Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-17
LBy Associated Press I

/ ILENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo, Jan.
IA 1o.-IWenty-One persons were
| Killed and thirty injured, many of
them seriously, in a head-on collision
| between Westbound passenger train No.
and an eastbOund freight train on
the Denver & Rio Grande railroad be-
tween Dotsero and Spruce Creek,
twenty-five miles from Glenwood
Springs, at 1886 o'clock last night.
While nothing official has been given
out as to the cause of the wreck it is
SAID to have been due to a misunder-
standing of orders on the part of En-
glneer GuStaf Olson of the passenger
train.
Olson, however, claims that he un-
derstood his instructions perfectly, bur
that ne mlsread his watch thus en-
croach1ng on the time of the freight
train, which was being drawn by two
locomotives, the first Of which was in
charge Of his brother, Sig Olson
When news of the catastrophe
reached GlenwOod Springs every avail
| dDle' physician and nurse in the city
was pressed into service and a relief
train was soon on the scene, never to
De forgotten IN its gruesomeness and
horror.
Task Seems Unendinq
Body after body was taken from the
| Wreckage, and for time it appeared
as though the heartrending task would
never be completed
AS the bodies were taken from the
ruins they were laid side by side on
a bier amid the agonizing shrieks of
husband and wife, child and parent, as
| they searched among the dead for their
] loved ones, many of whom were man
| gled beyond recognition.
A pathetic feature of the accident
was the killing of a father and mother,
leaving two small children, the elder 4
and the younger 2 years old.
The elder boy told a nurse at the
sanitarium that his father called him
Bennie, and this is all he will say.
! From fellow passenger it was
learned that the family was en- route
to Grand Junction to visit relatives.
1t is supposed Mr.. and Mrs. Kettle.
whose names appear among the dead,
were the parents of these two little
ones, who are badly injured
Entire Family Killed
Another sad case was the destruction
of an entire family, with the exception
| of an infant of months.
| This helpless child was taken care
| of by a family at Shoshone which in
tends to adopt the sole survivor of a
once happy family.
| One of the remarkable incidents of
| the wreck was the marvellous escape
from the Inflated chair car of Mr..
| Stall of Pueblo Colo, salesman for q
commission company of that city.
! Mr.. Stall escaped without a scratch
| but soon afterWard suffered a severe
| nervous shock and is thought tonight
to be on the verge of nervous collapse.
Another heartbreaking scene was en-
| acted IN. the wreck zone when kindly
| hands gently lifted a pretty 4-year-oId
| girl from the death clasp of her moth
| er's arms. Nearby lay the body of her
| father. decapiJated, and on every side
were 1ifeless bodies.
| The body of woman was found w.
ing a dozen yards from the wreckage,
close to the banks of the Grand river,
| both arms missing and otherwise hor-
ribly mangled.
Injured Arrive at Springs
| A trainload Of thirty injured men
and women who had barely escaped
with their lives arrived in Glenwood
| Springs at Z o'clock this morning.
Carriages and wagonettes were wait
| ing at the Rio Grande depot
| The injured were taken to the county
hospital and to the sanitarium, and
when the cots and wards had been
| filled rooms were engaged in the hotels
of Glenwood Springs for the MANNED
1t was found at an early hour that
there was a shortage of surgeons, and
only first aid could be administered
until late this afternoon surgeons from
| all the Currounding cities began to pour
| into Glenwood Springs
| A woman died of her injuries on the
relief Irain while on her way here 1t
is expected that at least a dozen or
more who were brought here will sue
| cumb.
Train No. was made up of engine
and tender, baggage car, smoking car
chair car, tourist sleeping car and full
complement of Pullman sleepers and a
dining car.
The locomotives are up on end and
| Joined together as one piece of mech
anism.
Their wheels were rolled down into
the Grand river and pieces Of machin-
cry are scattered throughout the scene
Of the wreck
The smoking car was only partly de-
| rallied, while the chair car Immediately
following was completely telescoped by
| the tourist sleeper.
None of the Pullman sleepers left the
| track and no one was killed or In
jured in these cars. Most Of the dead
and injured were removed from the
ruins of the chair car which was split
? -,