of a woman and
Q worst of all. clasped in her arms as if to
4 shield its young limbs from the
: flames that had evidently con.
sumed both, was an infant
\ child. - The woman had shielded the
( babe until the last and even in death
\ her blackcned arms were unwilling to bt
| separated from their charge. The coroner
s had been so busy all day gathering
0 means of identification that nothing
t could be done toward the inquest but &
V searching examination is now being
made of the survivors.
II SIc a " iIup ihiIi'Sp'o ui h'i' NV
V one of the train hands met with injury
NJ. II. Young of Meadvillc, Pa, con.
: ductor of the freight train, in giving hi
e version of the affair said:
s 1--WE were running at a moderate rat'
of speed but the grade was steep and w
z had a heavy train. The t1agman was no
IS far enough and we could not see him II
G time to stop. All the trainmen got of
in time to escape injury. The two sleep
ers were the "Warsaw' and ".Asuoli.' thu
e hind car was "a special in which
was a party of glass blowers
e This car and the Warsaw nextoto it wer'
s completely destroyed The wreck vii
It be an expensive one from "a %tinancia
It standpoint, as the loss. will foot up in thu
d neighborhood Of 100000.
BY 8 o'clock the wrecking crew hat
O the debris nearly cleared and the wound
ed were being cared for. Train-masteI
If Corbin of Kent was also on the scene
o Supt. Matson would give no opinion no
e make any statement in regard to tn
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