The Springfield herald., 1897-12-24
RODE ON A WILD CAR.
THE RESULT WAS A COLLISION
Seventy Track Me. ON the Rio 0rande
Have Narrow Escape From Death
Near Sedalla.

Denver, Dec. 22.-At G:3O o'clock last
evening special south-bound freight
train on the Denver & Rio Grande road
plunged into n runaway passenger
coach two miles this side of Castle
Rock, Colorado. injuring thirty-six OF
the seventy occupants of the car. The
car was almost completely wrecked,
the engine of the special freight
ploughing Its way fully fifteen feet
into It, OF the thirty-six men injured,
none We're fatally hurt. About half n
dozen sustained broken bones. the re-
mainder escaping with bruises and lac
Grated flesh.
The occupants OF the car We're the
steel gang that has been located Mt
Castle Rock for the past week relay
ing rails and making general repairs
along the line. The car they We're
seated in was n chair car used by the
road to transport the men from place
to place.
The engine of the special freight
which ran into the car was not badly
Injured. The engineer and fireman saw
the car coming down the grade to-
wards them and jumped in time to es-
cape being injured when the collision
occurred. The head brakeman Of the
freight was unable to get of quick
enough. and sustained few bruises.
The most seriously injured men were
taken to Sedalia. where half dozen
physicians set their fractured bones
and bound up their cuts and lacera-
tions. Those that We're not badly in
jured caught the north-bound train No.
4 and went to their respective homes
in the small towns between here and
Castle Rock.
The accident WAS peculiar one.
That half the men in the car We're not
killed outright was one of those mirac-
ulous escapes that often falls to the
lot of railroad man. When the crash
came the runaway car was going not
less than thirty-five miles an hour
down n gentle incline. increasing its
momentum the farther it went. The
special freight was not going very fast.
as 1t was climbing the grade.
Before jumping. the engineer shut OFF
steam and applied the air and steam
brakes. The double check brought the
train almost to stop before the car
came bounding down upon it. Had
this train been going as rapidly as the
car was. not half the men in the car
would have survived the collision.
About 6:30 o'clock the steel gang
boarded the chair car, waiting for the
freight train. which was to take it to
Sedalla. to be made up. The car was
switched back and forth several times
in the yards opposite to the depot
Presently the car started towards Don
YER, and the men on the inside thought
the train had been made up and that
they We're on their way to Sedalia. Con-
sequently they paid no attention to the
rapid way the car ran. The truth was
that the coupling pin connecting it
with the car ahead OF IT snapped as
the freight train gave a sudden jerk
forward. and started to roll down the
track, as there is n gentle grade for
many miles north of Castle Rock.
The men, all unconscious of their per
ilous condition. chatted and laughed
with each other. not realizing that each
minute carried them nearer and near
er to special train coming in the OPP
posite direction on the same track. 1t
was not until after the crash came.
and those that escaped injury crawled
out of the wrecked car and sized up
the situation. that they realized the
true condition of affairs.
Every chair in the passenger car had
been wrenched from its fastenings to
the floor, and had fallen over in n con
fused mass. The wreck of the interior
Of the car was complete. The special
freight had completely shattered the
car. throwing splinters in all directions.
covering the confused mass of groan-
chairs.