The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1904-08-11
MANY GO DOWN in WRECK
Train Load of Passengers Hurled Through a
Bridge to Sudden Death

1 toTeHs csIuSuAy thinking III the aIss'
dent he felt certain was coming the
flames would serve To spread the fire.
But before Mayneld could obey. while
the words were stu on the lips Of
tho doomed mai, and his hand seek
ing the mechanism controlling TIE
air-the bridge gave way as though
1t had been a stack of kindIng wood.
and the locomotive dropped with the
kissing OF steam 30 feet TO the bottom
| OF the arroyo, crosswise 70 the track.
THREE CARS FOLLOW ENGINE.
! The baggage car. smoking car aud
chair car followed the locomotive into
the stream and were swept away.
All the occupants of these cars ex-
cept three men persisted, and had not
the roof Of the chair car burst asun.
der, none would have escaped. The
fireman. as the locomotive went over,
was thrown out, and managing to
grasp a piece of wreckage from the
bridge, floated with that to a curve
made by the caving bank, and crept
out of the water. He ran toward Ed
On, meeting on the way Operator F.
M. Jones and his wife, who already
had started up the track.
CRIES QUICKLY HUSTLED.
Notify Pueblo" came the voice OF
the running man. The train is through
the bridge and everything killed"
Even as he spoke, the cries coming
from a distance could be heard. The
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. Re-
lief trains with physicians, wreck and
plle-driving outfits and scores OF work
men were hurried from the city. The
first train from the wreck came in
shortly after midnight with J. NJ. Kill
lin, Of PUEBLO; H. S. Gilbert, Tony
Fisher and Fireman Mayfield These
were four men in the midst of the
wreck who escaped.
WONDER THAT FOUR 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 Yyuta extended four feet over |
the brink, while broken timbers and |
twisted rails hung still further over /
The arroyo had been widened to more
than hundred feet at the point where
the bridge had been. The water tore
zig-zag course across the prairie to
depth of 30 feet in several places.
There was little left of the baggage
oar, only few rods, a truck or 80,
dimly seen in the muddy water. and
half buried iron safe. The great loco
motive, the boiler free of the trucks.
me cab and tank gone, lies where it
'ell
BODIES SWEPT MILES AWAY.
A quarter of mile to the east, where
his gorge of death debouched into the
fountain river, lay the chair car, WIN
lows gone, three-fourths filled with
mud and sand. A 100 feet farther on
vas the smoker, bottom up against a
and bar. A $50 feet farther on, in the
ned of the Fountain, was the coal ten
Ter OF the engine land down that point
N or miles, vestiges of the coaches
he engine and tender stuck I'D from
he bed of the stream or lay along the
bore. The red plush seats of the smok-
r were strewn all along the stream.
The brass rails from the coach were
ound in the sand half mile from the
ridge, and pieces of the baggage car ?
tuck out Of the water in several places.
'lts OF clothing, such as coats, skirts
nd womens' hats, were found in the
rush along the shore and the searchers
canned the foliage for bodies. Masses
earth had caved in from the high
ldes of the river at many places, and
passed these with fear that
odies were buried under them which
hey were helpless to reach. Five hun
red men scanned every inch of the
lver and it's surrounding a few hours
tier daylight. They waded in the
Lream and carried out mud-bergrim-
4 bodies, which were found at widely
7parated points, some of them miles
ON the scene of the accident.