River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-01-21
'TWENTy-ONE DIE IN
RAIL COLLISION
PARTIAL LIST OF VICTIMS OF
COLORADO WRECK.
INJURED NUMBER THIRTY
Engineer Olson Claims He Misread
His Watch - Grewsome and
Pathetic Incidents of
the Disaster.

Glenwood Springs, Col, Jan. 1S.-
Twenty-one persons were killed and 80
injured, many of them seriously. in
the head-on collision between a pas
senger train and a freight train on the
Denver & Rio Grande near Dotsero.
While nothing official has been
given tut as to the cause CT the wreck,
it is said to have been due to a mis-
understanding of orders on the part of
Engineer Gustaf Olson of the passen-
ger train. Olson, however, claims he
understood his instructions perfectly,
but that he misread his watch, thus
encroaching on the time of the freight
train, which was being drawn by two
engines, the first of which was in
charge of his brother, Sig Olson. The
two trains met on steep grade.
The Dead and Injured.
Following is a partial list of the VIC
Tins:
Identified Dead: c. Davis of
Davis-Brigham Drug Company, Den
yer; Henry Dunn, ST. Louis; Mrs
Matte Ezell, Williston, N. D.; Clar-
ence A. Gooding, Washington; A. A
Hamilton, Polo, ILL.,; w. c. Kettle,
Ashton, Neb.; ]. d. Mahon, Princeton,
Ind; Rev. r. L. Meiley, either
Brooklyn, N. Y, or fredericksburg,
Pa; Dr. Arvilla A. Oleson, either Hill
dreth, Neb., or Axtell, Neb; G. w.
Oleson, st. Louis; John Williams,
Clarks, Neb.
Partial List of Injured: w. Adair,
Ravenna, o.; Mrs. G. Blake, Wapolin
Mo-. Thomas Elliott, Pendleton, Ia;
j. Fl. Hayden and child, Buffalo, o.:
Fred Jensen, Iowa Falls, Ia; John
Ross, laborer, Cleveland, O.. w. O..
VSnock, Omaha; H. B. Schuler,
board of police, Covington, Ky; S. J..
Martin, sergeantof police; T. j. Ezell,
Williston, N D.; Margaret Ezell, Will
liston, N. D.; Lillian Maht Prince
ton. Ind, wife of j. d. Mahon, killed.
Scene at Wreck Grewsome.
When the relief train from this city
reached the wreck the scene was ter
rible. AS the bodies were taken from
the ruins they were laid side by side
on bier of snow, amid the agonizing
shrieks of husband, wife, child and
parent as they searched among the
dead for their loved ones, many of
whom were mangled beyond all recog-
milton.
A pathetic feature of the accident
was the killing of father, leaving two
SMALL helpless children, the eldest be-
ing four years old, the youngest two
The elder boy told a nurse at the
sanitarium that his father called him
Bonnie, and this is all he will say
From a fellow passenger it was
learned that the family was en- route
to Grand Junction to visit relatives.
1t is supposed that Mr.. and Mrs.
Kettle, whose names appear among
the dead, were the parents of these
two little ones, who are badly injured.
Three-Months-OId Baby Found.
Another sad case was the destruc-
ton of an entire family with the ex-
ception of an infant of three months.
This helpless child was taken care Of
by kind family at Shoshone, who in
tend to adopt it.
One of the remarkable incidents of
the wreck was the miraculous escape
from the chair car of a Mr.. Stall of
Pueblo Col, a salesman for a COM
mission company of that city. Mr.
Stall escaped without a scratch.
Another heart-breaking scene was
enacted in the wreck zone when kind
hands gently lifted a four-year-old
girl from the death clasp of her
mothers arms Near by lay the body
of her father, decapitated