The Indianapolis journal., 1897-09-11

a tourist sleeper were burned, the rear
Pullman and a private car remaining on
the track" Mr.. Mannix is of the opinion
that at least forty are dead and burned.
Words fail to express the horror OF the
scenes he continued. THE crash came
unexpectedly. Suddenly all was darkness
and confusion. The air was filled with Gin
ders, splinters and heated gases. Then
flames darted up on either side. The scene
was simply indescribable. The flames were
in sense a godsend. for with their aid the
windows were located, even though passen-
gers had to jump through burning flames"
WORST POSSIBLE PLACE.
The accident occurred at the worst possi-
BILE point Two minutes more, running
time, and the wreck would have been avoid
ed, as the engineer could have seen the ap-
proach of the other train. The trains coll
ided on curve, or bend around a noun
tain, and there was no opportunity to even
slacken their speed. The surviving train
men say the trains were not running
fast, but the facts seem to be that both
the passenger and the freight were going at
full speed-about twenty miles an hour for
the passenger and ten or twelve miles for
the freight.
The Rio Grande Junction road on which
the wreck occurred, is a joint track op-
Grated by the Denver & Rio Grande and
the Colorado Midland companies. II is a
single, standard-gauge track. seventy-seven
miles long, running from New Castle to
Grande Junction, connecting the two roads
with the Rio Grande Western. West of the
Grand river, nearly all the way. are high
bluffs on one side of the track and the
stream on the other it being from fifteen to
afxyf holN Al, ,,Ir
The Rio Grande passenger train was due
at New Castle at 11:05 D. M, and should
have reached the point 1l6 miles beyond
New Castle where the accident occurred.
by lilo The train must. therefore, have
been at least an hour late, as the accident
occurred at 1915 a. m.
w. l.. Hawthorne, conductor of the pas
senger train. was in the smoking car at
the time Of the collision. and was thrown
about and severely bruised. He says that
the gas cylinder under one of the cars ex-
ploded, and everything seemed to be in
flames within short time. He says he
does not think more than two or three
passengers in the smoker were burned to
death, but will not say there were not more
than this number. The passengers in the
day coach Jared the worst. Out of twenty
nine people in that coach only six are
known to have escaped. All was confusion
and some may have escaped unnoticed
Some excitement was occasioned by two
Italians attempting to break open trunks
taken from the baggage car. Marshal
Pearson shot at one and thinks he hit him.
The other Nick Flick, was arrested and
taken to jail. The express car and it's con-
tents and the contents of the wrecked pas
senger train were destroyed by fire.
The case of Engineer Ostrander, of the
freight engine, is still in doubt. Charred
fragments Of limbs and bodies of a number
of persons have been taken out OF the
ruins, but it is not likely that any more
bodies will be positively identified, and it
seems certain that the number killed will
remain in doubt. The coroner found
shaving mug with the name ''W. Nichol-
SON. upon it, also a gold watch with the
name Of f. c. Potter engraved on the out
side.
Charles Leeper, one Of the killed, was a
prominent lumber and oil operator of Penn
sylvania His home was at Clarion, Pa r.
w. Shotts, of Leeper. Pa, who was in
jured, was Mr.. Leeper's partner.