The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-04
TEN IRE RESCUED
FROM AVALANCHE
Car Dug Up From Slide With All
Passengers
Alive.
-------------
TERRIBLE SUFFERING
Relief Workers Spurrcd to New
rts--Horrors Multiply as
Days Pass known Dead IFS.

| port reached the officials Of the Great
Northern railway In this city that one
Of the cars buried by the great snow
slide near Wellington has been reach
ed intact, and that ten OF the persons
In II were still alive, but suffering
terribly from exposure. The report
Is not confirmed. ~ the wires to the
scene OF the disaster are destroyed.
and newB from there has to be
brought q considerable distance by
ccnriers.
Oficiais OF the Great Northern to-
| day denied reports that ten persons
had been rescued alive. They say
only one man has been rescued, half
dead, after sixty hours imprisonment
In the buried train. Others may have
escaped, they say. but there seems
little chance.
The heavy snowstorm of yesterday
and last night has changed TO an Icy
rain tQ=day--an -this- L. rstasdin4 the
work OF restoring communication as
well as hampering the force at work
on the slide.
| AZ the hours 90 by the horrors of thu
| disaster near Scenic, at the mouth Of
the Cascade tunnel. where q mighty
avalanche carried two heavy trains
from the tracks of the Great Northern
railway down into the canyon hum
dreds OF feet below, grow.
| To-day II - certain lI5 persons have
persisted. others may be buried be-
meath the frozen mass, but the on
ciais VINO have been taking a census
q the missing, declare this unlikely
Thirty-five bodies have been recovered
l'htrt lone have been identified. To-
day ~ lie. side by side, tenderiy
| wrap. "a In blankets, awaiting the
repairing Of the railway that they
can be carried to places OF burial.
The work OF recovering the bodice,
piufuiiy slow. owing to The nature
OF the slide The enormous mass OF
packed soiidiy to \ depth exceeding
hfty feet. Heavy snow falling al
most continuously inferferes with the
work Of the laborers and the volume
teers who nocked here from exer..
part OF the State.
The whole marks the worst tragedy
IN the history OF raiiroading In the
Northwest and il will, be many weeks
before normal conditions can be re-
stored.
Scene lAue-1nspiring.
The scene about the mouth Of the
tunnel u awe-inspiring. The great
pare mountain towers upward To a
height OF three thousand feet. one
week ago II was covered with snow
above which the tops of the trees tow
ered. To-day 1t Is swept bare OF all
teSetation Great burrows mar tie
niacK race OF the ioam as though,
they had been made by gigantic
piows Gaping holes as large as an
average building show where monster
trees were torn out roots and ali and
sent swiriing down into the abygs.
Boulders are left In fantastic hsaps
where they dropped out OF the
avalanche.
Down In the canyon into which the
trains were carried are acres OF snow
dotted on the surface with logs.
stumps. trees. pieces of broken ralt-
read equipment. IKE wreckage in a
stiH white lake, n q
On Its surface men can be seen
carrying long rods which from time
TO time they use as probes endeasoring
t. locate the solid wreckage
Away ACRES the canyon the snow
il piled up turee hundred feet. wi,er,,
broken against the mountain side.
The upper edge Is strewn with um-
beers. like a wooded beach at low tide.
Weighed 500. 900 Tens.
Railroad n.sn who have grown
gray fighting the snow in the moun-
tains estimate that there was a haif
millions tons weight in the slide when
| It reached the stalled trains. This
vast funsS, running AZ great TAte an
speed. hit the two heavy .rains and
the massed rotary piows and carried
them. like light reeds. down into the
canyon To destruction.
The bodies that have been taken out
Of the mass were all close to the SUR
face. The work of recovering the
others seems almost an impossible
task. Toiitng In the snow at the base
Of the slide the men work slowly and
f1,1H ~ II u
10 located with the dtvininE rods a
force Ut shovelers IL hurried 10 the
spot.
They dig a. rapidly as possible. but
the work Ii discouraging. as the snow
falls back almost as soon as II Ia
| removed. Usually II Il q piece OF
baggage or = bit or q broken car
that Ii uncovered. and there To now
q general belief that most Of the
missing bodies are 20 far below the
surface that Il will be long time
before they can be reached. All hope
for those In the Pullmans has been
abandoned. II was ut first thought
that some might yet be alive. owing
to the substantial construction cf the
cars, but ~ the digging proceeds y
becomes more and more plain that
even the giant steel mail cars could
hardly be powerful enough to with
stand the pressure.
From Skyhomish. sixteen miles
, from the scene Of the disaster.
i, constant stream OF relatives Of the
dead IL making Its way on foot to
where the workers are. Railroad men
stationed along the track try vainiy
ID drive them back. But they waited
too hong. willing 40 they are to risk
their lives
At the little hotel At tho mouth Of
/ the tunnel the scene II heart breaking.
Here wait those who know they have
relatives In the debris, and here they
cay they win remain until the bodies
arr found.
AEany TRAGEDIES.
A pitiful tragedy Ii that Of Mrs.
starrett, who sits. dry-eyeG. Just In
, side az the hotel. waiting and hoping
/ against hope. One year ngo her hus-
hand. m enxfneef On the Great Nnrfh-
ern. wss killed on tbs road only Il
short distance frnm here. She. her
father and mother, her son Raymond
and her two little girls were pasrcn-
gers on tilr Inflated spokane-Geattle
express. SHE and Raymond we're
saved In some miraculous and unex-
pfafned manner. but father mother
ana the two girls are buried IN the
white tomb below. and she waits and
watflsex and hopes
The bedy Of Conductor pettitt. n
/ EyeFrtt. WAS taken nut fo-dav, He
4 go 4 ssn2 ~ the t1erncs az the disaster