Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-08-09

Whether the engine and the tor
rent of water from the cloudburst
struck the bridge simultaneously or
whether the torrent had :@s,..>-e...ell sy under
mined the structure is not known. Re
ports made to the Denver Office Of the
road say that the air brake was turned
on and that this saved the diner and
Sleepers from being precipitated into
the creek.
If the water was at high mark the
depth ranged from twenty to twenty
five feet and the current was irresist-
ible
When the baggage car, smoker and
cl air car left the tracks and plunged
into the stream they were swept down
by the current and the trucks torn off.
This lightened them, and the volume of
water can be understood when 1t was
reported by Superintendent Bowren
that they were carried four miles be-
fore they ran ashore The three cars
were found near each other.
The Rio Grande officials have not yet
made an official statement and explain
that they cannot furnish q list Of the
dead.
Lie cat lOSOh4OAAFOy NAC OOAAGA 4hUC
of the trucks, the cab and tank gone,
lies where it fell.
A quarter of 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 far.
Their on was the smoker, bottom UP
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 foI
four or five miles yestiges 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
all along the stream. Brass rails from
the coaches were found in the sand q
half mile from the bridge, and pieces
Of the baggage car stuck out Of the
water in several places.
Fireman Mayfield, upon his arrival
here, was the first person to give any
details of the awful wreck. He was
dazed by the awful ordeal he passed
through. vet each incident is fixed SO
firmly in his mind that he will remem-
Der it until his dying day.
1T had been raining all evening" he
said, land we had a hard time to keep
steam up in order to run on schedule
time. A little while before we reach
ed the bridge that crosses Dry creek
] began firing up. Just as was put
ting in the second shoveIful Of coal the
engine gave sudden Iurch upward. ]
lost my balance and was thrown from
the train on the bank Of the creek.
must have struck partly on my head
as I was 1azed and did not know what
happened for several minutes When
I / came to saw the Pullman cars
standing near me, but could not see
the engine or the rest Off the train.al
| went up and down the stream looking
for my engineer, Charles Hindman.
II did not notice whether water was
running over the trestle as we ap-
preached the bridge, but when was
er than the tracks.
after long time / met some men
who told me Hindman was dead and
that his body was found near Eden. !.
I'VE did not expect anything at all
We were going along at good speed
all the time and never dreamed that
anything was wrong. We thought
that If there was any kind of dood
near Eden the operator there would
know and that he would flag us. We
passed there, but saw no signals of any
kind and never for an instant felt
any danger, 1t is only mile from
| Eden to the bridge that went down."