Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1910-03-03
SCENE FAR REMOVED
FROM ALL OUTSIDE AID
Only Stories Told of the Disaster Are
Brought by Those Who Crawl Over
the Mountain Trials and Their
Periloas Descent Render Them
Hysterical.



dead in the Wellington avalanche.
based on a list of dead and missing.
given out tonight by officers of the
Great Northern Railway, may reach
total of "a before the rescuers reach
the bottom of the mass of snow and
wreckage that crushed the two trains
into a deep gulch. While only eight
passengers and nine railroad en-
p!oyees are known to be dead. 3S pas
sengers and 30 employees of the road
are missing Railroad men think few
of the missing will be recovered alive
if they are buried under the snow.
Although 4S hours have passed since
the snow slide wrought its havoc at
the mouth of the Cascade tunnel. far
removed from outside aid, no detailed
account has been received of what
hcDpened. The only stories of the
disaster have come from those who
crawled over the mountain trails.
Witnesses Hystercat.
Several men, on arriving az Senic.
the nearest railroad station. were
unable TO describe what they had
seen. The eperils OF their descent of
the mountain had made them hysteri-
cal
To add to the difficulties, the only
telegraph wires into Senic failed to-
night. Rescue parties are working
desperately to recover the passengers
from the burid coaches. The day
coach and the smoking car have not
been found. They were mashed fiat,
il is said. One woman was rescued
from a Pullman, after twelve hours
Imprisonment, under the snow.
Worked in Bare Feet.
Brakeman Duncan and Conductors
Purcell and Clary, who were in one
of the cars that was smashed to
splinters, escaped with slight bruises.
In bare feet they worked for hours,
helping the injured and saving those
caught under the wreckage.
Mrs. NJ. A. Covington. of Seattle,
who is missing, was on her way to
celebrate her golden wedding tenor
row. Mrs Starrett, of Chemainus, b.
c.. and one child. were saved. but
two Of her children were killed. All
the injured are being cared for at
Wellington and Scenic.
Ii is thought ali will recover. II is
now said that the reason the train
was not kept in the tunnel. where il
would have escaped the slide. was
that passengers feared they would be
blocked in and suffocated there.
Travel on Snow Shoes.
Communication with Wellington is
maintained only by men on snow
shoes. Twelve bodies had been re-
moved tonight from the $50 foot
gorge. into which the snow slide
swept the trains.
The railroad penthouse at yelling
ton has been transformed into a hos
pital and ten injured are being cared
fer there.
Superintendent OneaI. Of the Great
Northern. made his way TO the wreck
late today at the head of a party OF
doctors and nurses. The treacher0us
trip down the precipice was made on
snow shoes.
The nearest telegraph station. Seen
ic Hot Springs. is thee miles below
Wellington. down a PERCEPTIONS grade
that Is covered with a deep blanket
q show tina: may slide down the
mountain at any moment.
The Wellington telegraph operator
arrived at Scenic Hot Springs today
almost insane from the scenes he had
Witnessed
The railroad company Is making
strenuous efforts to reach Wellington
from both sides q the mountain
range. Relief trains have been dis
patched from Everett with supplies
aud = wfecking crew. The road Is
blocked IN several places BY smaller
slides and the high temperature leads
20 the fear that more may occur 20
fmDedo the relief work