The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-08-11
FR|CHTFUL RAIL HORROR
Two Car Loads of People DASHED to In
slant loom in Raging Torrent.

tremor in the great machinery and
caught glimmer on the water, he
shouted kis last words, Put out that
TORCH" evidently thinking that in the
accident he felt certain was coming
the flames would serve to spread fire.
But before Mayfie!d could obey,
while the words were still on the lips
Of the doomed man, and his hand
seeking the mechanism controlling
the air brakes, the bridge gave way
as thought it had been stack Of
kindling wood and the locomotive
dropped with the Kissing of steam 80
feet to the bottom CT the arroyo, cross
wise to the track.
The baggage car, smoking car and
chair car followed the locomotive into
the stream AMI were swept away. All
the occupants Of these cars except
three men perished, and had not the
roof of the car burst asunder none
would have escaped. The fireman, as
the locomotive went over, was thrown
out and, managing to grasp piece OF
Hreckage from the bridge, flOated with
that to a curve made by the cavins
bank and crept out of the water. He
ran toward Ellen, meeting On the way
Operator F. NJ. Jones and his wife,
who had heard the screams OF victims
and had already started Up the track.
Notify Pueblo came the voice or
running man, the trains gone down
and everybSdy is killed"
Relief trains with physicians and
wreck ard pile driving outfits and
scores of workmen were hurried from
Pueblo. The first train from the
wreck came in shortly after midnight
with ]. NJ. Killen, Of Pueblo; H.
Gilbert, Tony Fisher and Fireman
Mayfeld. These were four men in
the midst Of the wreck who escaped.
When dawn came the wonder grew
that four had been permitted 10
emerge from the raging torrent with
breath still in their bodies.
The end Of the Pullman car Wyuta
extended four feet over the brink,
while broken timbers and twisted rails
hung still further over. The gorge had
been widened to more than hundred
feet at the point where the bridge had
been. The water tore q zigzag course
across the prairie to depth of thirty
feet in several places. There was lii
tie left of the baggage car, few iron
rods, truck or so, dimly seen in the
muddy water, and a half buried iron
safe. The great locomotive, the boiler
free Of the trucks, the cab and tank
gone. lies where it fell.
A quarter of mile to the east,
where the gorge of death debouched
into Fountain creek, lay the chair car,
windows gone, threefourts filled with
mud and sand. A hundred feet far
ther on was the smoker bottom up.
against a sand bar. = hundred and
fifty feet farther on, in the bed OF
the Fountain was the coal tender Of
the engine ana from that point on for
four or FIVE miles, ,vestiges of the voach-
es. the engine and tender stuck up
from the bed Of the stream or lay
along the shore or en- the islands. Red
plush seats of the smoker were streWn
al along the stream. Brass rails from
the coaches were found in the sand a
half mile from the bridge, and pieces
cf the baggage car stuck out CT the
water in several places. Bits of CLOTH
irr coats. skirts and women's hats
we're found il the brush along the
shore. and the searchers scanned the
foliage for bodies. Masses of earth
had caved in from the high sides of
the river at many places and search
ers passed these with fear that bodies
we're 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. They
vaded in the stream and carried ont
bodies which we're
found at widely separated points,
some OF them miles from the scene
of the accident.