The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-03-08
TELLS OF The BIG
DISASTER IN WEST
a TELEGRAPH OPERATOR WHO
WALKED THIRTEEN NILES TO
WIRE CASCADE CATASTROPHE,
PASSED THROUGH FARGO YES
TERDAY.

Lame and bruised and bearing ii
bandaged head and broken arm evi
oences OF the ordeal through which h,
passed, =. w. Hornbeck, the teIegra pI
operator who Travelled thirteen miles
through mountain SHOWS nursed
sickly current back to life and frs
mashed over the wire the news OF Tn,
cascade tunnel disaster and sum.
moned relief from Seattle and Everett
yesterday told In Fargo the story OF
his experiences.
Mr. Hornbeck passed through Fargo
/ yesterday
H Mr.. Hornbeck was q wire patrol
along the line of the Great Northern
In Washington. and, with others of his
crew, was snowbound in the little viii
lsge of Wellington at the time of the
accident
| I was awakened out OF sound sleep
by the noise of persons hurrying about
the hotel he said. TT was dark /
/ felt tnstinctively that something was
wrong. and dressed hurriedly.
| How the news reached MS / cannot
say J. do not know who brought it.
but some one. saved from the wreck.
battled his way into wellington and In
a half hysterical manner gave MS the
outlines of the catastrophe. party
was made up to go to the scene Of the
accident and learn the fate of the
trains and the. passengers. The snow
was from four to eight feet deep. They
We're out about an hour and then came
back and reported that both trains
were lost under mountains of snow I'm
the gulch $50 feet below the track
he
and several houses had been swept
away.
Help must be summoned and at
once. Test of the instruments at We'll
nngton showed they were not working.
just how far west IL would be neces-
sary to go before finding a live wire
no one knew. ] volunteered to go. r
had hopes of getting into conmuni
cation at Scenic. nine miles away.
TT was about 6: 30 when / left We'll
lington 1t was 8 in the afternoon
when ! reached Nippon. I passed
through Scenic at noon, but did not
stop there when found the wire dead.
About half way between yelling
ton and Scenic stepped onto and
through a snow-covered trestle. and
for the balance of the trip / walked
under the added handicap of broken
arm. Again fell on the switch at the
Scenic siding and injured my head.
How ] managed to reach Nippon ri
will probably never know.
I was dazed and hystericaI when I
reached the town. The people crowded
around me. They brought me whisky
and some soup, and / took taste of
both. My first inquiries were about
the wire to the coast. / was told 1T |
was not working. The Nippon opera |
tor went with me to the station. II
Everett but got no respon=e.
Then as it seemed through miles
of space I heard some one saw that
the wire was working and 1t brought
me back. Others had installed the |
batteries / had brought For an /
hour / worked over that feeble cur
rent, petting and babying it, getting
now and then an answer only to lose
the connection. Finally got q. mes
sage through in full and then I rested
for ] knew that Everett would do the
rest"
MIR. Hornbeck was cared for by the
physicians on the first relief train and
went back to Seattle on a wrecking
engine. He is a wireless operator. en-
ployed during the summer months on
the Great Lakes. His home is in
Cleveland.