Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1910-03-04
RAILWAY STATION AND WATER
TANK TOPPLED OVER WITH
COACHES
RESCUERS STALLED BY SNOW.
Other Slides Which Have Blocked Track
Make 1t Difficult to Reach Scene
of Disaster.
FIFTY ARE THOUGHT TO BE DEAD.

trains and Il portion of the towns of
Wellington, at the west portal of She
Cascade tunnel, down the mountainside,
are received, the horror grows.
1t is feared that fifty lives were
lost when the mass of snow, loose
stones and uprooted trees hurled the cars
containing seventy sleeping persons over
the narrow ledge of the high line down
to the bottom of the canyon $50 feet be-
low. When the last reports were re
ceived from the scene of the catastrophe,
twenty-five more people were missing.
Besides these a score are seriously in
jured.
1t will be impossible to reach the scene
of the wreck today except by foot. From
the east side of the Cascades approach is
cut off by snowslide ut Drury, SIX miles
east of Leavenworth. The station at the
former place was destroyed and Watch
man Johnson killed.
The wounded are being cared for at
Wellington, but will be taken to the big
hotel at Scenic Hot Springs as soon as
possible. 1t IS expected that the bodies
of the dead will be embalmed, it being
mpractlcable to bring them out on
sledges.
The weather in the mountains is warm
and rescue parties will be in constant
peril from SnOWShdeS.
Complete lists of the injured cannot be
obtained until rescuers have dug all the
bodies out of the wreckage. The lists
available at present contain only the
names of trainmen killed and injured.
The two trains that were carried away
by the great wave of ice and snow were
the west-bound Spokane limited and the
west-bound Transcontinental Fast Mail
The latter carried no passengers.
Two Trains Were Stalled.
Most Of the dead and injured are be-
Geved to have been passengers on the
Spokane express, forty of whom were
on the train at the time of the disaster
Besides these, thirty workmen, who
had been engaged III the battle against
the drifts which had been holding the
two Inflated trains imprisoned in the
mountains since February ~, were sleep
ing in the day coaches.
The avalanche rolled down the noun
tain at APO a. IN. The two trains, three
locomotives, four powerful electric mo-
tors, the depot and water tank were
swept off the ledge and deposited in a
twisted mass of wreckage at the foot of
the mountain. The noise from the snow
slide which was a mile long, could be
heard throughout the valley, and Supt.
j. Fl. O'Neill, who was directing the
work of the night shift, marshaIled his
men and hurried TO the rescue.
r Groans and cries for help coming from
the jumbled heap of debris at the bottom
of the canyon indicated that many i'm
prisOned in the wreckage were still alive
and the rescuers worked with feverish
haste to release them. As fast as the
injured were removed they were taken
to the hospital at Scenic three miles
away by mountain trail, but ten when
the long winding course of the railroad
is followed.
A messenger was dispatched at once for
help. The first news of the disaster was
brought by John Vented of Wellington.
gasped out his Story
All wiped out" he said. ''Nothino
but smooth snow where the tracks stood
and the trains were jumped into the can
yon,
Exhausted After Fight.
He was so exhausted from his long
fight against the snow that it was sew
eraI hours before he could give n 90
herent story. Bit by bit Wentzels dis
iointed utterances were pieced together
into q connected narrative. The ava
lancbe come without warning. Vented
who was at w. r. Ballots hotel went
out to see the pillows of the snow set
Ting over the tracks where the train had
stood.
Later Vented saw men CARRYING
women and children from the partly
buried coaches which had been carried
down the side of the gulch. He thought
that eight women and children were
carried out while he looked on Some
of them moaned and he knew, therefore,
they were living. Ballet moved his fam
lily back into the tunnel for safety.
The hotel saloon and store were IN
touched. The little railroad station was
swept away by the edge of the avalanche
which had grazed the huddled houses
and wrecked the trains standing directly
in the path.
) Messages telling of the disaster were
sent to Everett, and relief trains, bear
ing physicians, nurses and workers were
made up. Owing to previous slides which
have blocked the road and swept away
portions of the track, the rescue trains
can get no further than Scenic. From
there the rescuers have to find q way on
foot over the snow.
Provisions Are Sent.
Another train, bearing wreclling equip
ment and carrying undertakers and more
workers left Everett late last night A
third train with workmen and provisions
enough to last 500 persons ten days,
was sent east this morning. Communica
ton with Scenic is frequently inter
'rupted by slides, and it is difficult to get
complete details Of the disaster.
The names of all the passengers caught
in the avalanche are not known here. |
Men, who tired of the delay i'll the noun
tains and walked out to Skyhomish, say
that fifty-four travellers remained at
Wellington Monday night. Only forty
of them slept on the train, the others !
staying at the railroad hotel and nearby
cottages.
Partial List Of Passengers.
Among the passengers who were on
the train are the following:
James McMeny y. G. Mabler, r. II I!
Bethel George l.. Davis, Charles ). FL
tinge. - Davis and child, all of Seattle |
Mr.. and Mrs Beck and three children
Pieasanton, Cal; Mrs. NJ. \. Coylngton, |
Olympia. WASH Mrs. William Starrett !
and three children, Victoria. Il. c.; -
johnson, stockman of Trinidad. Colo; |
- Cohn, Everett. Wash; Alexander |
Chrisholm, Rossland, 3. G.; john |
Mackie, Moyie, b. c.; O. Heron, Nan
couver. 3. c.; Mr.. and Mrs William |
MAY. Chemaimus, 3. G.; Rev. \. Thomp- |
son, Bellingham, Wash