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The
Denver Evening Post,
September 10, 1897
Transcribed by Rita Timm, denelai@home.com
Frightful
Railroad Wreck, Followed by Fire, New Castle
THE
KNOWN INJURED NUMBER ONE DOZEN
Westbound Passengers on a
Rio Grande Express Train Rode to Their
Death in the Darkness
-Terrible Scenes Follow the Crash of Monster Trains
in the
Mountains-List of the Identified Dead.
New
Castle, Colo., Sept. 10.,--
The worst wreck in the history of Colorado railroading occurred
one and one-half miles west of New Castle at 12:15 this morning.
An east-bound Colorado Midland freight train crashed into the
west-bound Denver & Rio Grande passenger train No. 1. A
conservative estimate of railroad officials on the ground places
the number of dead at twenty and the injured at twelve. The
greatest confusion and horror prevails and several unidentified
bodies are now alongside the track.
To
date the identified dead are as follows:
JAMES
F. KEENAN, Denver, postal clerk, scalded.
MRS. A. HARTMAN,
AND TWO CHILDREN, Hersher, Ill., burned.
CHARLES LEIPER, of
Clarion Pa. Engineer
OSTRANDER of the Colorado Midland,
scalded and burned. Fireman
HINES, of the Colorado Midland
ROBERT HOLLAND, fireman,
D. & R. G. WILLIAM GORDON,
engineer
R. & R. G. A. HARTMAN, Hersher, Ill.
*Note
- this story was uncovered when a transcriber, Leona Gustafson,
discovered several mass graves marked "Unknown" at
Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, CO, which contained bodies of some
of the passengers on this train.
Partial
List of Injured:
Engineer
GORDON of the D. & R. G., who was reported dead this morning
at a late hour this afternoon was found to be alive and is making
a strong but hopeless struggle for life.
JOHN H. STANDART of
Blackfoot, Idaho, cut and burned, both legs broken, will probably
die.
Miss PEARL CORNELL of Oregon, leg broken.
J. H.
SHEETS of Iowa, right hand cut.
R. J. SHEETS of Pennsylvania,
injured about the head.
P. H. MCcANENY of Victor, Colo.,
burned about the head and bruised.
FRANK P. MANNIX and F.
YEAGER of Victor, slightly injured.
It
is not known how badly Conductor BURBANK is hurt or whether he is
injured at all, as he has disappeared. The stories concerning the
disaster are conflicting and confusing and where the
responsibility lies it will be difficult to determine until a
thorough investigation is had.
MIRACULOUS
ESCAPE
That a greater
number of persons were not killed is miraculous and stories of
narrow escapes are numerous. JAMES C. FOLEY and WILLIAM S.
MESSENIER, express messengers on the Rio Grande train, had a very
close call. Both men reside in Denver. The car they were in after
toppling over and burying them under a pile of baggage and
freight, caught fire and they had to cut their way out with axes.
WRECK
TAKES FIRE
Immediately
after the smash the wreck caught fire, presumably from the
explosion of a gas cylinder under one of the coaches.
Early reports blame Conductor BURBANK of the stock train for the
disaster. It being alleged that he made a mistake of ten minutes
in figuring on the time when the passenger train passed New
Castle.
Two minutes either way
would have saved the trains, as they would then have been on an
open stretch and the engineers would have been able to see each
other.
A
FUNERAL PYRE
From advices
received from wrecking train the scene of the resembles a pyramid
of half-burned timber and iron work. From twenty to twenty-five
were killed, the majority of the bodies being under the mass. The
wrecking train has been on the scene since 5 o'clock this
morning.
Three or four bodies,
badly mutilated, are as yet unidentified. The wounded are being
cared for at New Castle. Dr. O'CONNELL, surgeon and staff; C. S.
MITCHELL, Rio Grande claim agent; General Passenger Agent HOOPER
and Attorney MAY, representing the Rio Grande attorneys, left at
8:45 this morning for the scene of the disaster. But small hopes
are entertained for life being left in those under the still
burning wreckage. Cars piled up and proved a funeral pyre for
between twenty-five and thirty human beings. Many of the dead are
unidentified and others are burned beyond recognition.
