Kootenai County Republican. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1899-1903, 1901-09-06
Wreck OF c. \.
TH1RrY-s1x REPORTED DEAD.
Loaded Freight Train, without En-
gines or Men Came over the Noun
tmin Side and Crashed i'm Rear EnA
Of Passenger Trmin-SuDerin-
tendent Downs Among the Killed.

Thirty -four dead, three fatally injured
and 10 more or less seriously hurt-that
is the result OF the terrible train wreck
and holocaust on the Great Northern rail
way at Nyack, Mont, Friday evening
The wrcckage instantly took fire and
burned fiercely for over two hours and
half before reaching the passenger
coaches in which over two score human
beings lay buried. Some were manged,
some were dying and many were dead.
Their mutilated remains were never re-
covered but were cremated in the awful
furnace heat which consumed every vestige
steel.
In this fearful holocaust the bodies OF
Assistant General Superintendent Z. 1.
Downs and son, +. Kirk Downs, were
consumed, together with the remains of %
laborers whose names could not be learn
ed.
Ten freight cars loaded with shingles
and lumber, one boXcar loaded with
canned salmon, and three coaches on the
passenger train, including standard
sleeper, day coach and the private car
of Superintendent Downs, were burned in
the conllagration.
The wreck occurred at Nyack, Al miles
east Of kalispell, Mont, at $3.50 o'clock
in the evening. The passenger had just
passed caboose and day passenger
coach, standing on sidetrack, and was
running about six miles an hour, when the
rear end of our train was crashed into
by runaway freight train of % cars,
which had started from siding near the
summit Of a steep grade. These cars were
heavily loaded and when the crash came
were running fully 10 miles an hour.
Eyewitnesses say that the freight cars
came down the mountains with roar like
a tornado, carrying great clouds OF dust
and withered vegetation in their wake.
The roar OF the runaway train was heard
above the noise of the passenger train
by man who was in the detached caboose
The point at which the collision occurred
was just beyond sharp curve, which, to-
gether with the moving passenger train,
prevented any attempt at warning, had
such thing been possible.
To those on the train not a single mo-
ment's warning was given. The first we
knew was fearful crash followed by
a sickening, crunching grinding, tearing,
jolting sound This was fo.owed by the
den jerk and all was still.
The cause of the confagration was not
from the stove Of the superintendent
private car, as at first announced but
from a lighted oil lamp in the caboose
which was standing on the sidetrack and
which was overturned when the collision
The point from where the ca
boose was overturned to where the vic
Tins We're buried beneath the wreckage
was at least five car lengths distant. That
accounts for the considerable lapse of
time before the sleeper and other wrecked
ears were burned. No fire originated in
he passenger train at all.
The wreck was not caused from a
freight train breaking in two, as first re-
ported, but in the following manner: East
bound freight train No. 10 had taken the
siding near the summit of the grade near
Essex, 10 miles from where the collision
1t consisted Of % loaded cars,
two engines and caboose. A helper en-
CINE is used at the rear of freight trains
over the Essex grade. The caboose fol-
lows the helper engine.
After the train passed both engines of
the freight were detached and taken to
Essex for water and coal, leaving the %
cars on the siding. 1t is supposed the air
brakes which had been set leaked, thus
allowing the tension on the brakes to re-
lax, with the result that the % cars began
to so down the hill, gathering momentum
ut every mile, until the point of collision
with the passenger train, when it is vari-
ously estimated that the runaway cars
must have been going at the nate OF 70 to
100 miles an hour
The real loss of life is variously esti.
mated. The conductor in his report to the
physicians said that the day coach carry
ing the laborers left Havre with AZ men on
board. Between Havre and Nyack four
left the train, leaving 43 on board in the
roach when the collision occurred. OF the
IL rescued, three were dead and one died
shortly afterwards, making total Of 81
dead and missing. These, with the three
passengers in the private coach, make \
total Of "a who are known to have lost
their lives at the time Of the accident. If
The conductor was mistaken about four
men leaving the coach between Havre
and Nyack, then there was total Of 50
men killed. .,.
The laborers were being taken to Jen-
nings by Guthrie L Co., contractors. Al
member Of the firm was on board the train.