The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-03-03
Believed That Few, if
Any, Will Be Taken
Out Alive.
BRING
TALES OF HORROR
Rescuers Still Work Frantically,
but Hope Is Almost Gone.
Danger Of More Avalanches
Adds to Their Terrors.
Communication Cut
Off.

E'eIctt. w ASH, 1aICn Z.-Ine deaQ
In the Wellington avalanche, based on
list OF dead and missing. given out
tonight BY officers of the Great
Northern Railway, may reach a total
of eightyfour before the rcscuers
reach the bottom of the mass of snow
and wreckage that crushed two trains
into deep gulch. While only eight
passenger and nine railroad employees
are known TO be dead, thirty -.snt
passengers and twen,y-nlne employees
of the road are missing. Railroad men
think few of the missing Will be re-
covered alive If tney are buried un-
der the snow.
Although forty-eight hours have
passed since the snoEslide wrought
Its havoc at the mouth of the Cascade
tunnel far removed from outside aid,
no detailed accoun has been received
OF what happened. The only stories of
the disaster have come from those
who crawled over the mountain trails.
Several men, on arriving at Scenic,
the nearest railroad station, were un-
able TO describe what they had seen.
The perils OF their descent of the
mountain had made them hysterical.
To add to the difficulties. the only tel
egraph wires into Scenic failed to-
night.
Working Desperately.
Rescue. parties are working desper-
ately to recover the passengers from
the buried coaches. The day coach
and the smoking car have not been
found. They were smashed nat. 1t is
said. One woman was rescued from
a Pullman after twelve hours !rnpr!s-
onment under the snow.
Brakeman Duncan and Conductors
Purcell and clary. who were in one OF
the cars that was smashed TO splin-
ters. escaped with slight bruises. In
bare feet they worked for hours help
ing the injured and saving those
caught under the wreckage.
Mrs. Overton, of Seattle, who is
missing. was on her way to celebrate
her golden wedding tomorrow. Mrs.
starritt, of chemannus. 3. c., and one
child were saved. but two of her
children were killed.
All the injured are being cared for
at Wellington and Scenic. It is
thought all will recover.
II Is now said that tho reason the
train was not kept in the tunnel,
where 1t would have escaped the slide,
was that passengers feared they would
be blocked in and suffocated there.
Turned Into Hospital.
AAc diiodQ DUNK lIOuse dl w elllnS.
ton has been transformed into hospi-
tai. and ten injured are being cared for
there Superintendent O'Neil. OF the
Great Northern. made his way to the
wreck late to-day. at the head OF a
party OF doctors and nurses. The
treacherous trip down the preclpicc
was made on snow shoes.
The telegraph station, Scenic Hot
Springs, is three miles below Yelling
ton, down a precipitous grade that is
covered with a deep blanket OF snow
that may slide down the mountain at
any moment.
The Wellington telegraph operator
arrived at Scenic Hot Springs to-day
almost insane from the scenes he had
witnessed.
The railroad company Is making
strenuous efforts to reach Wellington
from both sides of the mountain range.
Relief trains have been dispatched from
Everett with supplies and wrecking
crew. The road is blocked In several
places BY smaller slides, and the high
temperature leads to the fear that
more may occur to impede the relief
work