| Show 1 HORRIBLE DISASTER ON RIO PUEBlO Passenger Trains Collide and Wreck Catches Known Dead and Long List of Injured Pueblo March 1 estimates all the total loss of life lace the number of dead at Rio Grande officials insist that the exact number ot of persons on the two trains cannot be ascertained that it is impossible Pt PI F Lively night operator at Swallows whose alleged failure to deliver orders to train No 16 1 6 is is supposed to have been the cause of the wreck has been employed by the road for many years He was from duty tonight and will willbe willbe be suspended until the matter IS thoroughly investigated by bythe bythe the officials Pueblo Colo March wreck accompanied with horrors exceeded only by the Eden disaster which oc occurred Aug 17 1904 on the line of the same railroad res from a headon collision or of two passenger trains on the Denver Rio Grande railroad four miles east of Florence Cob Colo at an early hour this morning The were the express No 3 westbound from Denver and the Cob Colo Mexico No 16 east eastbound eastbound bound from Leadville and Grand June Junc Junction tion Met on Sharp Curve They Their met on a sharp curve and were less than two hundred yards apart when the engineers discovered that a collision was imminent It is that the engineer of the westbound train put forth every possible effort to bring his train to a standstill but his efforts were fruitless and although he succeeded in checking the speed of the train the crash that followed was be fond ond his power to prevent and nd he went to his death with his haud on the throttle faithful to his charge This much Is vouched for by his fireman who seeing the uselessness of remain remainIng ing in the face of sure death jumped and saved his life Died at Post of Duty j jj j or of the e condu t of the engine crew of the eastbound nd it an an only be I stated that they died at their post for forno no one lives to tell the story of their heroism The disaster was made more horrible by y the manner of the de death th of many of oftie tie passengers variously estimated from twenty to Fire swept over the wreck engulfing the victims in a cauldron of flame and leaving only charred harred and blackened bones to tell the tale of slaughter A list ot of injured given out by officials of the railroad company comprIses names None of the in injured injured are dangerouslY hurt and it is believed all wIH rec recover ver quickly A Alist list of dead made up from close investigation by responsible persons the railroad officials refusing to make a list for publication follows The Dead William HoUis Hollis engineer No 16 Pueblo Walter WaIter engineer No 3 Pueblo H D fireman No 16 Pueblo Edward E Baird deputy sheriff Denver Archibald Whitney prisoner on his way to the penitentiary at Canon City In charge ot of Baird Denver Mrs William Burnside daughter and daughters child all of Kansas town not learned A N Salida Miss Grace SaUda Salida Eneas express gen Denver Taylor Hewitt Lobo Lobe Ran Mrs Lillian Hewitt Lebo Ran Pearl Hewitt ui 15 yc years rs old Lebo Ian Mrs Irs C HewItt and baby boy boyLE boyL LE L bo 00 Ran Kan Ed Cowley CowIe Lebo Ran Kan RanFred Fred Jopes JOles Lebo Ran RanFred RanFred Fred P Denver Mrs Ed Cowley Lebo Ran Mrs WInona Hewitt Lobe Lebo Ran Kut Injured Patrick Murphy Florence Cob Colo se serious serious rious Injuries P Peters Denver ribs broken head cut James traveling to Flor Flornce Florence nce ence Cob Colo from Italy head hurt an and otherwise bruised ha Elrod Gypsum Cob Colo foot sprained Miss Mabel Fields address not gIven traveling to Wolcott Cob Colo Internal in injuries injuries juries serious E A Hewitt Lebo Ran one beg broken and otherwise injured Miss Marie Gooch Oakland CW Cal suffering from shock Thomas Webb Tampa Yampa Cob Colo right foot R P W Philipps Utah foot bruised C C House Champa N M both kneecaps broken right hand and mouth cit L C Ramsbottom San Francisco neck hurt W v R H Page Yampa Cob Colo back In Injured Injured I Now New York head slightly in injured injured juredA A Gerber New York ear torn C 2 H Wright New York hood head slightly injured J James ames Page Cob Colo head cut u It F H Sweeney Clinton Mo foot crushed J r L Lotton Bellflower Mo hip crush crushed d dG G C Clark Portland co oio o lied cut cutt t JC J 0 Veale Denver neck slightly Injured d dJ J S Reuf L I l d dB B I 1 Jones urt urtA A L Knous Ouray Cob Colo neck L GRAPHIC STORY OF WRECK Fire Brake Out Instantly After After the Frightful Collision P Pueblo Cob Colo March a blind blinding i ing storm which made it almost Impossible sible for the trainmen to see ahead the two trains collided headon at a pOint midway between Portland and Adobe miles mUes west of I Pueblo at this morning Immediately following the collision several of the wrecked cars car burst into i flames and were consumed a number of passengers being burned to death Over Oer thIrty others were injured but butof of these it is not thought any were fatall fatally hurt The