The San Francisco call., 1910-03-03
TRAINS HURLED TO
CANYON BY SNOW
Swept Over Precipice After Be-
ing Crushed by Avalanche
at Wellington
Continued from Page One

stood and the trains dumped into the
canyon"
He was so exhausted from his long
fight against the snow that it was sew
eral hours before he could give a CO.
herent story.
Bit by Bit Wentzers disjointed ut
terances were pieced together into a
connected narrative. The avalanche
came without warning. Wentzel, who
was at w. R. Bailets hotel. ran out to
see the pillows of snow settling over
the tracks where the train had stood.
Later he saw men carrying women
and children from the partially buried
coaches which had been carried down
the side of the gulch. Bailets' hotel.
the saloon east of it and the store on
the west were untouched.
Relief for Survivors
SPOKANE, Wash, March 1.-TWO re-
lief committees were organized at Wal
lace, Ida, today, to look after the in
jured and destitute, caused by the ava
lanches along the Burke valley. The
first is to look after the families in
need of aid and the second to collect
money
The Federal mining and smelling
company this morning donated $1,000;
the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mine $500.
Close to $4,000 has been raised in Wal
lace to aid the stricken families. No
more bodies were found today. About
$50 men are still at work at Burke
removing the debris from the railroad
tracks so that traffic may be resumed.
People along the valley continue to
move from the danger zone.
A number of funerals were held to-
day and 1t is expected the last will be
held tomorrow. All the injured are
we'll cared for and no further details
have been reported, although Mrs. r.
II. Pascoe and AL Neuman are in a crit
ical condition.
A half dozen slides have occurred at
Sunset Peak, nine miles from Wallace,
and as many more at Beaver Creek,
IL miles distant. One at the Four Tim
Der mining company's plant near Sun
set Peak last night buried B. r. Cree
don and William Shannon, who were
at work in the blacksmith shop. They
managed to dig themselves out with
out serious injury.
All the prospectors are leaving that
section until the danger of slides is
passed.
Lived i'm Pleasanton
OAKLAND, Feb. 2.-George L. Beck
who is reported in. northern dispatches
TO have been killed, with his wife and
three children, in the wreck of the
Spokane express, is believed to be w
A. Bechtel, formerly of Pleasanton.
Bechtel was contractor on the
Western Pacific and made his home
with his family in Pleasanton until
oh Ia q
Royal, Wash, where he had contracted
to do work for the Great Northern
Railroad.
Bechters family moved with him
from Pleasanton, but he is known to
have a brother still living somewhere
in California.
Left Train Before Slide
SEATTLE, March John S. Rogers
of this city was-one of the snowbound
passengers on the Spokane Express
who wearied of the long wait for relief
and walked out to Skyhomish. Rogers
left Wellington the night before the
disaster and arrived in Seattle last
night He gave a graphic account of
the wait of the passengers for relief
and of conditions about Wellington
prior to the avalanche.
Wednesday morning we stopped at
said Rogers I'VE remained there un-
til Friday, getting our meals at the
bunkhouse two meals a day.
Friday night we left the east portal
and few hours later, as we afterward
learned, an avalanche from the noun
tain side wiped out the station and the
bunkhouse, killing two men. We pulled
through the tunnel as far as Yelling
ton, which is about half mile beyond
the west portal
Conductor Petit was in charge of
our train and he proved hero through
out those tying days. We all ate at
Bailets' hotel. There was plenty of
food, but only enough coal to main
tain the heat in our coaches which was
absolutely necessary because of the
SICK people aboard. For this reason
we abandoned plan to run our train
back into the tunnel.
sunday / saw a slide come down
to the east of the hotel, carrying tim
Der with it in a resistless wave of
snow. Sunday night there was slide
at the east portal which filled so foot
gulch across the track.
previous to that we had made the
best of things. We visited from coach
to coach, joked with the sick and did
our best to keep everybody reassured.
Conductor Petit was foremost in
everything of that sort.
1.-The menace of that great snow cap
was a pail on all of our spirits. 1t
was the most enormous ccumulation
every known in the mountains, accord
ing to Bailets. During all this time
it had showed continuously, with ter
rife winds driving the drifts
Monday night eight of us decided
to wait no longer and set out to walk
to Skyhomish. We arrived there this
morning, and while waiting for train
learned of the disaster we so narrowly
escaped +"