Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1903-03-10


teen to twenty lives were lost and fully
twice that number burned or bruised
by an explosion of oil late last night,
following the wreck on the Erie rail
road north of this city.
Owing TO the fact that some of the
bodies were burned or blown into the
creek by the explosion the exact num-
ber of the dead will probably not be
known for several days.
The number of injured is uncertain
as many of them were able to reach
their homes.
The known dead are: Norman
Brown, John Tobin, John McReady,
John McMahon, all four are boys about
16 years DID, NJ. V. Driscoll, Joseph
Swift, John Stemlinger. Harry Golden,
Richard Connell. Six unidentified
bodies at Woodward's undertaking
rooms. A boy blown into the creek and
drowned, body not recovered. Two or
more unknown persons, bodies inciner-
ated in the burned wreckage.
The scenes following the explosion
will never be forgotten by those who
saw them. 1t was about 9 o'clock in
the evening when the train was wreck
ed. The Erie freight west bound broke
in two on the hill two miles north of
this city. The brakes were applied and
The first portion was brought almost to
a standstill at the bridge across the
Olean creek. The rear cars gathering
a. .I,xr 4 hah
crashed into the front cars. Most of
the cars were tank cars filled with re-
fined oil or gasoline. They weighed
thousands of tons and the impact was
terrific. One of the tank cars caught
fire soon after the collision. The exact
cause of the fire is not known, but it is
supposed to have started from a spark
struck from grinding pieces of iron in
the wreck. In few minutes another
car of gasoline caught fire and burst
into flames with a terrific report Por-
tions of iron domes of the car were
hurled a distance of several hundred
feet In this early accident, as far as
can be learned, no one was injured.
Hundreds of people from the sur
NOuhNig 6oNhSlNh W NalNh
the brilliant flames. For two hours the
people stood massed together and as
the heat became less intense the crowd
began to edge a little closer to the
wreckage, until about II o'clock some
ventursome boys approached to within
few hundred feet.
Suddenly there was a terrific explo-
sion. Great masses of flames shot into
the air and literally rolled down the
bank sides of the track into the guley
where the spectators were standing
Men and boys fell before the wave of
the white light to rise no more Huge
pieces of iron were hurled through the
7air, moving down human beings by
the score. Some managed to scramble
10 their feet and get away. but others
lay still in death. The sceen of agony
and horror at that moment was be-
yond description. A veritable rain of
fire came down upon the crowd. Men
and boys, with clothing mass of
hames, ran shrieking down the track,
some of them falling to the ground un-
conscious, while others groveled in
the ditch or jumped into the creek in
an endeavor to put out the fire that
was consuming them. Many of these
overwhelmed by the flames dropped
where they stood and never again
moved.
Ii was about a. m. when DENNY
Sheriff Osterhout called for vounteerst
TO remove the dead and injured. Three |
times as many as were called for |
stepped forward and the gruesome |
work was begun, In short time ff- |
teeq bodies had been recovered and |
laid Ieside the track. Some were so |
badly burned and distorted as to he
scarcely recognizable. The body of one
boy was zen too close TO the flames
10 be approached and in short time
II was burhF to ashes. II is believed
others were 'lso incinerated. When
the last body nd been rescued stretch
er hearers foIqed a procession and
started down tn, track toward ambu-
lances and carriass. The crowd fell
back and opened t. passageway for
them.
The remains of thelead arrived in
the city about o'clock nd were taken
10 nuei'"hins eslaoiisnents to be n