The daily sentinel., 1899-12-05
DETAILS OF WRECK
Six Dead and A Number Injured
The Lamp of a Brakeman
Contained No Oil and
Was One Of the
Causes.

pioneer passed through the city several
days ago. He was on his way east hav-
ing just returned from Cape Nome. Mr..
Smith says the Cape Nome country is
far richer than Dawson City and will be
one of the greatest gold camps on earth.
Train No. Is left Denver at 9:15 last
night, and the narrow gauge srain fol
lowed half an hour later. .u e4
At Cotopaxi the broad gauge train had
been delayed, and the narrow gauge
tain passed on up the canon; and it was
not known by the train crew OF No.
that the other train was following 20
closely.
The cause OF the wreck, as sscertained
at the Office Of the General superintend-
ent, is that a mule had caught in the
brioge at Englise's siding and No. was
tagged by a section man.
A brakeman was sent back to flag No.
10; but it was dark, the curves in the
canon were short, and the roar of the
rushing waters drowned the sound of
the approaching train. The hagman
had a lantern. but the oil In it was low,
and the flame fiickered out with the first
puff Of wind after starting out No. Is
came rushing on, and the fagman bare
ly stepped from the track in time to save
himself from being run down. 1t is said
that he fell and broke his leg. @
1t is evident that the whole accident
WAS due to a strange combination of lit
tie mishaps, any Of which was not sufa-
cient to have brought about the fatal
"In the first place." said one OF the
passengers. mo. 10, which leaves Den
yer for Leadville at 9:15, was not making
good time. Tne steam was low and We
were losing on the schedule all the way
down. Near Ootopaxi 1t was decided by
the railroad people, rather than delay
two trains, that No. s, which ie narrow
gauge train leaving Denver at $780,
should go ahead of No. Is. Had all gone
we'll from this point there would have
been no accident.
"Then the second mishap occurred.
At English gulch. few miles the other
side OF Salida, the railroad crosses q lit
tie gully, which is spanned by a bridge.
A white mule had evidently attempted
to Cross this bridge and fell through the
ties. A number OF me1 coming to work
had noticed the animal and tagged No.
5 which was standing on the main track
to the east Of the bridge.
"Then the third mishap occurred
The brakeman Of No. who was sent
back to signal M. Is stumbled and fell
breaking his lantern, but hurried back
to the train to get red fuse. The de-
lay was fatal, Engineer Brown Of No.
Is saw the red light Of tho rear end OF
No. 8 and quickly put on the emergency
brakes. This OF course caused the train
to slow down, but it was impossible to-
check it's speed altogether, 20 that it
sleeper while going at speed Of probab-
ly eight or ten miles an hour.
"The narrow gauge sleeper was split
from one end to the other and believe
everyone in the odd numbered berths
was killed. When We were able TO get
to the scene the wreck Of the Pullman
was complete. A. II. johnson, presidest
OF tho Arkansas Midland railroad, with
his son was in one berth. We heard his
son calling for help. Father 10 Dead
said the young man, and guess my
back is broken
"Mr. Osgood was instantly killed. but
showed no visible mark Of injuries. II
R. Matthews was not instantly killed,
but died on his way to the hospital.
81 saw two men in the chair car near
the stove. One was instant tly killed. and
the other man, who had been sitting
near the stove, was terribly burned
about the lower extremities, one of his
legs being burned to a crisp. he was
alive and conscious, and it was . long
and difficult job to get him out from be-
meath the wreckage.
How any person escaped alive from
that sleeper cannot understand, and
yet several people were taken out alive.
They must have been forced out through
the roof" rHi
There were two people in tho wreck
Continued on third page)