The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-17
MANY DIE IN WRECKED CARS
ESTIMATES OF THE DEAD IN mo
GRANDE CRASH run CP TO 80.
Men and Women Plnioned In Blazing Debris
Are Roasted to Death Before the Eyes
OF Those Unable TO Give AID Prisoner
ed to Seat Victim OF the Fire.

OF Those Unable TO Give Aid Prisoner
Handcune ed to Seat Victim OF the Fire.
PUEBLO, Col, March le.-The worst
wreck in the history Of the Denver and
Rio Grande Railroad occurred at 2 O'Clock
this morning at Adobe station, twenty-five
miles west OF here.
A westbound express drawn by two
engines collided with the night express
from Leadville, causing the death Of many
persons and injuring scores.
No sooner had the trains come together,
piling engine on engine and coach on coach,
than the mass of wreckage took fire.
Most of those who met death we're burned
alive in the debris.
Men and women pinned under the wreck
age were roasted to death before the eyes
Of their fellow passengers, who were power
less to aid.
Others expired in the arms Of the rescu-
ers after they had been dragged from the
flames. A number were injured by the
crash, but Of these it is not thought any
were fatally hurt.
The wreck is attributed to the failure of
an employee to deliver an order which
changed the meeting place Of the two
trains.
Estimates OF the number OF killed and
injured vary. The minimum estimate is
given out at the Denver offices of the rail-
road, where 1t is said that ff are killed
and between fifteen and twenty injured.
At the Rio Grande Offices in Pueblo the
,t;ra . - 20 f~rk.y Q,,N I1aI a~I toAntV axn
injured.
People who were in the wreck, not rail-
road officials, estimate the killed at fifty to
seventy-ive.
The identified dead included Engineers
Hollis and Causlett and Express Messenger
Mcfarland.
So many Of the bodies we're consumed by
the fire that the exact number may never
be known. Sixteen bodies have been iden-
titled, which Is more than the number Of
dead given out by the railroad officials.
OF the thirty-one injured only one, A.
CARRIER, Is from New York. He had an ear
badly lacerated.
Handcuffed to the forward seat in the
smoker, R. T. Whitney, convicted of forgery
and bound to the Colorado State peniten-
tiary for six years, powerless to help him
self as the hames reached him, died like a
rat in a trap.
PROSTATE on the floor of the car beside
him, his ears deaf to the appeals OF his
prisoner, Deputy Sheriff Edward E. Baird
Of Denver died in the performance Of his
duty, as the trains crashed together.
Whitney could not reach the man lying
at his feet to get the handcuffs key from
his pocket to free himself, 30 he was roasted
alive.
Mrs. c.. G. Turner OF Galesburg, H., is
doubly bereaved. for on the sad journey
homeward with the body OF her late hus-
band. the corpse was burned in the baggage
car Of the eastbound train.
The trains came together at a sharp
curve. against a high bluff. The engine
men were not aware Of their danger until
the trains were within 200 yards Of each
other.
At this point the Santa Fee and Denver
and Rio Grande tracks run near together
and it was easy for the enginemen to sup
pose that the train they were about to
meet was or the Santa Fe tracks.
The disaster is said to have been caused
by the night operator at Swallows, a sta
ton several miles east of Adobe, having
been asleep on duty. This operator tele-
graphed the dispatcher at Pueblo, in answer
to questions, that train No. 3 had not passed
his station, whereas it had gone by while
he was asleep. AS a result of this informa-
ton the dispatcher issued orders which
brought the two trains together.
A man named Murphy, who had escaped
from the blazing day coach %uninjured,
became heartsick over the sufferings of
those who we're roasting alive and returned
to try and aid them. Just az he reached
the car the Pintsch gas tanks exploded.
Murphy was knocked down. and he was
soon consumed by the flames.
DENVER, March 16.-The first detailed
story Of the Rio Grande disaster by a SUR
vivor was told here to-day by Edward F.
Wood, a Denver mail clerk, who escaped
with slight iniu ries from his car in Train
No. 3.
Il was sitting on my registered mail
sack, smoking a pipe" he said, when sud-
denly, a moment after l had felt tina car
swing around the wide curve at Adobe,
there came a terrific blow, and I was lifted
to my feet and hurled through the door.
Il landed at the bottom OF al eight foot
snow heap And was for a moment stunned
by the impact. Then l dug my way out
of the snow and made my way toward the
tracks.
when I got within twenty feet Of the
tracks, l heard a multitude Of cries, swelling
in one terrible chorus Of agony.
"Shrill above the mass Of groans and
shouts / could distinguish here and there
a single cry for help or for death.
Il ran to the train, but owing to the drv-
ing snow / could scarcely see anything.
But I distinguished women and men, pinned
under the shattered cars struggling to
escape, while the flames spread with great
rapidity.
Gradually I became more composed
and hurried forward to help.
Il can make no estimate Of the dead,
but ! am sure that the list will be terrible"
WOMAN PREACHER WILL WE'D.