Denver, Aug. 9 - The Republican this morning says: At the hour of going to
press seventy-four bodies had been recovered and identified and the closest
estimate put the total death list at 106 from the wreck on Sunday night of the
Denver & Rio Grande railroad, near Eden station, seven miles north of Pueblo,
making of it the greatest railroad disaster that Colorado has suffered and one
of the most disastrous in the history of the country.
It will take days to determine the actual number of persons who perished.
The wall of water that hurled itself upon the foremost part of the train as the
latter was passing over a trestle that spammed the arroys, carried the engine,
baggage car, smoking car and chair car down to the creek as if they were pieces
of float, and as the two cars, crowded with passengers, began to break the
bodies were caught in the flood and carried to the Fountain river, which in turn
empties into the Arkansas river, and search is being prosecuted in both rivers
for the dead.
The train was cut in two. The two Pullman cars and dining car remained on
the track, the coupling having given way as the smoking car plunged into the
abyss, leaving the end of the nearest Pullman hanging four feet over the abyss.
Of the hundred or more people in the two cars that plunged into the torrent,
but three escaped and their escape, as was that of the fireman on the engine,
was miraculous to a degree. All the others in the cars were drowned. The three
who escaped did so through the roof of the smoking car being battered in as the
huge wall of water that fell from the skies a few miles nearer the foot hills
tossed the cars hither and thither in what was a few minutes before a dry, sandy
creek.
The monster engine was dragged by the water a considerable distance and one
of the cars containing passengers was found almost a mile from the wreck, such
was the tremendous force of the waterspout that went crashing down what was
known as Dry creek.
The passengers had no warning. The pilot of the engine had almost reached
the end of the light trestle that spans the hundred feet of arroys, when the
full force of the wave struck it and carried with it every part of the train
that was then on the trestle into the seething tide, tossing the engine and cars
and rolled the over and over in its fury.
Death to most of the passengers must have been sudden and in all probability
painless. They were drowned. The bodies of those recovered show few bruises. But
as the cars broke the dead bodies were carried on and ofter buried in the sand.
As the train was from Denver bound for the World's Fair at St. Louis, a
number of Denver people were lost; but the heaviest burden of the disaster will
fall on Pueblo.
The following lists indicate the number of identified dead and the missing.
These lists have been compiled as accurately as possible, and have been checked
up by the Denver & Rio Grande officials and those in charge of the undertaking
establishments at Pueblo. It is probable that some few errors may be found,
owing to the difficulty of securing correct spelling of names in some instances,
which may have led to duplications in one or two instances.
As the lists now stand they show a total of 106 dead, of whom seventy-four
have been found and identified and thirty-two are missing.
Known to be Dead.
John F. Bishop, architect, Pueblo.
Etta E. Bishop, sister of John F. Bishop, Pueblo.
George A. Beck, 721 East Fourth street, Pueblo.
_____ Bethel, Cripple Creek.
Miss Bennell, nurse, Pueblo.
Miss Gertrude Boyle, Pueblo.
Turner Brachman, supposed to be from Denver.
Edward Curtis, brick mason, Pueblo.
Miss Carrie Downing, Pueblo.
A. S. Dennis, Denver.
J. Emrich, Pueblo.
George Ellington, Colorado Springs.
J. H. Furrier, Pueblo.
H. R. Graves, plumber, Pueblo.
Mrs. Edward P. Gartland, 2450 West Thirty-eighth avenue, Denver.
Edward Gartland, Denver.
Walter Gartland, Denver.
Lillian Gartland, Denver.
J. G. Galbraith, Pueblo.
J. G. Graham, Florence.
George W. Geppert, St. Louis.
Mrs. Henry Gilbert, Pueblo.
A. E. Hoes, Pueblo.
Harry W. Hough, head brakeman, Denver.
William Hughes, Pueblo.
Edward Hughes, Pueblo.
A. J. Hess, clerk, Denver & Rio Grande.
Miss Pearl Hopper, Pueblo.
Henry S. Hinman, engineer, Denver.
Miss Hadenburg, Salina, Kansas.
Dorothy Johnson, daughter of Harry Johnson, ten years old, Pueblo.
Mrs. James Keating, Pueblo.
Mrs. Ida Kratter, Pueblo.
Miss Kratter, Pueblo.
Ida Leonard, Pueblo.
Mrs. Robert Linfoot, Pueblo.
Ben T. La Shell, Denver.
Miss Stella McDonald, teacher Central high school, Pueblo.
Mark Morris, Pueblo.
