The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-12-19
WRECK NEAR ESSEN
IT WAS AN EXTREMELY LUCKY
ONE FOR PASSENGERS.
RAILROAD COMPANY RETICENT
Hard Work to Get the News From
Oficials-Description of Accident
and Also One at Nyack.
Especial to Inter Mcunt1ln.)

Kalspell, Dec. 19.--The wreck on the
Great Northern. near Essex station. 20
miles west of here, early Sunday morn
ing. will be long remembered as one
of the luckest for both passengers and
company in the history of Western
failroading.
The wrecked train was the west
bound flyer. 1t was about five hours
late and was coming down the mountain
at speed of about rs miles an hour.
For the past month a gang of men have
been engaged in laying heavier rails on
the mountain grade. On Saturday night
they had reached the point where the
wreck occurred.
Whether it was the negligence of the
steel gang in not joining or fastening
the rails properly at this point or some
other reason, will probably never be
known for certain, but certain ii is that
when the train with its load of human
freight reached the junction Of the ne"
steel with the old, something happened.
The engine, baggage, express and
smoking cars passed over the spot safe
~, but the tourist sleeper, day coach,
diner and buffet cars were thrown from
the track and rolled over and over to
the bottom of 25-foot embankment.
The tourist car landed upside down. 1t
was we'll filled with passengers, most Of
whom managed to escape from the car
with sundry bruises.
Erickson Was Suffocated.
Hugo Erickson, on his way from Swed-
en- to visit a sister, Mrs. Jennie Ras-
mussen Of West Berkeley. California oc-
cupied an upper berth in the tourist.
no, rtN to-
course Erickson's berth was lower one
and he was buried under mass Of de-
bris.
He was heard to cry out once and then
all was still. When released shortly
afterward he was dead-suffocated.
Three elderly women, Mrs. Wilder
Mrs. Shaver and Mrs. Boyd, and one
other aged woman whose name cannot
be ascertained, had collar bones broken
and sustained other minor injuries.
The other occupants of the car es-
capped with cuts and bruises of more
or less serious nature.
Some severe injuries We're sustained by
the occupants of the day coach and diner
but none of them We're seriously hurt.
The buffet car was empty. The Pull
man coach was thrown at a right
angle to the track and hung on the edge
of the bank.
The wrecked cars took fire but the
fires were extinguished with snow by the
train crew and others. The engine was
dispatched to Bolton and from there news
of the wreck was sent to Kalispell.
A wrecking train, with the company
physician, Dr. Houston and DR.. w. H.
Campbell, was hastily sent out, but it
was not until o'clock Sunday morning
that the train bearing the injured reached
this city. The slightly injured We're quar-
tered at the Kalispell hotel, and those
more seriously hurt were taken to the
local hospital
Company Withholds the Facts.
All efforts Of the local newspaper men
and correspondents to get an accurate
and detailed list of the injured and the
extent Of their injuries have been futile.
The railway company is said to have
issued orders from St. Paul to withhold
the names Of the injured, and the local
officials and the hospital authorities are
faithfully observing the injunction. 1t
is only from outside sources that the
newspapers can get the names, and such
information Is necessarily more or less
inaccurate. There is one old lady whose
name can be learned who is understood
to be very severely injured. She is ac-
companied by granddaughter, a child of
8 years. The two were imprisoned In
the tourist car, the side of which had to
be cut out before they could be released.
In the Nyack wreck Of a few months
ago. when Superintendent Downs and
some 80 railroad laborers were burned to
death in the wreckage, the coroner's jury
could find no one to blame. That wreck
occurred near the scene of the wreck
on Sunday.
Not Enough Telegraph Stations.
A freight train further up the noun
tain had been left standing on a siding
while the engines had both been de-
tached to take coal and water and the
crew had gone to the section house for
supper.
When they had finished the meal and
went out to\iook for the train it was
gone. They knew that the passenger
train had passed some time before and
was further down the hih.
The Great Northern economies in tel
egraph stations, as in other things, SO
that there was no means of warning the
passenger train of the danger. The re-
suit was one of the most appalling
wrecks in the history of American rail.
reading. The runaway freight crashed
at lightning speed into the rear of the
passenger train, with the result above
stated.
A coroner's inquest was duly held an6
the company and employees duly exon
Grated. The companys claim agent wa.
on hand and the injured laborers in the
hospital settled on easy terms. The deat
ones needed no compensation. The crew
of the freight train testified with remark
able agreement as to the facts, and non'
OF them was even laid off.
The conductor of the freight was re
warded with promotion. He was give,
a passenger run and was in charge o
the train wrecked on Sunday.
So the local public has made up it
mind as to the verdict of the coroner
fury which is to investigate this lates
wreck.
Civil Service Examinations.