The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-02-21
TWENTY-FOUR VICTIMS
OF THE JACKSON HORROR
Bodies and Fragments of Human Beings Taken to
Ogden After the Explosion.
Inquest Held Over the Nanged Considerable Money
Found on the Greeks.

picking Up the bodies. The country
there is Just as fat as a floor. It is
evidently part Of what once was the
lake bed. 1t is covered with white sand
and is absolutely devoid Of vegetation.
not even sagebrush growing ON this
level barren desert. The bodies lay
scattered on all sides for as far as
half or three-quarters Of a mile. There
were perhaps fifty men at work with
torchlights and lanterns. The night
was dark, as it is the period of the
new moon, and the only light was ar
tifcial.
Coyotes Howling Near.
The coyotes smelled the dead bod
les and began to come in, bowling
from all sides, seeking the carrion. AZ
was necessary, if possible, 10 get the
bodies I'm that night 20 keep them from
the coyotes Consequently everybody
was working hard. The absence Of
vegetation and the whiteness OF tho
sand helped the searchers. Men with
torches scattered out in every diTeC-
ton. Every now and then some man
would come upon a burned and dis
figured body lying on the sand. Sc
curing assistance, he would carry it 10
the central point, where the bodies
were laid out on the ground, while men
i'm the employ Of the railroad company
worked making boards to put the
corpses on. Sometimes the searchers
would come upon hand OF some 9th
er fragment OF q body. One mans
head was blown completely off and
was found apart from the rest of the
body. The bodies of Mrs. Burke and
her three children were found close
together. Their clothes were torn of
them. but the bodies We're scarcely
scorched.
When Daylight Came.
4 shall never forget the scene when
daylight came. At the place there was
a round hole torn ia the ground $50 feet
i'm diameter and about twenty-five feet
deep. The section house had been torn
to fragments. One engine was reduced
to small pieces, while the other was q
total wreck. Box cars were reduced
to spliuters and burned as far as the
wood portions were concerned Car
wheels were blown as far as three
quarters OF 81 mile in every direction
plainly visible on the level white sand
were drive wheels, tires, rods. bolts,
pieces Of trucks. portions of engines.
splinters of wood and other debris.
But that was not the worst; the coy
CITES had been kept of during the night
pretty weli by the lanterns. torches and
bOn6res, and All the nodies not totally
dismembered had been brought in. But
as daylight came we could see here
and there on the white sand pieces of
clothing and in some places the frag-
ments Of human bodies. These fTag-
ments were carefully picked up and
brought 10 where the bodies were.
Searching For the Dead.
a force of Greeks under the direc-
ton of Division Engineer Marsh was
kept Eusiiy at work building a track
around the hole. which was big enough
10 drop d house into. BY dark they
had 2 temporary track completed. so
that traffic could be resumed over the
main line. Another force Of men was
kept busy making the boxes for the
bodies and others kept up the search
for cOrpses all day.
Il talked with a large number of
men about the accident. As near as
could learn. the gravel train was draw
ing onto the siding. The supply train
vas coming toward it on a down
grade The engineer of the supply
train tried 10 stop his train. but he
says the air would not work and he
Whistled for brakes. The head brake
man responded and started back over
the train. The rear brakeman was in
the cab0Osc. He says he did not hear
the whistle. At any rate he did not
respond
Cars Caught Fire.
There was q collision OF the frog.
The operator. Taylor. went to the sta
tion and was sending in q report of the
collision. The Greeks in the outfit cars
were getting cut their things, as in
some way one Of the cars caught fire:
just how, nobody seems to know. The
operator had evidently just come out