Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-08-29

Murkey clouds obscured the horizon.
ana the stars were hidden; the light
nings constant flash was binding. Lit
tie Agnes was quietly sleeping on the
seat In front of us, while visions of
washouts were fitting through the
mind of the writer. Bessie was nery.
Gus, and each was. OF course. thinking
about the separation sooE to come for
perhaps long years. perchance, forever
Suddenly there was a iolt as II the car
had struck some solid object. and i'm.
mediateiy another, the car shivering
and grinding and trembling as II in
fright. Bessie began to cry and wiring
her hands and exclaim that something
awful had happened. There was no
noise, no cries-nothing to Indicate
that the most horrible railroad wreck
IN the history OF the world had oc-
Cured; nothing to tell of the death
| struggle of the hundred men, women
| and children who a moment before
were joyous assemblage In the cars
ahead OF us. with n woman's instinct
Bessie realized II all, while |, with a
mans stolidity. only realized that the
| car had come to sudden stop. Be
heving that to avoid running into a
washout or some other dangerous
place, the engineer had stopped the
train with the air brakes, | sat still
and tried to Impress Bessie with that
view. II must have beer ten minutes
after the car had stopped, during all
OF which time | had tried to quiet her.
without any thought or premonition of
the awful calamity that had oyertakep
the train, when she went to the for.
ward END OF our car and came back
crying, "Oh. the engine is In the
ditch" ] then did not believe 1t, and
assured her that she was mistaken, but
went forward myself into the sleeper
ahead of us. which found deserted
and looking out of the door In the for
ward end was Mortified to find that II
hung over the angry muddy rushing
waters. There was no bridge over the
chasm In front and no sign of cars or
engine. Getting out on the ground
where man was walking along be-
side the train with a torch. asked
him; Where is our train7" He re-
piled: 81 don't know, unless 1t is In the
water there"
We counted 30 men, women and
children who had been In the sleepers
and dining car which was in the rear.
we knew that we had been saved
from hurt or injury, but not one of us
huddled there in the darkness could say
what had become of the engine and
forward cars. Not one of us had seen
them go down. and even the hope
against hope was expressed by us
that the engine and missing cars had
gotten safely across before the bridge
went down. We gazed down into the
dark waters as they rushed along and
wondered If they could tell us what
fate had befallen those in front of us,
but they answered us not word. We
wandered up and down. up and down
the bank of the rushing torrent,
shouting to attract the attention OF
any who might he in distress and need
OF aid, Our shouts were answered by
echoes alone. The stars came out and
glimmered and glistened as they have
glimmered and glistened for countless
think that they looked down so compla-
Gently upon a wreck so terrible We
built fire on the bank OF the roaring
waters and its ftful glare, kissing the
filthy waves but made our thoughts
more gruesome. II must have been
an hour and half perhaps two hours.
after the wreck, when man with a
"a hn oil Ip
OF the arroyo and asked us how many
were left. We then asked him who he
was and he replied that he was the
fireman. We asked him:
Where is the rest OF our train?"
and he said: Down there in the wa
ter"
This was the first positive informa-
tion we had of the fate OF the missing
part of our train. BY this time the
water IN the arroyo was run down to
The extent that outlines of the engine
began to appear. About four hours
after the wreck special train arriv-
ed upon the scene from Pueblo. Steps
were dug in the banks down to the
water and a foot bridge was construct
ed, the wrecked engine being used as
part of 1t, and we were told to cross
over and take the train to Pueblo.
with little Agnes in one arm and a
yalise in the other hand. | crossed
over with Bessie following. Agnes,
seeing all the vari-cOlored lights. ex-
claimed: "Oh, look at the pretty
lights"
We arrived at Pueblo at about 1880
a. M, where kilograms were sent out
announcing our safety This Is what
we saw and did on the night Of the
wreck