Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1907-08-31
PASSENGERS HAVE
MIRACULOUS ESCAPE
Women Faint. Men Climb Through
Car Windows. Scene ShrOuded
by DdrkneSS---Trdinmen
Saved by Swinging From
Roofs of Cars.

The passengers off train No. ?,
which was wrecked thirty-five miles
east of Las Vegas at s o'clock last
evening, arrived here early this
morning on relief train sent out
from Las Vegas.
No one was injured in the wreck,
but il is miracle that there was
not as the engine and every car left
the track and all the ears turned
over but one. the rear Pullman.
Narrow Eicape.
No. . was late and according to
passengers had been running at a
terrific speed, making up time until
q few seconds before the wreck. The
wreck occurred on curve and ON
approaching the curve, which was a
bend to the west, the engineer wisely
slowed down. However, even slowly
moving train was too much of a
strain for the track, which was badly
weakened 10y the recent rains. The
rails turned under the pressure OF
the car wheels and the weight above
them The engine followed the track
but the cars broke loose and skid
dcd across the level prairie, the
foremost one for a distance of for;G
feet from the roadbcd, and turned
over.
Confusion Rci@ned.
Darkness covered the scene which
followed and the passengers groped
through the overturned cars for eN.
its to the open ar. The doors al
the dly coach and the sleepers could
be opened. but the passengers In the
smoking car were compelled l.
crawl through the ear windows
There were "A number OF women and
children on the train. Some screamed
and others tainted.
babies in Wreck.
The passengers tell pitiful story
Of man on one of the overturned
sleepers, who was accompanied by
his wife and two little children. The
woman tainted ana the children
cried. Taking a child in each arm
the man climbed out and left them
returned for his fainting wife. II
was not raining then but it had been
raining short time previous and tn,
ground was damp and the grass wet
The stronger of the passengers
cnmfurted the weaker ones. and all
together they stood i'm groops beside
the wrecked train, which was barely
visible above the horizon i'm the dark-
ness
Arrival of Relief.
The wrecking crew ana the relie'
train arrived about two hours and a
half after the wreck ana then bcg1r
the work OF getting the baggage ou'
of the overturned cars. Within Iirty
minutes the passengers and ba gag
We're gotten aboard the relief train
and the journey westward cont. 'ue1
Escape OF Passengers MiraculoI..
one passenger who made careful
examination of the wreck and the
ruadbed after the wreck. said this
morning that IL was certainly mir
L Tl,g1 l..
the softened roadbed caused the
wreck, il also helped To save the lives
of the passengers. The rail evidently
just simply turned over and rolled
from beneath the car wheels. The
engine guided by its front trucks
which stuck to the rails till the last
followed the center of the rOadbed /
which was Of rock ballast. When the
engine finally came To "a stop. some
Of its wheels rested ON rails that had
overturned. The cars had followed
the roadbed for quite "a distance, un-
90 the engine broke loose. then un'
hampgred. they struck sOutheaSterlN
course aud carried by their momeu-
tuW, skdded over the wet ground ur.
til the foremost car was forty fee
from the track. They carried some
of The rails with them quite a dis-
tauce. when finally the cars came
tp stop, they turned over To the
fact that they remained upright
while moving may be attributed tD
the miraculous escape Of the passen
gers.
The mail and baggage cars wer,
the only part uf the equipment tina
suffered much damage These car
We're SO badly wrecked that the mai
and baggage could not be eNtracte,
from the WTecklgc iu time Go be pu
aboard the relief train, but is eN
prDtcd This evening.