cause ot of the wreck is at attributed to the failure of an of the road to deliver an order which changed the meeting place of the two trains No 3 Left Pueblo Late I IThe The Utah anc California express No 10 3 westbound left Pueblo over an hour and a half late and was given orders I Ito to meet the Colorado and New Mexico express No 16 eastbound at Florence This order was changed and the west westbound westbound bound train Was directed to pass the eastbound train at Beaver about twelve miles east of Florence The order should have been delivered to the train crew at Swallow but for some reas reason an still unexplained lain ed the 0 operator pera re l to do o so Inthe In the mea time the eastbound train had received d its orders and expected to meet the westbound train at Beaver f Running at Usual Speed d I Both trains were running at th the usual 1 speed the deep snow and high wind I making it necessary to exercise exceptional exceptional care Suddenly both headlights flashed out from the darkness and it was realized for the first time that something was wrong According to the story of Fireman J H Smith of the westbound Engineer Walter Coslett opened the emergency brake and the train was checked for an in instant instant stant but the slippery ry rails and the momentum of the heavy train carried it on Crushing Grinding Noise From the stories told by several of the trainmen who survived and were In the forward part of the train the noise that followed yarned warned them that something had been struck The helper engine No 3 evidently acted as a sort of cushion minimizing the force and weight of the heavy mountain engines that haul the trains where the grade does doe not require assistance This helper was crushed together like so much paper and the monster machines ran through locking themselves to together together gether as if in a death struggle Fire Fireman Fireman man Smith was the only one of the engine crews who es escaped ped The bag baggage baggage gage car of No 3 broke in two and the three coaches squeezed together The baggage and mail car and coach of No 16 buckled but none of the cars were telescoped as 39 was first reported Fire Added to the Horror Hardly had the trainmen and passengers gem gers reached a realization that all was not right when to their horror a sheet of fire ran through the cars on both sides of the engines and in a twin twinkling kling the crackling sound of breaking timbers started them to action In th the forward coach of the westbound train every seat was occupied by pass passengers most of whom were on their way to the northwest A number of foreigners were among them and In their terror they gave up life without making any attempt t to reach safety outside the burning car paralyzed with tear fear and wIth prayers upon their Ups lips they sank to the floor of the car carand carand and were roasted alive The cooler ones in the car seeing their danger rushed for the windows and doors and with the aid of the passengers In the rear of the train and those members of the train crew who were unhurt man managed managed aged to reach the open air Many of them were injured more or less serious seriously ly by by the rough handling they received or from flying glass and timbers Cars Soon in Ruins Although many were willing to under undertake undertake take the risk efforts to rescue those th se who remained in the burning cars would have been suicidal as as the heat was unbearable When the occupants of the two standard and two tourist slee ers of the westbound train saw that noth nothing nothing ing could be dor do to check the flames they aided the trainmen In pushing back the sleepers and these cars were not damaged in the least The sleepers on the eastbound train were also pushed back and soon after they were placed out ot of the reach of the leaping flames The wrecked cars were soon re to a mass of ruins Relief Started at Once was opened with the Pueblo offices of the railroad from Portland a mile or so away and a re relief relief lief train with physicians was dis dispatched dispatched patched to the wreck at once As quick quickly ly by as possible the injured were placed in the sleep sleepers rs and the engine of the relief train started back to Pueblo with thom and also the passengers of the Continued on Page 2 HORRIBLE DISASTER ON RIO GRANDE NEAR PUEBLO Continued from Page 1 eastbound train who had been saved Another r relief train came from Pier Flor Florence once ence and the engIne was coupled to the sleepers of f No 16 and as man many of the bodies of the dead as could be re removed removed moved from the wreckage at that time placed aboard This done the search e erp began picking up bones pieces of burned clothing and personal persona property Of the victims of the disaster until sev several severa eral era boxes had bad been filled These re remains remains mains were placed aboard the undamaged undamaged aged sleepers of No 16 and taken to Portland and subsequently brought to