The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1904-08-12

ern RallroadIng--caused by Cloud
burst That Filled Channel OF Stream
and weakened Brldoe--Work Of lden-
tlficatlon Is Proceeding slowly.
Pueblo, Colo, Aug. Sat least
eighty and probably one hundred per-
sons, most of them citizens of Den
YER and Pueblo, lost their lives when
train No. II, the Missouri Pacific ex-
position flyer, crashed through a
bridge over an arroyo named Dry
Creek near Eden on the Denver & Rio
Grande railroad about eight miles
north of Pueblo at s o'clock last night.
The catastrophe is the worst In the
railroad history of the west and one
Of the most appalling that ever hap
pened in this country. UP to 9 O'Clock
85 bodies had been recovered and the
search for miles along the stream was
still in progress. The crowded smok-
ing and chair cars, as well as the en-
gine and baggage cars, fell in second
into the torrent. The engine crushed
the smoker but the chair car floated
four miles In the torrent while nearly
every one In it was perishing.
The wreck was due to cloudburst
that had come down Dry creek. A
wall of water filed the channel which
at this point is fifty feet wide and fif-
teen feet deep and weakened and un-
dermined the railroad bridge SO that
the weight Of the train, the fastest and
heaviest on the line. was too much for
the supports and all but the dining
car and two Pullman coaches were
hurled crashing into the swollen
stream The train was crowded with
people and was flying along at the
rate Of AZ 1-2 miles an hour at the time
It went through the bridge.
AS the engine struck the trestle
which had been weakened by the rush
Of waters, It gave way and the train
plunged down. Owing TO the fact that
the conductors list OF names was lost,
only an estimate Of the dead and miss.
ing can be had, but railroad officials
on the scene who are familiar with the
details admit that the list will range
between 80 and 100 and some place II
oven higher. ,,,rs
The work Of Identification is pro
ceeding slowly, most of the bodies
recovered along the river being cover
cd with mud making features unrecog
nizable.
Major whitman of Kansas, was iden
titled by a gold watch with the In
sctptiop: Presented by the Twen
tieth Kansas Infantry"
There ia no means of getting accu
rate figures until Conductor Smiths
body shall be found and the tickets
counted. Train No. 4 passed over the
bridge about forty-nve minutes before
No. IL reached II. The cloudbufst 90
CURED between 1880 and O'Clock bu
tho heaviest water FROM the hills evi
dehtly did not reach the tracks unit
after No. passed the bridge.
Only three pergons In the chair ca
escaped alive and these were more o.
less injured, the most serious being
J. M. KILN, a prominent hardware
MERCHANTS OF Pueblo who had mi
Fabulous escape from drowning. XII
lin was swept down Fountain river, in
to which Dry creek empties, for fou
miles before he succeeded in reaching
the bank.
station Agent T. F. Evans at Eden
and Mrs. Laura Lennon, were standing
at the station watching the train ap
proaoh. They saw her headlight leap
Ing toward them. The section hands
from Eden had been within few hun
dred yards of the bridge az their sec
tioA only called for an examination VI
to that point. Whistling for the Edel
station the engine plunged upon th'
bridge, only to crash Into the f0o'
beneath. Engineer Hinman had pulie'
out his watch just before the COW
catcher leaped on to the trestle. as h
vAe found with 1t still clutched in hi
hand under o tree halt mile dow
the creek severai ho6rs later. Th
Watch was still going whep the search
ing party pulled the body out. Fire
mSn Dave MayfieId wss shoveling coa
into the fire bog at the time. Tn
small wheels of the engine had jus
Tot over the trestle wheD there vas
Jerk, a crash and the bridge fell like
house Of cards. With It went the bae
gage, the smoker and the chair cars
The Pullman sleeper and the dinin
car remained on the track as the COZ
pling was wrenched from It's socket.
The engine tumbled back into tn
ditch on top of the baggage car, orusf
ing II like o pancake. The smoke
was flung about 100 feet east OF tn
bridge into the mater, 1t rolled owe
three times In the water with IT'D loat
The chair car, fihied mostly with won
Oh and children whirled through tn
avalanche of roaring water over tn
top of the smoker and was carrie
sway. Passengers In the wrecked car
were terribly maiInsd, as the cars. wey
spaashed like kindli9g wood and tn
Debris Was carried with the tide.