R. O. Meats, boarding boss fpr telegraph department, Denver.
Dr. James B. MacGregor, Ballard, Washington.
Hugh McCracken, Aurora, Illinois.
Al Mosier, Iliff, Colo.
Hugh McCracken, Pueblo.
Dr. W. F. Munn, Pueblo.
Mrs. John S. Mollter, 1310 Spruce street, Pueblo.
Genevieve Molliter, 4 years old
Mary Molliter, 2 years old.
Miss Annie Pine, Colorado Telephone office, Pueblo.
Mrs. Mary Price, La Salle, Ill.
Mrs. Mary Parker, residence unknown.
T. S. Reese, express messenger, Denver.
Mother and sister of Reese, Denver.
Elsie Rowland, Linburg, Kan.
Mabel Reese, Pueblo.
Bud Seward, Pueblo.
Miss Alice Sturgeon, clerk at Bernstein's, Pueblo.
Miss Minnie Selby, 1045 Spruce street, Pueblo.
Miss Ella Stephens, Northampton, Mass.
Miss Lotta Shoup, a friend of Mrs. Yeagia, Grand Rapids, Mich.
J. H. Smith, conductor, Denver.
Tillie Thompson, sister of Mrs. West, Pueblo.
Joseph Turner, brakeman, Denver.
Miss Thomas, 10-year-old girl, Pueblo.
Gertrude Vogle, Council Grove, Kan.
Miss Emily Wood, Pueblo.
Mrs. George F. West, wife of former mayor of Pueblo.
Miss Irene Wright, sister of Mrs. Harry Johnson, Pueblo.
I. W. Wright, painter, Pueblo.
Miss Florence Walker, Pueblo.
Mrs. Mellie Williams, Pueblo.
Captain Frank H. Whitman, Fort Logan.
Mrs. A. L. Yeagia, 720 West Twelfth street, Pueblo.
The Missing.
Miss Bozeman, Pueblo.
Frank Bodman, Pueblo.
Miss Chancellor, Pueblo.
V. B. Durham, Pueblo.
Malcolm S. Diggins, Pueblo.
Margaret S. Donnelly, 19 years old, Des Moines, Ia.
Mrs. Henry Donnelly, sister-in-law of J. L. Donnelly of Pueblo, Des Moines, Iowa.
Minnie Davis, Pueblo.
Dr. W. F. Cann, Pueblo.
Mrs. H. S. Gilbert, Pueblo.
Sophie Gilchrist, Pueblo.
Jesse E. Gray, Denver.
James Paul Keating, 2 years old, Pueblo.
Mrs. James Keating, 216 E. Fourth street, Pueblo.
Miss Marguerite Kelley, 687-1/2 South Union, Pueblo.
W. H. Lamon and wife, Pueblo.
F. H. Messenger, bank cashier, Central City, Colo.
Alexander Maxwell, book-keeper for the Traction company.
James S. O'Bannon, Pueblo.
Clyde Price, Aurora, Ill.
Harold B. Page, Denver.
Mrs. Evard Roscoe, Durango, Colo.
Dr. E. C. Stimmel, Pueblo.
Ralph Swartzcup, barber, Pueblo.
Miss Mary Sullivan, Pueblo.
Mrs. Sterns, sister to F. C. Bochmann.
J. Q. Thomas, general agent of the Santa Fe, Pueblo.
Mrs. J. Q. Thomas, Pueblo.
Mrs. Welch, Chicago.
Miss Alice Wood, Jacksonville, Fla.
Two eastern friends of Miss Emma Wood of Pueblo.
Survivors,
J. M. Killin, Pueblo.
Fireman Frank Mayfield of Denver.
Parker R. Brown, Malta, Miss.
H. H. Dorn, Cleveland, O., 417 Woodland street.
H. E. Crabbe, Salt Lake City, 9 Phipps place.
C. C. Nelson, Fort Scott, Kan.
E. E. Wilson, Coffeeville, Kan.
J. O. Vincent, dining car conductor, and crew of six men.
M. W. Salles, porter.
W. W. Vance, porter.
E. T. Buts, Pullman conductor.
Mrs. And Miss Hall, 228 South Grant avenue, Denver.
O. S. Galbraith, Durango.
Mrs. E. Roscoe, Goodlittsville, Tenn.
Miss Jessie Duncan, Salt Lake City, 9 Phipps place
Edwin Anderson, Pueblo.
Miss E. B. Zellers, Grandville, Ga.
R. Brunazzi, Denver.
Mrs. R. Brunazzi, Denver.
Clara Brunazzi, Denver.