The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-19
BRIDGE FALLS WITH TRAIN.
SCORES OF PASSENGERS lost IN
CIMARRON RIVER FLOOD.
Rock Island Railway structure Weakened
by High water e. % the Many in
the smOker and Nay Coaches Rescued
-PuIImans and Chair Cars Saved.


-PuImans and chair Cars Saved.
DOVER. Okla. Sept. ls.-Rock Island
passenger train No. ~, known a. theeTexas,
Kansas City and Chicago Express. due to
arrive at Kansas City at $50 p. M. to-day.
went down.with the bridge over the Omar
ron River. q mile and a half south Of this
place, about $50 O'Clock this morning.
The entire train, except the Pullman
sleepers, disappeared In the river.
Men, women and children. still drowsy
from their nights ride, were plunged to
death before they we're aware Of danger.
The number Of lead can only be con-
jectured. 80 far a. known here. the loco
motive. two baggage cars and two, and
possibly three, day coaches are In the river.
This train usually has a heavy patronage,
and it Is possible that fully twOscore per-
sons were drowned.
Clyde Chest, 10 years old. who was re-
turning to his home here from Geary, Okla,
made a thrilling escape. He said:
Il was sitting in the front compartment
OF the smoker, ready to get OF at Dover.
The only other person In this part OF the car
was the negro porter. There we're possibly
seven or eight men In the other cOmpart-
ment. As the engine passed onto the
bridge l was aroused by three short shrieks
Of the whistle.
Il felt the train gently sinking beneath
me. I ran 70 the front door, but by the
time l reached it the train was in the river
and the water was up to my knees. The
water was about twenty feet deep where
the bridge broke. To save myself | logan
A. - A.. - II A.. a-.altgw .nw
The porter was ahead OF me.
Il had great trouble lifting myself from
the water and asked the porter, who was
now On the roof, to TAX my hand and give
me a lift. lie answered that he had TO look
n for himself and did not help me. That
was the last | heard him say. Afew seconds
later he wa swept into the water and car
ried away
The smoking car had drifted down the
river possibly a hundred yards, and l
resolved to try to swim. plunged into the
water and was whirled down stream like
a cork. / managed to pull Oh my coat,
M then l tore on my cotton shirt, but a
heavy flannel baseball shirt was too strong
To be torn and l could not remove IL.
Neither could l get out u my shoes and
trousers.
AS | was carried down the river saw
two men swimming ahead OF me-. Both
seemed greatly frightened and one was
calling for help. As l passed them l told
them To take it easy and not get scared.
l have known the river for years at this
point, 80 I swan for a small island about
a mile and a half down the river, and finally
reached 1t. From there ! waded and swan
10 the north bank. l went 10 a farmhouse
where I got clothing and then walke 70
Dover.
Il saw two other men floating down the
river behind me. Finally l lost sight OF
all OF them. and l suppose they were
drowned
Giest was unable to estimate the number
Of passengers on the rain. He said he was
certain that several women who, with their
children, got on the train with him at Geary
last night were lost.
Frank Cullen, one Of the advance crew Of
the Forepaugh-Sells circus, was one Of those
picke ed up by a farmer several miles below
the wreck. He said:
Il was in the smoker, and the first thing
l knew there was a grinding sound, a. OF
something falling. In a second we were
in the water with the coach turned on its
side and / crawled ont OF a window. The
| car WAS WIlTtfu dTOhtl anu uTOuiiI ny NHC
water, but we managed to hang on. In a
few minutes we grounded in midstream and
we tried to pull of our clothing. The waves
were 80 high that 1t wa all we could do to
hold on
W had been there about half al hour
when the whole bridge fell. The big waves
and wreckage struck US, throwing us all
into the water. The car was overturned
and completely submerged. Several Of us
had been sitting on top Of the car trying to
figure ont some means Of escape.
MY partner, Han Littlefield. was about
| all in when the wreckage struck us. l saw
him 90 down and am quite sure he was
drowned. How | was saved | don't know,
az | cannot swim. Tn water was full OF
floating heads and bodies all around me,
and / am sure that not many Of them es-
capped. IL was a hard matter TO get out Of
the window and help Littlefeld through.
The coach was 40 full that II IL almost in
conc elvable that 80 many got out. The
chair car and two Pullmans remained on
the track"
The entire su~perstructure OF the bridge,
a wooden affair, IL gone, and only a few
piles at the approaches are standing. About
400 yards down. the river, washed against
the south BANK, II a naI SuDmeTReu car,
seemingly a baggage car, while about 100
yards from the bridge, also lodged against
the south bank, isanother car. o OF the
| other cars il in sight.
Two Pullmans and the chair car stood
alone or the prairie, where they had been
stopped by the air brakes when the forward
cars went down with the bridge.
A man who went TO the river as soon
a. young Geist reached Dover said he saw
four men on top Of a car, which he thought
was the smoker, in the middle OF the river,
waiting for help. Not more than $50 feet
OF the south end Of the bridge vent down
with the train, out while this man was
looking at the four men on the car the main
structure gave way and the stretch Of ties
and rails swept around like a sickle, struck
the car and knocked the -four men into the
water. He saw them drown.
The Cimarron at the scene Of the disaster
is fully 800 feet in width, its waters red with
the soil through which the river flows.
Great eddies sweep down the middle Of the
channel,
The river was swollen with what is known
as a head rise in the Northwest, which Ia a