Imperial Valley press., 1930-04-11
Santa Fe Train Strikes
Loaded Bus On Cross
ing In New Mexico
OTHERS INJURED
Exact Number And Iden.
tity Of Victims Not
Established

ALBUQUERQUE, N. M, April ii.
W.H - Seventeen persons were be.
lieved to have perished today when
4 Santa Fc train struck Pickwick
Greyhound bus near Albuquerque.
The exact toll could not be told
because of the mangled condition Of
| the bodies of the victims.
Twenty seven passengers left Los
-.ngeles at midnight Wednesday on
the bus. Not a single one escaped
death or injury.
Identification of the dead and IN.
jured proceeded slowly because Of
The fact that no records were kept
of the passengers.
| Many of the dead were mangled.
Articles of luggage and other marks
| Of Identification were destroyed by
fire which broke out in the wreck
age of the bus.
One survivor said that all passen-
, gers saw the train approaching for
, some distance. The driver slowed
down as he neared the crossing to
. let the train pass, he said.
: Suddenly the bus leaped forward
directly in the path of the engine
Whether the driver accidentally
hit the accelerator instead of the
brakes was not know. The driver
was believed to have been killed
in the crash.
Injuries of some of the survivors
were such that it was impossible to
question them. Others were so ex'
cited and hysterical that they could
not tell a coherent story of the ac'
c.dent.
J The first accurate description q
the crash was told by Mrs. p. H.
, Olguin, owner of small jewelry
, store at Isleta Pueblo.
. She described graphically tn e
, scene when the speeding train and
The huge bus met at the crossing
4 near where she was watching.
At the time she was planting a
= spring garden outside her home, she
I said.
/ 81 watched the bus coming up the
s road," she said. 81 watch it go by
r nearly every morning. This morning
: | stopped my work and turned to
watch it until it was out of sight.
f Gas l followed the path Of the
+ bus, l saw it approaching the cross
o ing. The train was coming down the
tracks and the bus stopped at the
$ ,rossing. l supposed it would wait
: tntil the train passed by.
Plows Through Bus
Suddenly the bus started o
move again. The train was almost on
it. l yelled but of course the driver
could not hear me.
~ was about 100 yards away, and
started to run towards the tracks. l
saw a crash could not be avoided.
1 "As the bus rolled on the tracks,
I the driver desperately threw it to
. one side in an attempt to avoid the
crash.
y 81 saw the fireman in the locomo.
+. tive grab for something inside the
:. engine. heard the brakes grind, but
y the train rolled on and the engine
G nlOWeu through tne DuS.
Bodies Of people rolled from the
g bus as it was smashed to pieces.
r "The hus burst into flames.
hear one explosion, then another,
/ and then third. The wreckage Of
the bus was enveloped in flames.
| 'The train came to a stop beyond
| the crossing with the brakes screech'
ng. Passengers and crew began to
| pour from the train and run back
r along the tracks.
"There were bodies of the bus
5 passengers scattered all along the
tracks. The scene was terrible.
2 Three of the dead were definitely
identified, Remains of what under
takers believed were IA other vic
tins were brought to Albuquerque
morgues.
} So badly burned and mangeled
e were some of the remains that the
undertakers were raable to deter.
mine the exact count until the pass
a enger list of the bus is checked.
i Eleven injured were in hospitals.
D three of them unidentified and in
e such condition that they could not
o give their names.
l. Twenty-eight persons, including
the driver, were ON the bu1.