The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1906-03-20
COLORADO TRAINS CRASH
Fatal Disaster on The Denver and
Rio Grande Railway,
PASSENGERS ROASTED 10 DEATH

Express and Local Meet Head ON
While Going at High Speed on a
Curve Near Adobe Coi.-Engines and
Coaches Turn Over and Flames ADD
to Horror.
Pueblo, Colin a binding snow
storm which prevailed in the Arkan-
sas Valley, trains No. 16 east-bound
and No. west-bound, on the Denver
and Rio Grande Railroad, collided,
head-on, at Adobe Station, near Port
land, Col, about thirty miles west Of
Pueblo. at two o'clock a. m.
The accident brought death in most
horrible form to at least thirty-fve
persons. Half of them were inciner-
ated so completely that Identification
in some cases is impossible, and the
determined. The injured number about
twenty and all will recover.
Engineer William Hollis, Of No. 16,
and Engineer William Consullette, Of
No. 8, are among the dead The fire.
man on No. 16 was also killed, but
J. Fl. Smith, fireman of No. 3. es-
capped by jumping, being badly hurt.
Express Messenger Mcfarland, Of
Denver, on No. 49, caught under the
wreckage and burned to death while
persons stood by helpless. Some tried
to stop the flames by throwing snow
on the man, but he finally succumbed.
The majority of the dead were pas
sengers in the forward coach of No.
8. How many met their fate may new
er be konwn, as this car. together with
ten others, was entirely consumed by
the fire which started two minutes
after the locomotives came together.
The appalling loss of life was caused
by explosion of an acetyiene gas tank
in the smoking car of one Of the trains.
AT first, terrified by the crash and
flames, most of the occupants were
stupefied by the gas and dropped down
in the wreekage to be burned Only
two passengers escaped from the car
in which the explosion occurred.
One man in the car where the ex-
piosion occurred managed to raise a
window and got part way through.
when his body stuck and the flames
swept over him. Roasting alive, he
begged that lie be shot A burning
beam fell upon his head and ended his
suffering, while fellow passengers stood
by, helpless to save him and others
who persisted in plain sight.
One of the pathetic tragedies of the
disaster was the wipiDg out of all ex-
cept two of the eleven members Of the
Hewitt family of Lebo, Kan. The two
surviving sons, d. A. and w. T.. Hew-
lit, are among the injured in Pueblo
hospital. Their father, mother, wives
and children were all burned, after the
two men had struggled desperately to
release them from the debris.
Two stumps of arms with handouts
clasped on the bones, lying in the ashes
near an officers revolver, told of the
end of Deputy Sheriff Baird and his
prisoner, Whitney. Whitney was an
actor who passed some bad checks
while stranded in Denver. Whitney
was an assumed name. He was on his
way to the penitentiary.
A dozen injured were rushed to Pu-
eblo on relief train. The scenes at
the wreck, after the cars began to
burn were too horrible to describe.
One man, badly hurt was pinioned
under an iron rod. He begged the
other passenger to help him. They
worked until the flames reached the
spot, when the man said
II am too badly hurt to want to live.
Save yourselves and let me die"
A man and his wife were trying to
get out of one of the car windows
when an iron rod caught them. They
were burned alive, together with their
little child. which was near them.
Another man begged to be taken
from the wreck. When the rescuers
took hold Of his hands all the flesh
came off the bones. He was dead a
moment later.
Almost every person killed in the
wreck was cremated and little re-
mains except blackened timbers and
twisted rods, with here and there a
pile of ashes.
The impact overturned both locomo-
tives. A smoking car and day coach
on the express were also thrown vi0-
lently off the track and upset. Fire
started Immediately in both these cars,
and it is said that few Of the passen-
gers in either of them escaped.