The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1904-08-12
/! CARS CARRIED FOUR .Ss
Y. IA: sS2sl MILES BY ORIENT
strusture - Thought g Have Bssn
II. yeallsnsd by washouts 49, Death
Nh List ESTIMATED at Between 80 md
n, 100 Work of Rescue. S$F@ rs Il 3}a VI

1ittlA station of Eden; eight miles north
/. of Rueblo, carrying the smoking and
I chair cars, which were filled with passen-.
n ger4,Stnto the swtrling. fsurging torrent
\ which rushed underneath and SO far a.
learned between so and 100 persons per-
\ ished. At 11:15 Monday Inorning the
number Of bodies recovered approximate
Z ed 80, few Of which had been identified.
SeveHll special trains have left Pueblo
and thousands Of persons patrolled the
L banks Of the Fountain river into which
the cars were carried by the flood.
searching for bodies. but the stream was
!, 80 swollen that but little progress was
made. .;JSr IN & it*s.5 q 4 S%,,5arI,,
I Goes Through q Trestle.
MI VI As the engine struck the trestle, which
!. had been weakened by the rush OF wa
sters, it gave way and the train plunged
down. one Of the cars being entirely lost
! IN the muddy stream and the other was
carried nearly four miles down the river
and very few Of those in them could have
escaped. Owing to the fact that the con-
sductor's list Of names was lost In the
!, confusion following the accident only
an estimate Of the dead and missing can
4 :be had, but railroad officials on the scene
who are familiar with the details admit
that the list win range between 80 and
100 and some place it even higher. 4.
.s$ Shortly after daybreak many hun
dreds Of persons began swarming to the
scene Of the wreck and the greatest ex-
citement prevailed in this city, where
4 all kinds Of rumors were circulated and
! it was with difficulty any authentic news
could be obtained. y ~ - 4 .s ~
(. High Water Delays Work; !. !.
sEs The banks Of the river were lined as
i farl down as the Fourth street viaduct
1 with people anxiously waiting for bodies
chat might float past and some were
4 taken out several miles from the scene
Iof the accident. The fire and police de-
I partments Of this city placed men at
INV ORR early patrolling and dragging the
river ali the way from Pueblo to- Eden,
4 but their heroic efforts have availed buy
little owing to the swollen condition OF
the stream. On account Of having no
7 boats and prevalence Of quicksand at the
\ scene the east side of the river could not
4 be reached and here It IS expected many
y bodies will be found. s.:s h { r. :,:.' +
4 $ The rescuers suffered great hardships,
] many Of them having been constantly at
work since Sunday night without 1000
] az relief of any kind the cold nearly ex-
haustfng them, At II clock the river
& began receding slowly and the; bodles
fs were discovered on sand bars partially
covered by the mud and sand washing
over them. ~ sf. ~, r = = ~ ~ r. =
A The disaster was the worst that has
4 ever occurred on the Denver & Rio
Grande railroad. Dry creek, where the
accident happened, is one OF the most
dangerous points on the road. = 1t is
not far from Butte, where two years
y ago Fwashouts occurred which Grip.
pled the service of the line. but en-
tailed no, loss Of life. It is close to
the foothills, which, by reason Of re-
peated cloudbursts and washouts, have
been slowly closing IN, the bed Of the
creek continually becoming deeper u1i-
I'LL 1t hasNreached q depth of about rs
feet. Trains Nos. 3 and Is, preceding
No. Ill, passed over the bridge and
reached Pueblo safely. vi ~ "
II III The rains had been severe, but ON
cials did not apprehend any danger at
Dry creek, as recent inspection
X showed that the bridge was in; first
class condition: No reports Of trou-
bic Oh the line were received until the
message ,. was received at Pueblo ct
!. nine o'clock that. train No. II had been
wrecked. II Just prior /. to that time
III re we're reports that heavy rain!
] TAN was In progress in the vicinity OF
4 Eden, but there was no intimation Of
I u ctloudburst. So far as the omcials Of
\ the road can determine, the engineer
evidently did not zee the trouble until
I ii var too late to stop. the train, which
!. was going at q high rate OF speed. NJ
Whether the engine and the torrent
~ water from the cloudburst struck
4 the bridge stimuli tane ously 6r the tor
! rent had already undermined the
structure ID not known. but the re-
I ports sat the Denver once say that the
airsWas turned on and that this saved
che u dinsr \ and slespers from being
n 3Iporscipitsted into the creek. If the -
i ter was at " high marx the depth.
\ ranged from 20 u AZ feet md the c1r-
1 rent was irresisti ble, When the bag-
gage car. smoker and chair car LETT
| the tracks and plunged into the stream q,
4 they we're swept down byS the current Y,
ana the trucks torn OF. This light
ened them, and the volume Of water !
can be understood when II was report
ed 10y Superintendent Bowen that
they were carried four Miles before
they ran ashore. The three cars were,
found near each other. The length Of
the bridge with approaches q SO feet.
Fifteen hundred feet OF track was
washed ont at the scene Of the disalsa q
ter. 5ss s3s G rs s.3s 7! s# rs