Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1904-08-11
Two Carloads d. Human Freight
Plunged into Raging Torrent,
WATER rHIR1Y-FIyE FEET DEEP.
Engineer Was Running the Train
Cautiously When the Trest1e Span
ming Dry Creek Near Eden,
Col, Gave Way.

ming Dry Creek near Eoeh,
Col, Gave Way.
Pueblo, COL, Aug. 1.-TWO carload
of human freight plunged into tn
raging torrent that destroyed the tres
tie over the usually dry arroyo know
as Steele's hollow, near Eden, abou
eight o'clock Sunday evening. Twt
sleeping cars and the diner stopped
at the brink of the hungry chasn
filed with a boiling, seething current
that quickly snuffed out probably 10(
lives. So quietly had the catastrophe
been enacted that the occupants of the
three cars remaining on the track did
not realize that an accident had oc-
CURED until they alighted from the
train and they were utterly powerless
to render any assistance to the vic
Tins who had disappeared in the rush
ing waters.
On the lookout for danger, warned
by the squally clouds and heavy yains
to the north, Engineer Charles Hind
man was running cautiously, about Is
miles an hour as he approached the ar
roya, which was spanned by q bridge
96 feet in length. The condition of the
bridge was not known until the loco
motive. one Of the monster passenger
type, had nearly crossed. Fireman
Frank Mayfeld, with a large torch
that the engineer and the fireman
had been using to ascertain the condi-
tion of the track, was In the gangway
When Engineer Hindman felt the
tremor in the great machine and
caught a glimmer on the water, he
shouted his last words: "Put out
that TORCH" evidently thinking that
in the accident he felt certain
was coming, the flames would serve to
spread fire. But before Mayfield could
obey, while the words were still on the
lips Of the doomed man and his hand
seeking the mechanism controlling the
air, the bridge gave way as If 1t had
been stack Of kindling wood and the
locomotive dropped with the kissing
of steam through 30 feet of food to
the bottom of the arroyo, crosswise to
the track.
The baggage car, smoking car and
chair car followed the locomotive into
the stream and were swept away. All
the occupants Of these cars, save three
men, perished, and had not the roof of
the chair car burst asunder, none
would have escaped. The fireman, as
the locomotive went over, was thrown
out and, managing to grasp piece of
wreckage from the bridge, fioated with
that to curve made by the caving
bank and crept out of the water. He
ran toward Eden, meeting on the way
Operator F. M. Jones and his wife, who
had already started up the track. They
had seen the headlight of the approach
ing train minute before and then had
witnessed 1t 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 operator,
there were cries coming from the dis
tance 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 J. M. Xii.
lin, Of Pueblo, whose escape was mi
raculous; H. s. Gilbert, Tony Fisher
and Fireman Mayneld. These were the
four men in the midst Of the wreck who
escaped. When dawn came the won
der grew that four had been permit
ted to emerge from the raging torrent
with breath still In their bodies.
The end Of the Pullman, Ashmere,
extended four feet over the brink, while
broken timbers and twisted rails hung
still further over. The arroya had
been widened to over 100 feet at the
point where the bridge had been. The
water tore a zigzag course across the
prairie to q depth Of 80 feet in sew
sral places. There was but little left
of the baggage cara few rods, truck
Or so, dimly seen in the muddy water.
half buried iron safe. The great To-
,omotiye, the boiler free Of the trucks,
he cab and tank gone. lies where It
ell.
Without doubt the great majority
we're drowned like rats in trap when
he cars were plunged without a mo-
nent's warning into the whirling wa
er S5 feet deep. 100 feet wide and
Nth current strong enough to carry
thousands Of pounds Of weight nearly
mile before subsiding.
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