Arizona republican., 1902-10-30

The southbound NJ. G r. mixed pas senger and freight train crashed through the bridge over Salt river at Tempe last night about [ o'clock, plunging twenty feet below to the dry sandy bed of the stream. One Indian, who it is supposed was riding on top of box car, was killed. and the fire man. Frank Goodrich. was hurt more are less seriously. So far as known that completes the list of casualties. A more remarkable wreck in some ways never occurred, and while it's re- suits are bad enough. it is appalling to contemplate what might have occurred. The passengers escaped by the merest chance. and a special train being brought down from Mesa took all but two Of them on to Mar!copa. where they connected as they expected to with the regular west bound train, which happened to be three hours late. The two who remained were a man and wife who elected to spend the night at a house near the bridge the lady being badly frightened.
 The fifth or middle span of the bridge went down from pier to fpier, four spans remaining on either end oI the break The telegraph and telephone lines across the river were on the bridge, so communication was cut off from Phoenix and the news was con sequently slow in reaching here. About 9 o'clock q reporter Tor the Republican drove to the scene of the accident. re- turning at 11:30, and from that hour on till morning there was a constant string Of carriages cn the Tempe road. as many Phoenix people had friends on the ill-fated train whom they feared were killed, while they were in reality rolling on to MariCopa chucklicg over their fortunate escape.
 The train left Phoenix at 6.3J D. rl., the crew including Conductor sam Harris. Engineer Charles Thompson and Fireman Frank Goodrich The train consisted of engine, empty box car. car of cattle. car of merchandise. Pullman coach. day coach and com bination smoker and express car at tached to the engine in the order named. When thr engins was about half way aCrcss the fifth span of the bridge the big timbers wobbled and in less time than it takes to tell it. fell with crash. The greater part Of the bridge structure was seemingly pushed
 
 the bridge stood north and south, while the rolling stcck that took the plunge went almost straight down. but a lit tie to the lett and rolled over o1 the left side, so that viewing the wreck from the left side of, or above the bridge, the bchoder faced the roof of the engineers cab and the roof Of the freight cars, or such portions of them as are rot reduced to kildling wood.
 The Pullman coach now stands on an angle with the end of it toward the engine. mashed into d million splin- ters and projecting many feet over the abyss below. Had it been carried ten feet further before the coupling with the merchandise car ahead was severed. it t0O would have gone into the heap of wrcckage below and the loss of life would in all human proba bilfty have been great. There were between thirty and forty passengers on board the train, many of them in the Pull man. The rest, being in the rear coaches that did not leave the bridge. suffered only a jar and a few moments of wild hystericaI fright.
 The escape of the engineer and fire man was marvellous. Thompson, the engineer. probably does not know how he did it. and could not do it again, but in some way he happened when the cab window was at the proper angle, fo jump through it and fairly fly through the air, clearing the wrccklge of both the engine and the bridge and landing on a soft sand bar thirty feet below uninjured except for the jar of a nasty alighting.
 The fireman, Frank Goodrich. was less fortunate, but the fact that he is alive seems miraculous. The cab lies on it's left side practically uninjured, though all around it is a tangled mass of twisted iron braces from the bridge and the twisted machinery of the To- cOmotive. An occasional big bridge timber is seen also in close proximity 10 the cab, hut within it no timbers or irons were protruded, and the young man had it all to himself. The cab was. of course, wrenched from it's natural fastenings to the end of the boiler and in this twisting Goodrich got one of his feet caught under some mechanism on the engineers side. One of his hands was also securely wedg2d between timbers or ether machinery 90 he was securely imprisoned till hie fellows of the train crew got an aX and