NEWS
IN THIS CITY
Story of the Wreck as Told Over Railroad
Wires:
The first intimation of
the fearful holocaust at New Castle was received at 1 o'clock
this morning at the Denver & Rio Grande offices. As soon as
possible a wrecking train was ordered to the scene. As the
morning wore on the messages increased it was ascertained the the
first reports were not exaggerated. The wreck is by far the worst
in the railroad history of Colorado.
Denver
& Rio Grande officials blame as yet, no one openly. From
President JEFFERY's office the following statement was issued
this morning. "The east-bound Colorado Midland stock freight
train had orders at Grand Junction to run one hour on the regular
time of Denver & Rio Grande train No. 1, giving it until
12:05 to reach New Castle. The Denver Rio Grande train instead of
leaving New Castle at 11:05, the schedule time, had instructions
to run an hour behind that time, consequently pulling out at
12:05. After that, however, the D. & R. G. had the right of
way. No. 1, consisting of engine 506 and a train of eight cars,
including a mail care, baggage car, three coaches, two sleepers
and a special Pullman car, pulled out of New Castle at exactly
12:05 o'clock. The head-end collision occurred ten minutes later
at a point one and one-half miles west of New Castle on a curving
track. The west-bound passenger was under charge of Conductor W.
H. HAWTHORNE, Engineer WILLIAM GORDON and Fireman ROBERT HOLLAND.
When the two trains came
together both were running at full speed. The force of the
collision was sufficient to explode the passenger engine, drive
the freight engine crashing back into the freight train and make
a great lighted pyramid of the flaming coaches. Every car was a
total wreck with the exception of thelast two sleeper. They still
stand on the track unharmed.
SCENE
A WEIRD ONE
"Can do
nothing-everything on fire", was the message sent to Denver
after the shock and wreck. It was responsible for hasty orders to
man a wrecking train and arrive at the scene of disaster as soon
as possible. The rescue train from New Castle pulled up to the
wreck shortly before 5 o'clock when the work of relief began. The
injured were conveyed to the Albany Hotel at New Castle and given
every assistance and comfort. Twelve are more or less suffers
from the accident.
A portion of
the wreck had burned brightly for several hours. When the
collision happened the two locomotives leaped together above the
track, seemed to embrace in a death struggle of escaping steam
and crashing steel and iron and then fell back. No. 506 exploding
throwing the mail and baggage cars into the coaches, the six
heavy cars heaping together in a pyramid formation. Death in many
cases was instantaneous, but above the roar of steam and the
crackling of the already fierce flames, resounded the cries of
the dying and injured. To add to the horror of the disaster the
Pintsch gas apparatus under the mail car exploded, throwing
debris on either side of the track and giving the fire new life.
There were many personal acts
of heroism, some of which will go unrecorded but were striking
example of heroism in a moment fraught with horror. F. P. MANNIX,
editor of the Victor Record, was a passenger in the smoking car,
the first coach following the baggage. When the collision
happened he was thrown violently against the opposite seat and
then held in a vise-like grip. Groping through the dust and
smoke, he saw daylight and although injured, pulled himself out.
With the assistance of Brakeman Daniels of Salida, he helped to
pull three more sufferers from the wreck just after the gas tank
exploded. A youth, name unknown, ran widely along the unharmed
sleepers crying for some one to save his mother, whose body was
protruding from the second chair coach. The brakeman and MANNIX
aided in dragging her out.
Those passengers who were uninjured were taken from the sleepers
and assisted to neighboring ranch houses and to New Castle, where
they were made as comfortable, as possible. The train was well
filled, the festivities at Grand Junction and heavy travel
causing it to hold nearly a hundred passengers. The occupants of
the first four coaches were the most unfortunate and underneath
their debris lie the majority of the bodies not yet recovered.
After the first shock and before the locomotive of the passenger
train exploded a wild rush was made for the doors and through the
windows.
DEATH
IN FEARFUL GUISE
Probably
the worst death was that of JAMES F. KEENAN, the postal clerk,
who was assorting the bags of mail matter in the mail car when
the collision occurred. He was literally scalded to death,
dispatches relating that the flesh was hanging from his body when
he was released from confinement in the ruined coach. He died
shortly after 7 o'clock after enduring agony for six hours.