Pueblo B Bodies dle Burned to Crisp It is reliably report reported d that but one body is sufficiently Intact to make rca rec recognition possible all the others having been burned to ashes or Incinerated Identification ot of the vIctims who sue suc succumbed to the merciless flames Is only possible It Is believed through a com comparison comparison parison of lists of rescued and missing No estimate of the number of dead was possible by reason of the fact that so 80 many of the bodies wore were practically practically ally destroyed Work Vork of clearing awa away the thc debris of the wreck began bogan at daylight with the aid of two wreckers one on each side of the wreckage age It Is announced that the track will be I entirely clear and tr Ins running by to tomorrow tomorrow morrow noon One of the first things the wreckers were called upon to do was to lift the tender of one of the engines from off the Santa Fe track Which runs close b by the tho Rio Grando where It had been tossed by the cars crowding a against it A peculiar feature of the wreck was the fact that none of the sleepers left I ItIle tIle the rails and the cars and engines which j were burned were standing on the ties If not on the tho track The d mage to railroad prop property property erty Is estimated at In addition to this all the b bage on No 16 was destroyed as wel as S the mail Only Two Survive One of the pathetic tragedies of the disaster was the wiping out of all but two of the family of Taylor Hewitt of Lebo Kan Father mother daughter grandchild and the wives of the sons are missing The two sons E A Hewitt and W V L Hewitt are among the in injured Injured in the hospital here each of them havIng leg fractures in addition to other injuries E A Hewitt said tonight Our party consisted ot of my father Tay Taylor lor br Hewitt my mother LIllian Hewitt my sister Pearl aged agad 16 years my bro brother brother ther W V L Hewitt my Winona aged 31 my wife I COt Catherine aged 17 our bab baby Clau Ciau Claudius dius Mr and Mrs Edward Conley and Fred Jones We wore going to Joseph JosephOre JosephOre Ore to Work In a saw mill for my grandfather H lL L Ricker A dream that I 1 had several months ago in which our family was all killed kept coming cominS Into my mind I saw just as plainly as I later saW the real wreck everything that took place after the collision I saw people trying to drag themselves out of the cars saw strong men plead to be kIlled I saw my own wife and bab baby consumed by fire before my very eyes and as I 1 struggled vainly to rescue them themI I awakened In terror and wIth cold beads of perspiration crawling slow slowly dO down m my face Last Kiss of Love LoveI I I 1 went forward to my party My wife was as sleeping soundly Our little baby was just half asleep Catherine wakened and saId good night sweetheart I leaned over and kissed her and she S SI smiled I 1 sat down again and closed my eyes but in at a few minutes was aroused by a crash When I tried to move I found my leg was broken I heard beard my wife call calling calling ing me but could not go to her flome one dragged me out I screamed for someone to rescue my wife and baby but nobody paid any attention Men Were running madly about calling for their wives mothers were wildly screaming for their children some were throwing themselves in the snow I saw Fred Jones hanging out of thE window of the burning car pleading for some one to kill kiJI him The flames shot up about him and he fell forward dead Hewitt and his brother will return to their old home in Kansas and bury their heir dead Manacles Prevented Escape In the front end of the ruins of the smoker of No 3 were found the thc harred hands of a man crossed and held to together together gether by a pair of handcuffs That was nil all that was left to show that a con convict wIno who was being taken to prison was burn burned burned ed in the wreck Near the ghastly hands were found two revolvers the prop of Deputy Sheriff B E Baird of Den Denver Denver ver who was also killed His prisoner Was an actor known as Archibald Whit Whitney ney who hail had been sentenced to the peni penitentiary pen on n a conviction for forgery In Inthe Inthe the bones of his fingers was held with the grasp of death the metal piece from the window ca casing The Th prisoner had at attempted attempted tempted to climb out of the burning fr frand and might have escaped a horrible d death ath but for the handcuffs Some Who Escaped Patrick Murphy a Flor Florence Florence ence oil man was taken from the wreck and was reported to be dead but an hour later he revived James Newell a prominent mine operator D D Rowe mining man manof manof of Kansas City George Goorge VT V Page Kansas hansas City Alan Smith of the late hate smelter magnate August R H Meyer and Walter V Davis a Denver lawyer lawer were passengers on the Denver train but escaped uninjured and did yeoman service for their unfortunate fellow pus 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