The Butler weekly times., 1897-09-16
80 DIE BY WRECK AND FIRE.
Many Passengers Consumed
by Fire After the
Wreck.
NEARLY 200 INJURED.
Head End Collision Due TO Conductor
Carelessness Meet at
Full Speed.

Hf SPCS0'
Newc s.le, Col, Sept. 10-As q
res lit Of conductors refusal to
ob-y oc,i~G- u ce5wded Denver and
Rio q aude pas ,enger train a4d a
Colorado Nid'ard fast stock train,
both ga a. frl' spest il opposite
drecti Ia. sIr"Het together two
NILS IS IT tee at 1925 this
m
t'n@ IN or ,f Lea is now csii.
III 4 ii a. t:Ir'y. The exact number
uiay ns-vet be k ,psr, as the wreck
age "as Consumed by fire before any
Of the IN 2rlsone victims could be
rescued After twelve hours inces-
s.rt work by the wrecking crews in
clesr;ng away the debris and rescu
ing the bodies of those who perish
ed, it is yet impossible to secure
mora than an estimate Of TIE less of
life, and even those killed have not
been identified Many OF the unfor-
tunates never will be known, aud it
is possible that the number killed
Will always be in doubt. From the
best information obtaiuable now
fully thirty persons ara believed to
have perished, while Is are known TO
have been badly injured.
The wreck Is by far the worst, not
only in the history OF Colorado, but
in all the annals of Western railro oad-
ing. When the disaster occurred
the concussion was SO great that
both engines, baggage and express
cars, smoker and day coaches and
two stock cars vera totally demol
ished and the track for many rods in
both directions was tom up. The
fire started from the explosion OF a
Pintsch gas tank on one of the pas
seneer coaches.
The generally accepted theory as
to the cause of the wreck is that
Conductor Burbank of the Midland d
special, anticipating the time of the
passenger, undertook to ''steal a sta
ton" and beat the passenger into
Newcastle. Burbank escaped unin
jured, and upon orders from Coro
ner Clark has been placed under
arrest by the sheriff.
Mr.. and Mrs E. II. Strouse, who
live one quarter of a mile from the
scene of the accident, 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 New
castle.
Some excitement was occasloned
, 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.
The Rio Grande passenger train
/ was due at Newcastle at 11:05
o'clock. and should have reached the
point one and one half miles beyond
Newcastle, where the accident O.,
Cured, by lilo.
Frank p. Maunix, a newspaper
, man of Victor, Col. who was in the
smoker and escaped with some pain
full bruises and burns, said today
"Words fail to express the horror Of
the scene. The crash came unex
pectedly. Suddenly all was dark
3 ness, confusion. The air was filled
with c,nders. splinters ard heated
gases. Then flames darted up I
either eide. The scene was simply
indescribable The flames were in
Y a sense Godsend, for with thei,
: aid the windows were located, even
= though passengers had to jump
through the flames"
The accident occurred at the
worst possible point. Two minutes
! running time each way would have
averted the wreck, as each engineer
could have seen the appeoach of the
other train. The trains collided or
curve or bend round mountain
| and there was no opportunity tc
avoid the wreck, or even to Stacker
the speed
, A Frog Slept 10000 Years.