The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-06-20
Death ToH m X. X.
 Wreck MayReach 60
(Continued from Page D

ITOHl rage U
 and the creek bed dry. It seemed evident that the sudden torrent hac washed out its under -pinnings anC that only the speed of the trair carried the locomotive and baggage car across before it collapsed.
 Milton Nordberg, of Aberdeen, S D., railway mail clerk; Fred RaSch- ke, of Minneapolis, railway express clerk; and Charles James, of Miles City, Montana, baggageman, were crushed to death-James by the To- comotive which cut h sicar in half Merrifield and his firemean, A. E. Mccoy, of Miles City, were found dead in their cab, apparently trap ped and drowned.
 Had No Chance
 The passengers in the first coach "a tourist day coach-never had a chance and all it's occupants, ap- proximately 37, were drowned. They included Mrs. Leroy Bailey, of Killings, Mont, and her two babies, Juanita 6, and Joyce 3. From the second coach, only one man es- capped. He had been sitting at a window He broke it, pushed himself out, and managed to swim through the torrent to shore.
 The locomotive and coaches plunged into the creek amid a frightening crunch of steel and the shrill hiss of steam. There were no outcries from the victims. They were drowned too quickly. For an instant, survivors heard not a sound, then there was a hysterical shriek from one of the cars that had remained on the track which seemed to set loose chorus of ter rifled screams. They heard women crying and men and women calling out to one another and to children.
 Then came the sharp, barking voices of the surviving members of the train crew, who, by taking an arbitrary attitude, averted panic. They ascertained quickly that five coaches were going to remain on the track. Into these they had the unharmed passengers carry the in- jured. The least-shaken of the pas sengers aided crew-men in this work.
 The disaster occurred in a wild, isolated section where the nearest telephone is several miles away. There are not even roads in the area. Several passengers set out in the night in search of aid, but three hours passed before help from the outside arrived. When the train failed to reach Miles City, explora- tory trains were sent out from the nearest points on each side.
 Nothing had been done or could have been done for those who had been in the cars which plunged into the creek. The torrent still ragged down the bed 15 feet high when the first rescue trains arrived. The most seriously hurt were piled into these trains and were taken into Miles City. More trains were rushed to the scene and by dawn, the Miles City hospital was crowded with the injured and every doctor for miles around had been mobil- ized to treat them.
 Of the injured, none was serious ly hurt. Broken arms and broken legs were numerous. Almost all had been hurt by having been thrown violently out of their berths. Most of them were bandaged and permit ted to leave the hospital and today scores of them, heads swathed in bandages, arms in slings, waited at morgues for mode bodies to arrive from the scene. Those were the bodies of the survivors who had been accompanied by members of their families who were missing and probably dead.
 It was probably the worst disaster on an American railroad since 1887 when an excursion train went through a bridge near Chatsworth H., killing 81 persons. In 1922, 4C were killed near Sulphur Springs Mo, and in 1925, 39 were killed near Hackettstown, N. J. These were the worst wrecks prior to the present one which killed more passengers than were killed on all class A rail roads in 1887.
 All the survivors told stories o1 the heroic actions of others anC all had high praise for surviving members of the train crew. The outstanding heroes were Henry Shipley, a fireman employed by tht company who was riding on a pass and Lewis Williams, negro, tht porter on the pullman car which tottered for several minutes before plunging.
 Shipley jumped into the torrent and pulled out Evenly Jensen, r of Freeport, H., who had been 1T the water three hours clinging tt the tangled fragment of the trestlt before she was discovered.
 Saved Passengers Lives
 Williams chanced his own life tt save the lives of all passengers 1T his car. The pullman swayed pre-. cariously. It seemed that any in. stant it would tumble. But he strodt up and down the aisles, assisting tn, passengers from their berths, push. ing some, leading others to the ex' its. A few seconds after the last on, had been removed, the car creakes and plunged.
 ] J. R. Knight, an employe of thu