The Springfield herald., 1909-08-20


to midnight as a result of the head
on collision on the Denver & Rio
Grandc at Hustled, twelve miles north
of Colorado Springs Saturday morn
ing.
Five hundred souls have looked into
eternity and nine have not looked
back. Still others are battling for
life with the odds against them. That
the death list will be swelled half
dozen more is probable, judging from
the injuries sustained by that many.
The cause:
The members of the crew in
charge of train No. s north
bound read their orders to walt
at Hustled for No. 1 second
section southbound, and then espied
an engine on the sidetrack. Its end
was obscured by thick underground.
and, mistaking it for the engine of
train No. !, they went ahead.
Train No. l was rounding the curve
less than 800 yards away. Its con
ductor saw No. approaching. H.
applied the airbrakes and No. 1 wa
stopped. No. S. oblivious to the fat'
that awaited it. double-headed, just
had time to apply the airbrakes before
1t crashed into No. /.
The impact was terrific. Three gi-
ant locomotives came together, built
a pyramid and then toppled over.
The tender of No. SIS second engine
forced its way into the combination
baggage car and smoker of No. l, put
ting it on end and injuring only two
persons.
The combination smoker and bag
gage car of No. was split in twain,
its human cargo was hurled through
windows, pinioned under seats, shot
through windows. pinioned under
seats, shot through the roof. Death
and destruction were everywhere.
In that car the carnage was great
est. There were two coaches. an OBJ
servation car. a chair car and two
sleepers behind the combination smok-
er and baggage car on No. 8. They
carried upwards of 27S passengers.
Behind the first coach on train No.
/ were two observation cars. the train
carrying in all 1877 passengers.
Nearly three score were injured. AS
many had miraculous escapes and the
brown and red of the hillsides ran
rivulets of blood.
Bodies were hurled through closed
windows, across the railroad right-of-
way and into enclosed pastures; 9TH
ers fell down the embankment and
the groans of the dying and the
shrieks of the injured rang in the ears
of the more fortunate.
1t all happened in the twinkling of
an eye.
Passengers saw their seat compan-
ions carried inlo eternity as candle
is snuffed out, while they themselves
were left blinking and only half-con-
scious OF what had taken place.
1t was wreck without reason.
One little girl, name unknown, was
thrown as from catapult through an
open window up in the air ten feet
or more and alighted at the bottom
OF the embankment, none the worse
for her experience.
A man, ID. w. Johnson of Denver,
engineer of No. 1, was pulled from un-
der the body of ]. A. Gossage. fire
man on the other train. with only his
left hip and back injured. Gossage was
killed outright.
There are forty-four men and eigh-
teen women in the list of injured. Not
one woman was fatally hurt.
Some little children escaped with
out a scratch. One boy, half-grown, re-
ceived some bruises on his leg. His
father, who sat beside him, had his
leg broken.
There were other strange features
and many condolences.
Fireman Gossage met death almost
in his front yard. His wife and four
children, living on ranch at Hustled,
were the first to arrive on the scene.
Mrs. Gossage swooned In the arms OF
sympathetic passengers.
The little ones clapped their hands
and gleefully shouted "Papa!" They
did not know their father was beyond
the range of tiny voices!
The scenes were heartrending.
With 400 men, women and children
on the escape list there was state
of panic aboard the relief train.
Dr. Henry w. Hoagland and DIR. e..
F. Slough were among the first ply
sicians to reach the scene. Miss Mar
garet Kredel, a trained nurse. hap
pened to get aboard at Palmer Lake
and she was kept busy during the
short ride to the Springs.
The dead and dying had the right
Of way of Colorado Springs streets
all afternoon and night. Every dead
wagon was pressed into service, and
carriages and automobiles were used
for ambulances.
List of the Dead.
F. w. Beetles, Colorado Springs.
James Rozporka. Chicago.
c. NJ. Larkin, Colorado Springs.
C. S. Brown. Jericho Springs, Mo.
T. e. Murphy, Denver.
j. A. Gossage, Hustled.
A. a. Davidson, Mcpherson, Kan.
F.. G. Frederick, st. Louis.
Joseph J. Parker. Chicago.