The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-05-28
RUNAWAY TRAIN THE CAUSE.
heavy Cars RushinS Along at sixty
Miles IN Ho1r Strike . Passenger
Train-Engines. Coaches and De.
Pot building Heaped In Indescrth-
able Wreck-D. L. Thompxon. of
Dayton. Waah.. Among the Killed.
aad +. ID. Springer. Also Of Day.
ton, II Badly Hurt-W oman and
Three Children Miraculouxly Es.
cape Inharmed.

Statesman from Poeateiio says:
TIE most disastrous wreck in the his
tory of the Short I.lae occurred al Ameri-
can Falls al ::5e o'clock this morning. \
runaway freight crashed into the west
bound passenger Nine men were killed
outright, and eight others seriously in
i,.ed. Both engines were demolished.
the station buildings shattered TO pieces
and eighteen or twenty cars smashed. The
dead are:
G. W. SHIELDS, residence unknown.
.. l.. THOMPSON. Dayton. Wash.
JOHN r. COOPER. wellsvtlle. Utah.
J, STEFAN. Dillon, Mont.
Five unknown men.
Excepting Cooper, these men were beat
ing their way on the freight Most Of
them were sheep shearsrs. Cooper was
just about to take the passenger train 60
ing west. The seriously injured are:
G. W. Brennan, Pearl Idaho, leg brok-
en- and scalp wound.
F. y. Springer. Dayton, Wash, leg and
ribs broken.
John Began. Brigham. Utah. leg broken.
w. Connolly. Great Darlington, Mass :.
frightsully crushed about the lower part
OF the stomach.
John Peters. residence unknown. leg
broken.
George Moore. engineer of freight, COM
pound fracture OF ,ha leg which will nee
essis2te amputa.ion.
II. ]. Cosgrove, fireman OF the freight.
leg broken.
e. c. Hickman. engineer OF the passen-
ger. back injured.
All these were also trespassers on the
trains. excepting Brennan and the train
men. Brennan was on the passenger
train, and had stepped on the Platform
for n breath of fresh air. Connolly was
so seriously injured that the doctors did
not think he would live TO get to the hos
pital.
There Is no blame attached to anyone
for the wreck. The westbound passenger
had pulled into American Falls, and wGs
standing at its accustomed place waiting
track American Falls station Is situated
in depression. and there is quite an up
grade in both directions.
The first warning of any danger was
when Engineer Hickman heard the
freight whistle TO back up. He at once
reversed the engine. but the rails were
wet and grade heavy. and IL was an In
slant or two before the train responded
and In that moment the freight thunder
ed around the curve and across the bridge.
going at the rate OF sixty miles an hour.
The passenger train had hardly begun
TO move hack before the freight dashed
into II. Both engines were demolished
and the freight cars piled up one on the
other. jamming in the side and demolish-
ing one whole end of the station building.
Just as the engines met Engineer Heck
man jumped and came to the ground In
the midst OF flying timbers and debris.
John Cooper Frank Burke and Night
Telegraph Operator Charles Goodwin had
been talking on the platform an instant
before they saw the wild freight coming.
Cooper ran into the depot and was killed
instantly. Burke and Goodwin ran out
behind the building and escaped. Bren-
nan. who was on the platform at the
same time was buried in the wreck. The
station building was demolished TO the
partition between the depot and the pri-
vate rooms where Agent st. Clair and his
wife and three children were asleep. The
dead and mang'etf bodies of two OF the
killed were hurled against this partition.
beams were forced through II and over
the bed occupied by the children. but
miraculously not one of them was injured.
although the room was twisted ana snat-
tered almost to fragments.
The freight had run away on the hilf
west Of American Falls. IL is thought that
some of the sheep shearers or hobos had
cut of the air The air brakes would not
work. and on the hill the train was found
unmanageahIe. Conductor Cook and
Brakernen Davis and Westron were on top
setting the brakes, and Fireman Cosgrove
had climbed back to help set the brakes.
but they proved OF no avail. The train
shot down the grade and across the bridge
into the passenger train. Only the cool
nerve of Engipeer Hickman in remaining
AT his post and reversing his engine saved
the lives of dozens CT his passengers as
well as of the family OF the station agent
sleeping in the building,
Tie wreck presented scene OF inde-
serbia bic destruction. The cut in front of
the station and the spot where the sta
ton stood was piled high with broken
cars. demolished station and the shattered
engines Ties were torn MP and telegraph
poles and wires were down in the ruins.
The dead were recovered and the injured
cared for as rapidly as possible. and st il
O'Clock a special left the Falls with the
wounded for the hospital al Salt Lake.