The Globe-republican., 1897-05-13
fRRRiBLE RAlLxOAD ACcl-
DENT.
No Lives Lost, Bat Three Persons
Injared.

morning., met Wild 4 Irt&0tluI 3cclOenl
at 80 .. m. at Mile Greek, fifty miles
east Of La Junta. A flood from q cloud
burst had undermined the foundations
Of the bridge across the creek, and pre-
cipitated the train into the ditch. The
train was running at the rate Of 50 miles
an hour. An irrigating ditch had bro
ken and the heavy flow Of water inunda-
ted the track and surroundings. Engi-
neer John Madigan was in charge of the
engine. and made miraculous escape,
two of his ribs being broken. TIE fire.
man escaped without injury. Mr..
Madigan was thrown about 50 feet and
lodged against wire fence, his clothing
catching on the wire. He was in water
up to his neck.
Engineer John Husser, who passed the
wreck Sunday morning, informs Us that
the engine was a total wreck. Nothing
but the boiler remained, and the position
Of the engine was pointing to the south
west. The ''dead-head'' car behind the
engine was complete wreck. The mail
car behind this car piled upon the ''dead
head'' car, and the weight and force OF
the two wrecked cars demolished the en-
CINE. Excepting the hindmost car, a
sleeper, all the cars were turned over;
but none of the passengers was injured,
and each car contained many passengers.
A most remarkable escape was that of
three tramps who were riding on the
''blind baggage" Two of the tramps
were injured, one of them seriously, and
the third escaped without injury. Two
feet of hail covered the ground. The
rain and flood must have been immense,
Judging from the flow Of water. The
track lay upon an embankment. and the
water filled in the sides of the cause way
in immense volume and force. A rail
of iron ran through the ''dead-head" car,
and the means of demOlishment were
complete.
Engineer Madigan informed Engineer
Husser that he knew nothing of the inn
periled condition of the track, and the
first warning he had was when he struck
the water. He Immediately reversed the
engine. but something struck hin on the
back of the head, and he remembered
nothing after this until he was found
caught on the wire fence. The fireman S
escape was as miraculous as the engi-
neer's. The engine ran nearly the full
length of the train before being brought
to standstill by the great force Of the
conclusion with the water. Only small
portion of the track was carried away by
the flood.
! Henry Uhlan, the fireman, was found
on top of the baggage car, which was
telescoped on the engine. How he got
there, with only few bruises, is mys-
terry. He does not know himself. Uhl-
and's home is at Garden City.
Engineer Alexander. who was at the
scene of the wreck few hours after the
accident, says it was impossible to view
the impending danger at this point from
any great distance. Engineer Madigan
was passing over dry section just be-
fore reaching the creek, and came upon
the flooding waters without warning
Engineer Alexander says water spOuts
have been frequent on The creeks south
of the wreck, but he has no knowledge,
in long experience, of a water spout
north of the creek which caused this dis
aster.
A track was laid around the wreck,
and trains were run as usual Saturday
night. No delay was occasiOned in
travel, transfers having been made dur
ing Saturday.
The injured were taken to La Junta,
and Mr.. Madigan was placed in the hos
pital at that place. He resides at La
Junta, but was for number of years a
resident of Dodge City. He has many
friends here who congratulate him on
his narrow escape from death.
prANo REFRIGERATION and SEWING