The Detroit times., 1910-03-05
DISBURSEMENT
over 100 PERISH
dies Of 35 Who Were Killed by
avalanche Are Recovered-Ten
/ Victims Reported Rescued Alive.
o. ca aaE c. coWINe.
tan Correspondent Of the United
Press and Detroit Tsnes.)


mighty avalanche carried two heavy
n1ns from. the tracks Of the Great
Ioxtbern railway down into the can
10 hundreds of feet belw.
Today II Is certain over 100 persisted.
hirty-fiye bodies have been recover
Thirty-oue have been Identified.
oday they lie. side by side, wrapped
h blankets awaiting the repairing Oh
he railway so they can be carried 10
1aces of burial.
The work OF recovering the bodies
1s pitifully slow owing TO the nature
Tot the slide. the enormous mass OF
earth, trees. vegetation and snow, be-
Ing packed solidly 10 a depth exceed
Ing fifty feet Heavy snow falling al
most continually interferes with the
work of the laborers and volunteers
who have fiocked here from every
/ part of the state.
A report reached the officials Of the
Great Northern railway In this city
that one Of the cars buried by the
/ great snowside near here has been
reached intact. and that ten Of tho
persons in II We're still alive. but SUI
fering. terribly from exposure The re-
port is not confiremd.
Scene Is e-lnspirlng.
The great bare mountain towers up
ward TO a height of three thousand
feet. One week ago IL was covered
with snow above which the tops OF
the trees lowered Today Il is swept
bare OF vegetation. Great burrows
mar the black face OF the. loan az
Though they had been made by gigan-
tic plows. Gaping holes as large as
IN average building show where mon
eter trees were torn out roots and
all and sent swirling down into the
I abyss. Boulders are left in fantastic
heaps 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 and pieces OF broken
|railroad equipment.
On its surface can be seen men
carrying long rods which from time
to time they use as probes endeayor-
ing to locate the solid wreckage.
Away across the canyon the snow
Is piled up three hundred feet Where
\ lt broke against the mountainside.
The upper edge Is strewed with trees
like q wooded beach at low tide.
Railroad men who have grown gray
4 lighting the snow in the mountains.
u estimate that there was half a million
Etons' weight in the slide when Z:
Preached the stalled trains This vast
4 mass, running at great rate OF
speed, hit the two heavy trains and
the massed rotary plows and carried
Them, like little reeds, down into the
cany0n to destruction
Work Of Recovery Is Slow.
The bodies that have been taken
out OF the. mass were all close to the
surface. The work of recovering the
others seems an almost impossible
task. Toiling in the snow at the base
Of the slide the men work slowly an
Z carefully. When ever anything solid
\ Is located with the divining rods "a
FORCE of shovelers is hurried to the
spot. !. They dig as rapidly as pos
sible but the work is discouraging as
y the snow falls back almost as soon
4 as IL is removed. Usually II is a
4 piece of baggage or bit OF broken
ear that is uncovered and the general
belief is now that most of the missing
bodies are so far below the surface
n that 1t will be a long time before
N they can De reacneQ.
N All hope for those in the PulmanS
4 has been abandoned. 1t was at first
thought some might yet be alive
owing to the substantial construction
OF the ears but as the digging pro
ceeds, IL becomes more and more
4 plain that even the giant steel mai
cars could hardly be powerful enough
10 withstand the pressure and tha
they must have given away before 4
like structures of tin.
From Skykomish. 16 miles from the
scene of the disaster, constan
stream of relatives OF the dead Il
making it's way on foot 10 whore the
workers are Railroad men stationed
along the track try vainly to drive
them back. But they waited too Ions
without word and they are not 10 bC
denied. willing as they are 10 rist
their lives to find out definitely 4
their loved ones are dead. The scene.
about the little hotel at the mouth NJ
the tunnel are heart breaking Here
wait those who know they have rela
tives in the debris and here they say
they will remain until the bodies are
found.
Father, Mother and Two Girls Die
A pitiful tragedy is that OF Mrs
Starrett who sits. dry-eyed. Just in
K side the hotel, waiting and hoping
against hope, A year ago her hus
band. an engineer on the Great North
ern. was killed on the road only a
short distance from here. She, her
father and mother. her son Raymond
! and her two little girls were pas
eengers on the Inflated Spokane
Seattle express When the slide came,
Just one year To the day after her
husbands death she and Raymond
were saved In some miraculous and
Unexplained manner. But father,
mother and the two girls were. buried
IN the white tomb below. and she
waits and watches. and hopes.
n The body Of Conductor Petit OF
n Everett was taken out today He was
one OF the heroes OF the disaster
h Fearing that a slide would come he
& headed party or passengers that
struggied through the snow from his
imprisoned train 90 Scenic When he
reached that point he was warned that
4 might cost him his lie TO try 20
set back. He spurned the advice His
duty was with his train and he went
back 20 get more passengers and
bring them out He forced. his way
back TO the train only. TO meet death
with tho passengers in bis cars
the OILY persona not residents OF
@ the northwest. Who were killed are
Bert Matthews. Of Cincinnati: Edward
r1<1.1 ~ Noho,i., -. =. -.