The Helena independent., 1893-12-31
RBT BADLY INJURED.
Mixed Train Wrecked on the
Northern Pacific Road
II II Nesr Boulder.
Nen Buried Beneath the Debris
FOR Over Two Hours Before
Released.
nnn,s Cat 'riilsd With Snow and
sa.a ssss the Engine into
81 the Ditch.

e a peculiar accident occurred yesterday
n m l2.I5 >. m. four miles this side Of Boul-
Y der on ths Northern Pacific railroad In
E which three men were badly injured.
4 Train No. 10 was mixed one of three
4 freight cars and combination coach in
charge OF Conductor Adams. which runs
from Helena to Elkhorn. II had taken on
/ section crew at the Zsnith tunnel TO help
shs tsain throlgh the cuts, which were
i 6lled with snow. There Was . small snow
3 plow on the engine on which were Engineer
Il Dennis j. Delay. Fireman John RaRan and
! Torsman II. J. Hays. Of the section crew.
The train reached Boulder junction At
moon, after getting through the worst Of
tho SNOW. Conductor Adams and Express
Messenger Van Horn were sitting In the
combination coach when the train fifteen
minutss later reached small crt about
two fest deep = mile east Of Amazon.
Adams and Van Horn were just coneratu-
lattng themselves upon having passed over
The worst psrt,of their run whom the train
stepped with shock. Adams jumped
~ the roar platform to learn tho
cause and Van Horn remained in
shs oar and quieted the few passengers who
Adams ran TO the front. The arst thing
he saw was the engine In the ditch little
way beyond the cut The engine was lying
partly on its back in the snow and shs
wheels were whizzinR in the air with q
cloud of steam escaping from the Iocomo-
tive. He ran up to 10 but dropped in the
snow on the opposite side OF the track a.
ehs engine gave out . great throb. He
shouted to the section men who had fol-
lowed him to keep away, ss the engine was
GoinR 50 explode. The doms cap blew ont
md the men wens down In the ditch
whore the engine and tender were
partly buried in the deep snow. The men
dug with their shovels a. fast % they could
90 reach the engineer. fireman and section
foreman, Who were fastened beneath ono
corner Of Tho tender which stood right side
mp. but had lost its wheels and brake beam.
Van Horn. the express messenger. got
down under tho tender whe,e he found she
three men in . bunch with their legs tightly
woven together like strands of arops. Tho
men wore pinned down BY the sharp frame
Of the tender which had cut both Delays
legs of below the knees 90 that they hung
merely By the akin. Hays loft leg was
also ont Oh bslow the knee.
Tho steps OF the tender were
forcsd into Ragsn's stomach. his
left thigh was crushed and his back was in
jufed. All three wsrc conscious. Delay
and Hays uttered no sounds Of pain and
spoke to the mon who were trying to pot
them out They said thev felt no pain.
RaRan asked to have the tender steps
raised. They got him OUT In twenty min
use. Delay and Hays remained under the
tender for two hours and half while the
section Grew slowly raised the heavy tender
with their jack screws. Delay and Hays dis.
played splendid nerve, encouraging the res
cusrs by telling them how the slowly lifting
burden was gradually easing them. Hays
gave orders to his men about tho adjust
ment of the jack screws and how to extFi-
cate Dslsv and himself from beneath the
tender. just before Delay was taken ont
he asked the men TO hurry up, as he did not
think he could stand it much longer.
Condustor Adams hurried off to Boulder
Afsw minutes after the accident and re-
physician. u took an hour and q half to
dress the injuries Of the men. They were
taken to . Montana Central freight train in
charge OF Conductor Jack Low, Who will
lingly held his train at the requeat Of Con-
dact0r Adams and brought the injured men
could. He was reprimandsd for it by the
train dispatcher at Great Falls. Low WAS
commended for bis prompt action by the
Montana Central train master, who said
the conductor did the proper thing. Con-
ductor Adams feels very grateful to his
brother conductor for his timely assistance.
The injured men we're taken to St. Peters
hospital and looked after by DR.. Treacy
and made as comfortable a. possible. Late
last night they were resting easy. Delay,
who is 45 years old and married, lived near
she Northern Pacific depot. Ragan and
Hays are yoanR men and unmarried. Ra-
gan made his home in Helena. His mother
lives at Dearborn, Mich, and he has a sis-
ter in St. Paul. Hays lived at Boulder.
Ragan would not tell any Of his fellow rail-
fond men about his relatives and WAS very
anxious that they should not be informed
Of his accident.
In speaking of the wreck last night Con-
ductor Adams snid he had beon making the
Helena Elkhorn run for four yeare aud it
was the first accident that had happened to
his train. Tho little cut into which the
train ran was filled with sand and snow
tightly packed. The engine partly plowsd
through and over this until is reached fill
In the roadbed about four fest deep and
then oiled over. The three freight cats
and combination coach all went of the
track but were not injured and stood right
side ur. wreckina crew from Livingston
cleared the track last hight. In rolling
over the locomotive WAS stripped OF all its
outside gear excspt tho wheels.
Read the announcement of The Bee Hive in
another column. EargainS in every line.
Arrivals at the & rand Central.
II ,rtn