Morgan County democrat. (Versailles, Mo.) 1900-1906, 1904-08-12

49, 80 - 'At'
ton of the bridge was not known until
the locomotive, one of the monster pGs-
senger type, hat nearly crossed. Fire
man Frank Mayiield, with a torch that
the engineer AMI fireman had been US
ing to ascertain h condition of the
track. was in the gangway. When En-
gineer Hindman felt the trcmor in the
great machine and caught the glimmer
on the water, he shouted his last
words.
Put out that torch" ev!dently think
ing 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 it had been a
stack of kindling wood, aud the loco
motive dropped with the kissing Of
steam 90 feet 20 the bottom Of the ar
royo, 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, persisted, 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 a piece
or wreckage from the bridge,
loated 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
+. 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, and then had
witnessed it disappear with ominou5
suddcnness.
"NOtify Pueblo came the voice of
the running man, 1.-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
nelp had ceased.
Relief rrains with physicians, wreck
and pile driving outfits and cores of
workmen were hurried from the city.
The first train ron the wreck came
In shortly after midnight with J. NJ.
KILN, of Pueblo, whose escape was
miraculous; II. S. Gilbert, Tony Fisher
and Fireman Mayfield. These were the
fn,,r vna,, Il, tI, ,atl.t - IT.. ,,r,,I.
who escaped.
When dawn came the wonder grew
that four had been permitted to
emerge from the raging torrent with
breath still N their bodies.
The end Of the Pullman car Ashmere
extended fouS feet ovcr the brink,
while broken timbcrs and twisted rails
hung still furshcr over. The arroyo
had been widcncd to over a hundred
feet at the point whore the bridge had
been. The water tore a Zigzag course
across the prairie to "A depth Of 80 feet
in several places. There was but little
left Of the baggage cara few rods, a
truck or 50, d,miy seen in the muddy
water, a half buried iron safe.
The great locomotive, the boiler free
Of the trucks, the cab and tank gone,
lies whore it fell.
A quarter Of a mile to the east,
where this gorge Of death debouchcd
into tn" fountain, lay the chair car,
windows gone, thrcc-fOurths filled with
mud and sand. A hundred feet fur
thcr On was the smoker, bottom-up
against "A sand bar. \ hundred and
fifty feet farther on, in the bed Of the
fountain, was the Goa tender of the
engine, and from that point on, for
four or five miles, ycstiges of the
coaches, the engine and tender stuck
mp from the bed Of the stream or lay
along the shore or on the islands. Red
| plush seats of the smoker were strcwn
all along the stream. Brass rails from
the coaches were found in the sand
half a mile from the site of the bridge.
and pieces Of the baggage car stuck
out Of the water in several places. Bits
of clothing. coats. skirts and womcn's
hats were found in the brush along
the shore, and searchors scanned the
foliage for bodies. Masses of earth
had cavcd in from the high sides Of
the river at many places, and search
crs passed these with @ that bodies
were buried under them, which they
were helpless to reach.
Five hundred men scanned every
inch Of the river and its surroundings
a few hours after daylight Monday.
They wadcd in the stream and carried
ont mud.bcgrlmeh bodies which were
found al wideiy.Scparated points. some