Engineer GORDON who was known on
the second division of the Rio Grande as "@##$%^", (no
longer acceptable term), "Bill", on account of his
unusual dark complexion, was thrown with great force from the
engine over a barb wire fence and when mangled and bloody, was
picked up, was almost dead. GORDON was one of the best known
engineers on the Denver & Rio Grande, having been a
ringleader in the strike inaugurated years ago on the second
division. He has been with the Rio Grande almost since its
building.
The two express
messengers had a thrilling escape. They are JAMES C. FOLEY of
1025 S. Ninth Street and WILLIAM S. MEMMEMER of 2330 Washington
Avenue. They were engaged in piling up the baggage in the rear
portion of the baggage car, and were caught in a narrow space as
it toppled over. With an axe they made and aperture sufficient
for escape, and just as the crushed structure burst into flames
crawled through.
ROBERT
HOLLAND the fireman on engine 506 died at 5 o'clock, after much
suffering. He was crushed, bruised and burned. Fireman HINES of
the Midland was burned so severely that when he was picked up
near his engine he was in a dying condition. Engineer OSTRANDER
lay under the freight locomotive dead. According to the painful
account given by HINES, he failed to jump and the last glare of
light from the headlight of the passenger train saw his form
silhouetted in the cab with his hand on the lever.
The
whole family of ALEX HARTMAN of Hersher, Ill., met death
instantaneously. Mrs. HARTMAN with her two children, were asleep
and had no opportunity for escape. They were burned to a crisp
before the agonized father, who was taken from the wreck with
both legs broken and severe gashes about the head.
The brakeman of the passenger train escaped all injury. As soon
as possible he made his way to New Castle and notified the
station officials who in turn informed Superintendent CHOATE of
the Denver Rio Grande. Before 3 o'clock this morning General
Manager SCHLAACKS of the Rio Grande knew of the wreck and was at
the general offices in Denver awaiting information.
At
8:45 o'clock General Passenger Agent HOOPER, Claim Agent C. S.
MITCHELL, Dr. O'CONNELL, surgeon, and Attorney MAY, representing
WOLCOTT & VALLE, the Rio Grande attorney, left on passenger
train No. 1 for the scene of the wreck. They will arrive there
this evening when all claims will be considered and the
responsibility determined. A message received stated that
Conductor BURBANK of the Colorado Midland made a mistake in
glancing over his orders and took a wrong column of figures. The
Midland general offices having no wire from New Castle and
receiving but very meager information refused to discuss the
affair. Until the investigation is made public and is laid before
the officials of both roads, nothing will be said on the matter.
The joint track is a line of
rail from New Castle to Grand Junction used together by the
Denver & Rio Grande and Colorado Midland railroads for the
movement of their trains between the two points. It was built
jointly and has been in operation since 1890. From New Castle the
road winds with many curves following the Grand River. It is
seventy-seven miles in length and is of single standard gauge.
THE
DEAD POSTAL CLERK
Mrs.
JAMES F. KEENAN, wife of the postal clerk, was notified early
this morning that her husband had been severely injured in the
wreck. At the same time Chief Clerk FRANK PUTNEY of the Railway
Mail service received a message that Keenan could not possibly
survive. It was stated that the flesh was hanging in shreds from
his body, as he had been caught, pinioned in a flood of scalding
water after the explosion. Mrs. KEENAN's anxiety was pathetic.
She was preparing to go to her husband's side on the Rio Grande
passenger train leaving the Union depot at 8:45 when at 8
o'clock, the railway mail office was notified by the
superintendent's office of the Denver & Rio Grande that
KEENAN was dead. Mail Clerk KENNISON broke the news as gently as
possible to the distracted woman. KEENAN leaves a wife and two
children, residing at 756 S. Water St. The dead postal clerk came
into the service eleven years ago, and has been running on the
lines between Denver and Ogden. He was originally from Gunnison,
where he is well known, KEENAN was nearly 40 years old at the
time of his death. He stood, in regard to efficiency at the head
of the division and was one of the best men in the service. The
news of his death created a deep feeling of regret around the
federal building.
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