Mexico weekly ledger., 1897-09-16
Burned in a Wreck.
TWENTY-FIVE PEOPLE PERISH IN
A HEAD END COLLISION
BETWEEN TRAINS
IN COLORADO.
The Bodies Incinerated-All But the
Two Rear Cars of the Passenger
Tram Entirely Destroyed
by the Demon Fire.
Burned in a Wreck.

NEWCASTLE, Colo, Sept. 10.--At
least twenty-five persons were killed
and most OF the bodies burned, and
twenty-five more were injured In a
collision shortly after midnight, due
to the mistake OF the conductor OF an
extra stock train on the Colorado
Midland railroad in reading the wrong
| column of figures. The w%estbound
passenger and express tram of the
Denver and Rio Grand railroad was
~telescoped and all of the passenger
cars except the rear lPuilmans were
burned.
A number of passengers who were
not killed outright, but who were
pinned in the wreckage and could not
be extricated, persisted In the flames.
There were about 200 passengers,
fully one-fourth of whom were either
killed or injured.
TRAINS MEET AT THE WORST POINT.
The accident occurred at the worst
possible point. Two minutes running
time each way would have avoided
the wreck, az each engineer could
have een the approach of the other
train. The trains collided on a curve
or bend around q mountain, and there
was no opportunity to even slacken
the speed. The surviving trainmen
say the trains were not running fast,
but the facts seem to be that the pas
senger was going about twenty miles
an hour and the freight ten or twelve.
The freight engine went through the
passenger engine up to the bell. On
the passenger train were about 200
passengers, about evenly divided
between the coaches, In the smoker
next to the express a were about
thirty.
The crash was followed by an explo-
sion. Flames shot up from the ruins
and in a short time the wreckage was
a burning mass. The groans and
cries of the imprisoned passengers
was heart-rending. Those Of the
more fortunate who escaped injury
set to work rescuing those who were
caught In the wreck.
PASSENGER COACH PEOPLE MISSING.
The passengers in the day coach
Jared the worst. Out of Twenty-Five
people in that coach only six are
known to have escaped, but all was
confusion and some may have escaped
unnoticed.
As in all similar accidents, the
engine men r first to lose their lives.
Ostrander, engineer of the stock train,
went down with his hand on the lever.
Robert Holland, fireman on the pas
senger, was 80 badly hurt that he died
at 5 O'Clock. Gordon, engineer on the
passenger, may live, although he is
badly injured and at first was thought
to be fatally hurt. He suffered great
pain from q rupture in addition to his
other injuries. He was thrown over
a barbed wire fence by the force of
the collision. Hines, the Midland
fireman, was SO badly hurt that the
doctors who examined him at 5 O'Clock
said that he could not recover. He
was shockingly burned but bore his
pain bravely, James keenan,, the
postal clerk, will not live till noon,
the doctors say. He is terribly
| scalded.
| W. L. Hawthorn, the conductor of
the passenger train, was in the smok-
ing car at the time of the collision and
was severely bruised. He says that
the gas cylinder under one of the
wrecked cars exploded and everything
appeared TO be in flames within a
short time.
MI. Mannix was of the opinion that
at least forty were dead and burned.
One report as to the cause of the
accident is that Conductor Burbank,
of the Colorado Midland stock train,
made a mistake of 10 minutes in figur-
ing on the time when the Rio Grande
passenger train passed Newcastle,
and, therefore, he was chiefly respon-
sible for the disaster. Engineer
Ostrander, of the stock train, could
either confirm or deny this report if
he were alive, but it is believed he is
dead under the debris.
ONLY N OF A FAMILY ALIVE.
In addition to the trainmen killed or
injured, 1t is known that Alexander
Hartman, of Hersher, ILL.,, was fatally
hurt. His wife and two children were
the first of the dead to be removed
from the wreckage.
Miss Pearl Cornell, of Oregon, who
was returning from a visit to friends
East, vas badly hurt. She was in a
collision at Glen Falls, Idaho, while on
her way East.
T. F. Daniels, the passenger brake
man who was hurt, came back to this
| place and notified the railroad officials
| of the accident. A special was sent
out with physicians and nurses as
soon al possible. At $40 o'clock an
! other special relief train was sent
from Glenwood Springs, where news
of the wreck caused great excitement.
Neighboring ranch houses were used
for the reception of the injured, and
all did what they could to help. Su-
perintendent Choate and officers of
the Rio Grande have done everything
possible to relieve the suffering.
The Rio Grande Junction road, on
which the wreck occurred, is a joint
track operated by the Denver & Rio
Grande and Colorado Midland COM
panies. 1t Is q single standard guage
track n miles long, running from
Newcastle 70 Grand Junction, con-
Meeting the two roads with the Rio
Grande Western. The road follows the
Grand River and nearly all the way |
there are high bluffs on one side of
the track and the stream on the other.
The Rio Grande passenger train was
due at Newcastle at 11:05 O'Clock and
should have reached the point m and
one-half miles beyond Newcastle,
where the accident occurred, by 11:10.
CONDUCTOR BURBANK ARRESTED.
Conductor Burbank of the stock
train has been arrested.