Arizona republican., 1897-12-03

dry goods, spirits, etc. In boxes were two big oil tanks, the contents of
 which were scattered over the debris
 igniting from the engines fires and
 in an instant involving the mass of
 wreck in one solid flame from which
 there was no escape for Engineer James Watson on the head engine, Watson being impaled beneath his charge and left to his fate, though not instantly killed. His fireman, T. J. Ford, was caught, but made three desperate efforts and eXtricated him. self barely in time to escape the flames which attacked his companion whom he CFord) could hear gcoan as he was endeavoring to get out him
 self Ford made his way to the ca
 boose, which together with four cars,
 had stood upon the track, out of the thirty-one freight cars composing the train. Here he fell exhausted and
 was picked up and cared for, being
 finally conveyed to the Albuquerque
 hospital of the Santa Fe company.
 From Dr. Roberts, company surgeon
 at Williams, I learned that Ford re- ceived several severe scalp wounds, fracture of the right clavicle, fracture of left knee joint and fracture of
 
 ter in itself sufficient to lead up to final dissolution. Conductor Thomas
 J. O'Kelly, when last seen, was at a hand brake, on top of car and at the time he was flying in the air, his feet
 uppermost. Kelly's injuries were sev- eral severe scalp wounds. Since the accident he has been in a comatose state and lies in Winslow in critical condition. Of the injured, Ford was able to talk intelligently of the ac- cident with friends but I was unable | to see him before his departure for | Albuquerque. Frank Newton, engin | eer in No. 105 and his fireman, Bert Sperry, must have been killed ins, al nt- | ly They were so located in the gen. eral mix up that it was difficult to | find a trace of them up to this ! writing. Engineer Watson was taken out an unrecognizable mass of char 1 red flesh, the remains being gathered
 up in sheet and conveyed to his
 home in Winslow on the first east bound passenger, where they lie in charge of thel Masonic order, of which deceased was a member, preparatory
 to shipment to Brandon, Wis.,, on Thursday. During Tuesday afternoon 1 the skull, a small portion Of the | trunk and finger bone of Frank New ton were taken out of the mass of
 metal that formed part of engine No. 1 105. These were conveyed to Will
 Hams, subsequently, to Winslow. A
 brother of young Spery went to the
 wreck but could not find the slight est
 sign of the remains of his brother.
 He will make further investigations | being satisfied that he can recognize l Ror hxyh hHc rid afh hny evidence.
 The goods scattered about, above
 and below the track, were guarded by
 one officer during the night and morning, but hoI5os and other people i spirited away more or less goods. What was saved from the wreck was l done in the night in the face of the
 .estihing mass.
 The four loaded cars which re- 1 mained on the track were pulled west early in the morning
 1 After viewing the scene of the ac- cident your correspondent enouired a- I to the nearest way to Williams and
 was told to tal-e hard trail, which | if he had would have led to nobody | knows where. I concluded the | straight and narrow path" via the rail route was the safest, even though i the longest, seven very big miles. I | had already observed a number a. | the wreck, among whom were some | women. On the way in men, women and children were met and each asked l the distance to the scene of the dis | aster. Passing wagons were S1en heading for the same place. IA num- Der of trains alheading west caused me to step aside often, and on one oc- casion 1 noticed a tramp on the hog l chain, who smiled at me as the train 1 sped on.
 1 Enquiry in Williams led up to the i following: First thirty-tihree cars
 with thirty loads, one empty and ca | boose were dispatched west at :35 on | Monday afternoon. a double header
 pulling up Supai hill. On the head
 engine or No. 109. was Engineer
 James Watson and Fireman T. J. Ford; on engine No. 1O5 were Frank Newton and Fireman Bert Sperry. the
 latter but recently assigned out eft the
 round house at Winslow to mctive i service. The crew was Thomas J
 O'Kelly, conductor. and Brakeman Foster and Gillespie. Johnson, an ex-
 passenger brakeman, was in the ca
 bCose with f1agts to signal his train,
 which was to follow. A work train
 was close behind the i'll fated freight l Upon reaching the top of the Supai 1 hill, four miles out, a two per cent
 grade is met with, increasing to three
 per cent as progress down to McClell-
 an siding is made. The long and
 heavy train evid5mtly started down 1 hill all right but in a few moments
 Watson discovered that he could not | set the air. He called Ford to his
 assistance and the two men made des-
 perate efforts to get action i but without avail Meantime the
 train wals gaining velocity as the
 down grade was made and on past
 Supai tank they sped at what the
 pump man said was rate of 100 miles
 an hour. Meantime the crew enGeav-