The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1904-08-13
kfteen miles an hour. "a !. !,

fifteen miles an hour, az he npvrs.s
the arroyo, which was snanpea =
bridge &c feet in length. Tbs
zion Of the bridge was nor kpow,,
the locomotive, n Of the mpnste.
senger type, had nearly crossed X
man Frank Mayfield, with a torch ~
the engineer and fireman had 10,
ing 10 ascertain the condition 4
track, was in the gangway. When ~
gineer Hindman felt the trenor II 4.
great machine aud caught the 5in,...
on the water, he shouted his H.
! words iA
Put out that torch, ~7ev!dently tbj,,,
ing that in the accident he felt eerf.i.
was coming, the flames would SERVE !.
spread FIRE.
But before Mayfeld could obey Win.
the words were still on the lips Of Il.
doomed man, and his hand seeking i,
mechanism controlling the air. tba
bridge gave way as II It had bee, ,
stack of kindling wood, and the loc,
motive dropped with the kissing j
steam 80 feet to the bottom OF the A..
royo, crosswise to the track.
The baggage car, smoking car and
chair a followed the locomotive iDto.
the stream and were swept away. An.
the occupants OF these cars, save three
men, persisted, and had not the roo,.
of the chair car burst asunder, rops
would Lave escaped. The fireman. AZ
the locomotive went over. was thrown.
ont, and, managing to grasp a piece
or wreckage from the bridge
iioated with that to a curve
made by the caving bank, and crept
out of the water. He ran toward
Eden, meeting on the way President
f. w. Jones and his wife, who had al
ready started up the track. They had
seen the headlight of the approaching
train a minute before, aid then had
witnessed it disappear with ominous
suddenness.
Notify Pueblo" came the voice Of
the running man. THE trains gone
down and everybody is killed.
Even as he spoke, relates the opera.
tor, there were cries coming from the
distance. The two men ran to where
the bridge had been, to search, but in
vain, for victims of the disaster. When
they reached the spot, all cries for
help had ceased.
Relief trains with physicians, wreck
and pile driving outfits and scores Of
workmen were hurried from the city.
The first train from the wreck came
in shortly after midnight with ] NJ.
KILN, of Pueblo, whose escape was
miraculous; II. s. Gilbert, Tony Fisher
and Fireman Mayfield. These were the
Tour men in the midst of the wreck
who escaped.
When dawn came the wonder grew
that four had been permitted to
emerge from the raging torrent with
breath still in their bodies.
The end of the Pullman car Ashmere
extended fou3 feet over the brink,
while broken timbers and twisted rails
hung still further over. The arroyo
had been widened to over a hundred
feet at the point where the bridge had
been. The water tore a zigzag course
across the prairie to a depth of so feet
in several places. There was but little
left of the baggage cara few rods, a
truck or so, dimiy e e in the muddy
water, a half buried iron safe.
The great locomotive, the boiler free
of the trucks, the cab and tank gone,
lies where it fell.
A quarter of a mile to the east.
where this gorge of death debouched
into the fountain, lay the chair car.
windows gone, three-fourths filed with
mud and sand. A hundred feet fur.
ther on was the smoker. bottomup
against a sand bar, A hundred and
fifty feet farther on, in the bed of the
fountain, was the coal tender of the
engine, and from that point on, for
or-tive miles, vestlges OF the
coaches, the engine and tender stuck
up from the bed of the stream or lay
along the shore or on the islands. Red
piush seats of the smoker were strewn
III along the stream. Brass rails from
ne coaches were found in the sand
lalf a mile from the site of the bridge,
pieces of the baggage car stuck
OF the water in several places. Bits
II clothing, coats, skirts and women's
rats were found in the brush along
shore. and searchers scanned the
for bodies. Masses of earth
lad cayed in from the high sides OF
ne river at many places, and search.
RS passed these with fear that bodies
buried under them, which they
'ere helpless to reach.
Five hundred men scanned every
OF the river and its surroundings
lew hours after daylight Monday.
hey waded In the stream and carried
at mud-begrimed bodies which were
'und at wideiy-separated points. some
tnem miles from the scene Of the