The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1897-09-17

state of Colorado The Number Of the
Dead Not known After Twelve Hour
Work of Recovering bodies from the
smouidering Debris Many OF the VIC
tims Burned Alive.
NEW CASTLE. Col. Sept. i0-The
worst wreck in the history of the state
Of Colorado occurred at 1898 yesterday
morning on the joint track of the Den
yer Il Rio Grande railway and the Col
orado Midland railway, IA miles west
OF here. After II hours incessant
work by the wrecking crews in clear
ing away the debris and rescuing the
bodies OF those who persisted, il Is yet
impossible To secure more than an esti-
mate of loss of life. aud not even those
known to be dead nav been Identified.
Many Of the unfortunates never viii
be known. and it is possible that the
number killed will always be in doubt
From the best information obtainabie
now fully 80 persons are believed TO
have persisted. while is5 were taken
out OF the wreck suffering from seri-
Gus injuries
The wreck was caused by n head-end
collision between "A Denver X RIO
Grande passenger train running At IA
rate of 40 miles an hour aud a special
Colorado Midland stock train running
ut a speed of probably 80 miles So
terrific was the conclusion that both
engines, baggage and express cars
noker and day coaches and two stock
cars were totally demolished aud the
track torn up for rods in both direc-
ions
To add to the horror of the scene the
wreckage at once caught fire from an
explosion of a Pintsch gas tan on the
passenger train, and burned SO rapidly
that many passengers. pinned beneath
the debris. were burned to death be-
fore help could reach them.
The most generally accepted theory
as To the cause of the wreck seems to be
that Conductor Burbank. of the Mid
land special, anticipating the time OF
the passenger train, undertook to
steal a station" and bea h passen-
ger into New Castle. Burbank es
capped uninjured and. upon orders from
Coroner Clark. has been placed under
arrest by the sheriff.
Midland Engineer Ostrander is miss
ing. and a thorough search all abou'
his engine fails to reveal any vestig,
of his remains. 1t is thought tina
when he saw the threatened danger hs
jumped from his engine and, realizing
his negligence, tool 10 the hills
MIR. and Mrs h. III. strouse, who live
a quarter of a mile from the scene o
the accident, report that when thu
trains met the shock was SO great a
to literally hurl them out of bed
Some say hat the noise was heard al
the shock felt in New Castle.
AS soon as the news cache Glen
wood a relief train was sent from thu
place and this afternoon the more seri
ously wounded were sent to the Den
yer & Rio Grande Co.'S hospital at Sa
Ida
General Superintendent Sample. o
the Denver 4 Rio Grande, happened I
| be in the vicinity Of TIE disaster. an
soon reached the scene. taking charg'
J of the work of removing the bodies
I Ten bodies were found in the ruins @
: one car md four in another. Tn
charred remains Of two women, appai
emily clasped in each others arms
I were found. Their heads and lowe
J. limbs were burned of. In the dres
c bosom Of each was found a lady's gol
watch, upon one of which was in
c scribed From Mother to Mamie"
kilograms from all parts of tn
e country inquiring for friends and RI
G l~atives are pouring in constantly.
S Frank 7. Mannix. a newspaper ma
d of Victor. Col, who was in the smoke
n and escaped with some painful bruiss
4 and burns, said to-day:
Words fail to express the horror {
Is the scenes. The crash came unel
pectedly. Suddenly all was darkness
e and confusion. The air was filed wit
3. cinders, splinters and heated case
II Then flames darted up on either sid
l. The scene Of horror was simply il
le describable.
..The flames were in a sense a go
send. for with their aid the window
= were located. even though the passel
S gers had to jump through burnir
a flames"