The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1907-04-18

that a terrible wreck was about
to take place. I said to one OF
the travelling men who suggest
ed that we get off and remain
till morning. Well, I've ridden
her this far and / wall see her
clear thru
"We were tearing along at a
fearful rate of speed for some
distance before the train was
wrecked, but l was asleep and
didn't notice it till just a few
minutes before the crash came.
Some of the travelling men who
were playing Nola, grew SO ner-
vous that they couldn't play
any longer, so put away their
cards. Jerry Whitcomb, who
was on the train, remarked; 81
have been on the road for twen-
ty-fve years and have never been
in wreck, but boys, l believe
I've got lit coming, now. It
wasn't long after that till the
Oriental Limited lay in the ditch.
| realized when the first crash
came what had occurred and |
thought to myself that it was all
over. / was in the day coach
that was burned. The day
coach went over on it's 40, and
was twisted almost in tw.
I don't see in the world how all
of us in the coach escaped with
our lives. The tourist car came
humping along behind the day
coach, trying it's best to split
our coach in the middle, but |
tell you the vestibules we're
strong, and this couldn't be
done.
At'first we all thought we we're
on a high trestle and looking
out of the windows we could see
the snow below US and Thought
that it was a lake of water. How
we did climb up on the side oi
the coach, holding fast to the
parcel racks in order that the
car wouldn't fall off the trestle.
There were q number of women
and children in the car and how
they cried. Some of the passen.
gers crawled out of the windows,
but I was near the end and got
out of the door. l managed to
save my grips, but lost sever.
al parcels.
i will never forget the terrible
sight that met my eyes as j
crawled from that c9r. Coaches
lying everywhere. At first titwas
pitch dark, but in a few minutes
the acetylene tanks began to'ex.
ploda and this lighted up the
terrible scene. Coach after coach
caught fire and within afew min.
utes after the wreck occurred,
the coach in which l was travel
ing, caught fire and was burned
with six or eight Others.
Hundreds OF geese attracted
by the fires came from all about
and added to the weird scene.
Jerry Ferguson, the engineer,
soon came bleeding and went up
to where we were standing, and
was actually so dumbfounded
+hat ha dian't know his own
name for sometime. He had
been thrown fifty feet from his
engine into a pond. The engine
itself had gone over into the
ditch and lay a mass OF bent and
broken iron, half covered with
water and mud. The engine was
q new one, having been run but
Il few times. 1t was partially
buried beneath two cars.
The engineer stated that he
believed that the rails spread or
had been tampered with. |
don't believe this. | tell you
that train was going seventy
miles an hour and / believe that
the engine just jumped from the
track like a bird and sailed thru
the air. We had just come up
over q hill and was going down
grade. Part OF the wreck was
left in one county, and part in
another.
/ think there ought to be alaw
against fast travelling, and
against using those gasoline
tanks: think Ferguson is re.
sponsible in a degree for the
wreck, apd the Great Northern is
responsible in my opinion for the
of those men in the
smoking car.
| saw the body OF VIM. Jones,
the mail clerk, who was killed in
did not see any cuts
of any kind on him.