Great Falls daily tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1895-1921, 1920-09-23

? The most seriously injured was
! Charles A. Nichols. engineer, of Pres
cott. who had leg broken in jumping
! from his cab when his engine foppled
/ oyer
/ Spreading rails were assigned by rail
/ road men as the cause of the wreck
which compelled the governor and his
! party to return here and cancel his eF-
| ening address at Prescott
| The train consisted of six cars and
I was drawn by two heavy engines needed
! for the upgrade to Prescott. While
running at speed estimated at between
81 and 40 miles an hour. it Jared sud
/ denly as if IN collision. Application Of
! the emergency brakes. humping over
4 broken rails and ties and careening OF
/ ears told passengers the story.
The four forward cars We're ditched;
I the governors private car. the Federal.
at the rear. and the adjoining compart-
/ menf car of newspaper men, except for
its forward truck. reI aiming on the rails
A baggage coach jumped the track
about Il feet and turned over on its
side Two passenger cooaches and an
other compartment car behind also sid
+ 10 feet or more from the track and part
I II toppled over.
/ The front engine Of the double header.
Engineer +. c. Sutton OF PRESCOTT SAID,
! left the rails first and then jumped ~,
{ Ii.
over amid n cloud Of smoke and steam.
The first passenger coach ran the length
of the overturned baggage car and jam
med it's forward end into the trucks.
Passengers on all cars were thrown
topsv turvy Some suffered bruises and
cuts from flying glass
Governor Cox was in the dining room
of his private ear going over papers with
Or. Robert Goldsmith. his assistant on
| the League of Nations question when the
crash occurred.
ssVhat's that" he shouted. rising TO
1 his feet only to he thrown heavily across
! the car into a steel wall. He was shaken
up but rushed out ~ assist the injured
and soon was uochalantlv vipwing the
wrpckage. smoking his pipe and waiting
for a wrecking train ta arrive anu tane
him back to Phoenix.
That Governor Cox escaped injury
was due. il was said, to delay IN con-
ference with the Prescott reception com
mittee J. i. Sinnott, representing the
Democratic national committee On the
campaign trip and Chairman Norris OF
the Prescott committee. were enroute
10 the private car to get the governor
TO 60 forward TO the first coach, where
the reception committee were RIDING,
when the crash came Most OF those
bruised or cut were III the forward reach.
The railroad track was torn up for
distance of from 300 to 400 feet with
bent rails. broken ties and glass strewn
about even in adjacent cotton fields
Railroad officials were unanimous IN de
! claring that spreading rail under the
two heavy locomotives and unusually
heavy steel equipment caused the wreck.
The line. is not main artery but
branch of the Santa Fe system and the
rails. il was said, were not of the heav-
lest type.
4 rumor was current among the farm
people and others. who gathered soon
after the wreck that man bad been
seen running along the road beside the
track Just before the train left the
track. but the report was entirely with
out confirmation and was rot credited by
Governor Cox. members of his party or
railroad operatives.
Arrangements were made to have the
governor and his party taken from here
to albuquerque. where he was TO speak
Thursday night. by q different route,
leaving here IT night
1T was q miraculous escape said the
governor, and | do not understand how
there were SO few injured