Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-09-11

Details Of the Newcastle Wreck
and Holocaust.
LOSS OF LIFE STILL UNKNOWN
-------------.
Thirty Adults Cremated in One Car, Besides
Children.
LOSS OF LIFE STILL UNKNOWN
CONDUCTORS ESTIMATE IS EIGHT
\ Catastropo Rarely Equalled In Pc
culiar Uorrors--Conductor
Arrested.

Newcastle, Colo. Sept. 1O.-rhe case
of Engineer Ostrander of the freight
engine Is sim In doubt. Charred frag-
ments of the limbs and bodies OF a
number of person have been taken
out of the ruins, but II is not like
~ that any more bodies will be posi-
lively identified. and 1t seems certain
that the number killed will laways re-
main in doubt.
The coroner found shaving mug
with the name wv. Nicholson" upon
it; also gold watch with the name
of +. c. Potter engraved on the out
side.
As soon as the news of the wreck
reached Glenwood relief train waa
sent from that place, and the more
seriously wounded were sent back to
the Rio Grande company's shop ut Sa-
Ida. General superintendent Sample
Of the Denver & Rio Grande happened
to be in the vicinity of the disaster and
soon reached the scene, taking charge
Of the work of removing the bodies.
sICKENING SIGHTS.
Ten bodies We're founcEn the ruins of
one car and four in another. The
charred remains of two women, appar-
emily clasped in each others arms,
were found. Their heads and lower
limbs were burned OF. In the dress
bosom of each was found lady's gold
watch, upon one of which was in
scribed. From Mother to Mamie"
kilograms from all part of the coun-
try inquiring for friends and relatives
are pouring in constantly.
Frank p. Mannix newspaper man
of Victor, Colo, who was in the
smoker and escaped with painful burns
and bruises, says this afternoon:
Words cannot express the horror of
these scense. The crash came uneNpect-
edly. Suddenly all was darkness. The
air was filled with clnders, splinters
and heated gases. Then the flames
darted up on either side. The scene
was simply Understandable. Tie flames
We're, in sense God-send, for with
their aid the windows were located,
even though passengers had to juml
through the FIRE"
Newcastle, Colo. Sept. 1O.-The first
man to arrive at the wreck was Il. II.
Strouse. who resides ON his ranch.
about 800 feet from the track. Mr..
StrOuse was awakened by the collision.
He hurried to the scene and assisted
in rescuing the passengers in the
smoker and day coach. When he
reached the wreck within n few min
utess after the collision, four of the
cars We're all ablaze and the heat was
50 terrific that 1t was impossible for
any one to get near them. In very
few minutes, he thinks, at least fifteen
or twenty We're cremated.
j. g. Young. one of the survivors
says he was in the smoker at the rear
end when the collision took place
The front end of the car and part OF
the roof was thrown on him, pinning
him down in his seat, and he succeed
ed IN freeing himself and escaping
through window with few slight
cuts on his head. There We're from
twenty-t three to twenty-five in the
smoker and he does not think more
than eight got out alive, all the re-
mainder being cremated. As to the
day coach Immediately behind the
smoker, he thinks there We're thirty
to thirty-five in it, and to the best OF
his knowledge only two succeeded in
making their escape, he says. All who
We're in the chair car got out safely
before the fire reached 1t, as did also
those in the two Pullmans.
The coroner. DIR. Clark, says that
only ten bodies have been taken from
Holland, Hines and Gordon, make
fourteen in all, but there is no doubt
these are less than half of those who
persisted. The most conservative es-
innate places the list of dead at
twenty-five TO thirty-nve.
The remains of what are supposed To
be ten persons are confined in two
Baskets. There is nothing 10 identify
them and II is expected they win be
buried here tomorrow or Sunday.
Denver, Colo, Sept, 10,--A special to
he Times from Glenwood Springs.
Colo. regarding the wreck near New
castle, says: AS soon as the collision
occurred the Pintsch gas used for
lighting passenger trains exploded and
both rains We're soon mass of flames.
II is thought that all the passengers in
the smoker and day coach persisted.
The Pullman car and n Chicago
Burlington Il Quincy special were UNI
coupled and saved with all passengers.
The rapidity with which the flames
spread after the gas ignited made 1t
impossible for the few passengers who
were saved to render any assistance
those in the day coach, many of whom
were only stunned and slightly injured
and might easily have been saved only
for the rapid spreading of the flames.
one man was screaming for help but
those who rushed TO his assistance
found him pinned fast to the debris.
and in spite of their efforts to rescue
him, he persisted before their eyes.
The theory as to the cause OF the
wreck seems to he that Conductor Bur-
banks of the Midland special, antici-
pating the time of the passenger. TN
dertook to steal n station" and beat
the passenger into Newcastle. Bur-
bank escaped uninjured, and upon or
ders from Coroner Clark has been
placed under arrest by the sheriff
Coroner Clark and detectives are col
lectinE all evidence possible.
Mr., and Mrs. u. II. Srouse, who live
"A quarter of Il mile from the scene OF
the accident, and upon whose ranch IL
occurred, report that when the two
trains met the shock was SO great as
To literally hurl them out of bed Some
say the noise was heard and the shock
felt in Newcastle.
1t ia thought that between 20 and 30
nre dead. The bodies that have been
found are ten in one car and four In
mother The trunks OF two ladies We're
found linked together In each other'g
arms. heads and lower extremities en-
tirely gone, but each had u gold watch
I'm fair condition, These people win
eventually be Identified by their
watches, and these are the only bodies
which can possibly be Identified.