The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1917-02-23
G. n. FREIGHT WRECK
NEAR CASCADE TUNNEL
Thirb-five Cars Piled Up on Track--En-
gineer and Brakeman NlIed-fire-
man Broke Ankle Jumping

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pensive freight wrecks on the Great
Northern occurred at the west portal Of
Cascade tunnel Monday evening be-
tween six and seven o'clock. Engi
neer Charles Dean stayed with his en-
gine and was killed, his body being
found in the cab of the engine under
the wreckage. Fireman E. v. Nelson
jumped after the train emerged from
the tunnel and had his ankle broken,
but was not otherwise seriously hurt.
He was brought here Tuesday morn
where his family resides, and taken to
the Leavenworth hospital Brakeman
O'Neil also remained with the train and
had his arm and one leg broken and
chest crushed. He died Tuesday.
The statement printed in the We
natchee World that Charles Dean is a
son OF Harry Dean, a veteran G. N.
engineer, is an error. Charles Dean is
no relative OF Harry Dean. Harry
Deans son is fireman.
The wrecked train was an extra, west
bound, loaded with valuable merchan-
disc, and the loss to the road will be
heavy. When it reached the east por-
tai it was split in two and the front Sec
ton with a 1900 engine attached
started thru the tunnel. Something
went wrong with the air brakes and by
the time it reached the west portal it
was going more than sixty miles an
hour. Just beyond the west portal OF
the tunnel is a derailing switch in
tended to make Just such wrecks i'm
possible by running the train up a
steep incline. This switch is sup
posed to be open at all times and only
opened for main line use after all trains
come to a dead stop when thru
the tunnel For some reason not yet
explained this switch was so arranged
that the oncoming train took the main
line track and sped on down the grade
to destruction. It only went a short
distance when the engine left the rails
at the end OF a snow shed, and the
balance OF the train, some thirty-hve
cars, piled up on top OF the engine,
tearing away two sections Of the snow
shed, which at this point is made OF
reinforced concrete. Men who viewed
the wreck say they never saw such a
pile Of wreckage before, tho used to
seeing railroad wrecks. The pile,
some six or eight car lengths, and
thirty or forty feet high, was a mass Of
splintered wood, merchandise, iron and
broken concrete. In the cab of the
engine, under a mass Of wreckage, the
body OF Engineer Dean was found
some hours after the work of clearing
the track begun.
The conductor and one brakeman
were in the caboose, and tho badly
shaken up were not seriously injured.
Why the men did not all jump is
answered BY some of the men who sur
viYed the wreck. They say when the
train emerged from the tunnel it was
going at the rate of over fifty miles per
hour and there are few places where
one can jump in the region where the
wreck occurred without mourning as
much danger as staying with the train
and taking chances. Nelson simply
hit a soft place in the snow and es
capped being killed as he surely would
have been had he remained on the en-
CINE with Dean.
No regular trains arrived here be-
tween Menday evening and Thursday
evening. East and west bound pas
senger trains were routed over the
Northern Pacific. A train was made
up in Spokane Tuesday and came in
here on 43's time, then turned and left
for Spokane in an hour.
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