The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-02-03
MANY DEAD AND HURT
IN COLORADO WRECK
Denver & Rio Grande Train
Crashes Into a Freight.
ENGINEER MIsREADS HIS WATCH
Only Twelve of the Victims Are
Known-Unidentifed Dead Are
Women and Children Badly
Mangled-None in Slecpers Hurl

Glenwood Springs, Col.-Twenty'
one persons were killed and forty in
1ured, many of them seriously, in
head-on collision between a west
bound passenger train and an east
bound freight train on the Denver
anC RIO Grande Railroad, between
Dotsero and Spruce Creek, twenty
two miles from Glenwood Springs, al
s.36 o'clock at night. Following is q
revised list of the dead and descrip'
lions that may assist in the Identified
ton of the unidentified dead.
The identified dead were: J. D
Mahon, Princeton, Ind; A. A. Ham
ilton, Polo, ILL.,; w. c. Kettle, Ashton,
Neb.; Mrs. Matte Kettle, Ashton
Neb.; Mrs. Matte Ezell, Williston, N,
D.; G. w. Oleson, st. Louis, Mo-; DR.,
Arville A. Oleson, either from Hill;
dreth, Neb., or Axtell, Neb.; the Rev
r. L. Meiley, either from Brooklyn
N. Y, or fredericksburg, Pa; Clar'
ence A. Gooding, Washington; john
Williams, Clarks, Neb.; John Will
Jams, Des Moines, Iowa; j. G. Davis,
OF Davis Brigham Drug Co., Denver;
Henry Dunn, St. Louis, Mo.
The unidentified dead were:
Twelve-year-old boy; eight-year-old
girl, wearing plain ring>on third fin
ger left hand; ten-year-old boy, light
hair; six-year-old girl, light hair and
eyes; woman, full face, brown hair,
about thirty years old, wore blue
plaid %petticoat and Catholic brooch;
woman, nc description, badly mutilat'
ed; woman, black hair, dark com.
.plexion, plain gold ring inscribed
Nancy" shoes stamped "Selby Shoe
Company, Portsmouth, Ohio" WON
an, with red sweater, blue and white
striped waist, about f~orty-fve years
Of age, weight about 10 pounds.
All the unidentified are women OF
children, and their bodies T badly
mangled.
While nothing official has been
given out as to the of the
wreck, it is said to have been due tc
a misunderstanding of orders on the
part of the engineer, Gustaf Olson.
Of the passenger train. Olson, how.
ever, asserts he understood his in.
s%tructions perfectly, but that he mis-.
read his watch, thus encroaching 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 the news of the catastrophe
reached Glenwood Springs every
available physician and nurse in the
city was pressed into service and a
relief train was made up. .. i
A pathetic feature of the accident
the killing of a father, leaving
two small children, the eldest being
four years old, the youngest two The
elder boy told a nurse at the santa.
rum that his father called him Ben.
ME, 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 sup
posed that Mr.. and Mrs. Kettle, whose
names appear among the dead, were
the parents of these two little ones
who are badly injured.
None of the sleepers left the track
and none was killed or injured In
these cars, most of the dead and in.
jured being removed from the ruins
Of the chair car, which was complete.
ly split in twain.