Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-03-23
HIRTY-SIX HOURS OF IECESSANT
TOLL BEHIND DISASTER ON D.
SR. G. RAILWAY.
KNOWN DEAD OVER q.
impact of Awful Collision Was Hardly
Felt in Several Coaches, but Fire
Car on Quickly.

yer & Rio Grande railroad will never be
known, it undoubtedly will take rank
among the great disasters in the his
tory of railroading. Conservative esti-
mates on the loss of life place the num-
Der of dead at thirty-six. Seventeen
charred, unrecognizable bodies lie in the
Pueblo morgue, five other persons are
known to be dead, and possibly score
of bodies were burned to ashes. There
was not single entire body recovered
from the wreckage with the exception
Of the enginemen, who although mangled
had not beer reached by the flames.
All the injured will, it is believed, re-
cover. It is not likely that the remains
of any of the other victims can be lden-
tilted.
Weary Operator Wrecks Cause.
Pueblo, Col, March 17.-An operator
who had worked for seventy-two con
secutive hours without rest is RESPONSE
BILE for the wreck on the Denver Il Rio
Grande railroad at 2:2O o'clock Friday
morning, in which many of the passen-
gers-the number being variously estl-
mated from twenty-one to thirty live
were crushed or burned to death.
E 7. Lively, the operator whose tail
ure to deliver the train order that re-
suited in the collision, had not been ar
rested up to this morning, and it is
considered probable that no action
against him will be taken until after the
coroners inquest. Lively says OF his
failure to deliver the train order, Il was
asleep; that's all
Twenty-one Known Dead.
Twenty-one men, women and children
are known to De dead. A collection of
charred bones thrown prOmiscuously
into big box will forever hide the lden-
tity of perhaps fifteen or twenty more.
In one of the burned cars was party
of foreigners, emigrants seeking new
homes in the northwest. Only a rev
bits of blackened bone remain as mute
witnesses that these foreigners had lived
and died. The revised list OF known
dead is as follows:
BAIRD, EDWARD E.. deputy sheriff,
Denver.
BARKLo. A. n, salida, Colo: ~
BARKLO. MISS GRACE, Salida, coo. ,
CROSSLETT, WALTER, engineer No. g.
CoWLEY, ED. Lebo, Kan.
COWLEY, MRS. ED, Lebo, Kan.
HEWITT, TAYLOR, Lebo, Kan.
HEWITT, MRS WINONA, Lebo, Kan,
HEWITT, PEARL, 10 years DID, Leoo'
FIELDS. RAY. aged 10. Keystone, Wyo.
HEWITr, MRS. CATHERINE, and baby
boy, Lebo. Kan.
HEWITT, MRS; LILLIAN, , Lebo' n gan r.
T TeSlG FRED. Lcbo, Kan
LEMECOOLEI. FRED, Denver.
TPARLAND, ENOS, express Messenger
MrRPHY, PATRICK, Florence, Colo;
ai sT On Tf1' n D., fireman No. 16, Pu-
eD WEBB. MRS. BELLE, keystone, wyo
WHITNEY,, ARCHlBALdD o,. prisoner E ON IN
charge of Deputy Sheriff Baird, Denver.
Trains Meet in Binding Storm.
The wreck of the two trains occurred
in y binding storm of snow, which made
if impossible for the trainmen to see
ahead, even on a straight track. Ihe
Utah and California express NO. ),
vestbound, left Pueblo over an hour and
a half late and was given orders to meet
the Colorado and New Mexico express,
No. 10, eastbound, at Florence. rms
order was changed and the westbound
train was directed to pass the eastbound
train at Beaver. about twelve miles east
of Florence The order should have
been delivered to the train crew at SWal-
low. ten miles east of the scene OF the
wreck. but the operator there, s. Il. Live
". fell. asleep and the order was not de-
livered. AS he slept No. passed
through Swallow
Operator Asleep at His Post.
A few minutes later Operator Lively
was asked by the dispatcher at Pueblo
if No 8 had passed. He answered:
NO"
Then No 10, a following westbound
train, came along. Lively gave the or
ders to the engineer of Ne. Is. who said:
''These are No. 3's orders"
Lively Immediately notified the dis
patchers of his failure to deliver No. 3's
order, but it was then too late to prevent
the wreck. In the meantime the east
bound train had received it's orders and
expected to meet the westbOund train at
Beaver.
Both trains were running at the usual
speed. the deep snow and high wind
making it necessary to exercise eXcep-
tional care. Suddenly both headlights
flashed out from the darkness, and it
was realized for the first time that some
thing was wrong
Impact Scarcely Felt, Men Say.
From the stories told by several of
the trainmen who survived and who
were in the forward part of the train,
the impact was scarcely noticeable, but
| the crushing. grinding noise that fol-
lowed warned them that something had
been struck. The helper engine on No.
5 evidently acted as a sort of cushion,
! minimizing the force and weight of the
| heavy mountain engines. This helper
was crushed together like so much pa
| per, and the monster machines ran
| through, locking themselves together as
| if in Il death struggle.
Fireman Smith was the only one of
| the engine crew to escape.
Fire Completes the Horror.
Hardly had the trainmen and passen-
GERS reached a realization that all was
| not right when the other horror, sheet
| of FIRE. ran through the cars on both
! sides of the engines, and i'll a twinkling
the cracking sound of breaking timbers
| started them to action.
In the forward coach of the west
| bound train every seat was occupied by
| the passengers. most of whom were
| homeseekers on their way to the north
west. Paralyzed with fear and with