The San Francisco call., 1904-08-09


high sides Of the river at many places
and searchers passed these with the
fear that bodies were buried under
them which they we're helpless to
reach.
Five hundred men scanned every
inch of the river and It's surroundings
a few hours after daylight. They
waded in the stream and carried out
mud -begTimed bodies which were
found at widely separated points, some
of them miles from the scene Of the ac-
cident.
BRINGING OUT THE DEAD.
The first corpses recovered were
those of Miss Irene Wright and little
Dorothy Johnson, the sfster-in-law
and daughter, respectively, of Harry
Johnson of Pueblo. An unknown wO-
man lay beside them.
Engineer Hndman was found, with
his watch still running, a few feet far
ther down the stream.
While it was still dark. axes had
| been used on the half buried cars at
the junction of the creek with the
Fountain, and at daylight this work
was resumed on the smoking car,
which lay out in the Fountain. where
men were compelled to wade almost to
their waists to reach IL.
A second party farther down the
river found several persons entangled
in a mass of debris, thought to have
been part of the baggage car, which
was literally torn TO pieces In a short
time large number of bodies were dug
out of the sand here. One woman was
| completely buried, save one foot. which
stuck above the water Some bodies
were found lodged in the shrubbery
along the banks: others in the wreck
age in midstream, and many half bur-
led with only an arm or bit Of cloth
ing to reveal their whereabouts 1t re-
| quired eight strong men to lift the Wa
er-soaked body of one woman to the
shore and a skirt and hat found on the
bank could scarcely be lifted with the
fingers of one hand.
Many of the bodies were almost
naked, the clothing having been torn
completely off. Most Of them were
slightly bruised. probably from the
first shock of the wreck but there was
little blood visible when they we're re-
moved from the stream Without
doubt the great majority were drowned
like rats in a trap when the cars
plunged without moments warning
into the Whirling water, thirty-nVe
] feet deep, a hundred feet wide, and
with a current strong enough to carry
/ thousands of pounds of weight nearly
a mile before subsiding-
THRONGS OF ANXIOUS SEEKERS.
When brought ashore the DOuleS were
/ placed on the ground and covered, but
/ persons who wished to look at them
/ were allowed to do so for the purpose
/ of Identifying them. A baggage car
/ was kept running between the city and
7 the wreck, bringing in those who were
\ found A number of wagons we're final
/ Iy pressed into service to haul the bod
| les to the tracks. leaving the searcherS
/ free to continue the hunt for others
I Some searchers worked all night and
/ all day and never once thought OF eat
l ing or resting.
! Persons were constantly arriving and
anxiously inGuiring for lost ones
/ known to have been on the train. BY
/ 9 O'Clock this morning the plains were
dotted with vehicles, each with its load
+ of anxious seekers or the mOrbidly Gu
riOus More than a thousand persons
were on the scene two hours Detore
/ noon and the roads in every direction
! were. crowded by others coming away
( The bodies recovered were Identified
I very slowly because many OF them
were those of strangers here, who had
/ been to the fair at St. Louis and at
\ other Eastern points.
The walls Of the SO-called Dry Creek
/ are rugged, irregular, caving and
widened. but so narrow that it is al
most impossible to understand how the
great coaches. the baggage car and
! tender could have been swept so far