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Show W. R. DENNIS'S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN WRECK "1 was asleep In the smoker, tho fourth car back from the engine, when tho crash came." said V. R. Dennis, a prominent prom-inent sheepman of Heber. Utah, on Monday Mon-day night- "Was curled up in a scat when tlie air brakes went on and the Jerk threw me forward to tho floor. I picked myself up and was Just getting Into the seat again when the engines hit. It seemed to be about ten seconds. Tho Jolt throw me to the Iloor again, and when I tried to gain my feet again the 'bouncing up and down of the smoker on its springs threw me down again. Finally Final-ly 1 got to my feet and left the car to see what was up. "The smoker had not left tho mils, and all the cars behind us were also all right. The three cars ahead were- all over on their sides, off to ono sldo of the track the baggage and the two mall cars. The trucks of the engine and all the wrecked passenger car trucks were plied In a heap on the other side of the track. Tho passenger engine was knocked nearly near-ly to pieces, while the freight engine was standing on its noso with tho cab about twenty-tlvo feet up In the air, tho engine en-gine boiler being at about an anglo of 45 degrees. "Out of the cab window hung tho body of the dead engineer. IIIh neck, we found out later, was broken, probably because tho shock threw him back against the cab so that the edge of the window hit hi in just under the car. A pathetic thing was that Ills own son was one of the brakemen on the passenger passen-ger train that caused his death. The son found his father .hnnglng there. "Tho tender of the freight engine had been knocked entirely over the first coal car of the freight train and was on top of the second car. The trucks of both freight engine nnd tender were Jammed buck under the tlltcil-up boiler. "Tho fireman of tho freight (Brldon-becker) (Brldon-becker) would havo been all right probably prob-ably If ho had stayed in his cab, tho very place where the engineer was killed Instantly. In-stantly. Tho fireman jumped through that window twenty-fivo foot up In the air and landed on tho frozen ground. The Impact broke his anklo and threw him forward so that his head hit a rail and tore the skin from ono side of his face. Ho may be injured Internally: It Is too soon to tell certainly one way or the other. "The freight brakoman (Kroll) was down between two steel coal cars way at the rear of tho train, fixing something, apparently. The frolght was fully half a mile long, and so far as I could sod every drawhead was stovo in. Jamming each steel car fiat end-to-end tight against the one behind it. The brakeman was only ono car from tho caboose, and his body was smashed fiat between the two cars. Tic was not over an Inch thick, crushed to a pulp, and probably never knew what hit him. ,.r,'!T,nc 'fireman "rt on the passenger (Blxler) was scalded. Wc found him over near that pile of trucks I spoke of. where he had rollod and wiggled in his P,nm. He was out of his head part of the time and died about fivo minutes after wo got him fixed up. I have had some experience helping tho doctor In Holier, so helped take caro of him. Wc had to cut his clothes off of him, and all the head and breast was cooked by the hot water or steam. Part of his hair came off. and there wero scalds In rings around his legs like bands. After we had his wounds dressed the doctor whispered whis-pered to me that he was dying, so I walked away, "The railroad men did everything they could, both those in the wreck and those who came on the relief train. They way to Ogden and asked each of us to write out our account of the wreck, if we wero hurt In any way. and If not to say so on tho blank. I was not hurt at all and said so. They did everything there was to be done, and so did the passengers. Everybody did. but most of us could not do much. Wo picked up the wounded, fixed their hurts, attendee! to the dead, put them on the train and came on to Ogden. "The switch that was left open was the kind that ha3 a handfc down near tho ground, nnd was on the left side of tho main track. For half a mllo back tho engineer leaning out of his cab could not soo It around the front of his engine. He whistled four times for tho clear signal and got the hoard. The agent in the station house showed a clear track, so he hummed right along and did not put on the air till ho lilt the switch and knew he was on the wrong track with the freight waiting for him head on. "The passenger brakeman was standing stand-ing on tho. front stops of tho smoker with his lantern looking out ahead to seo if the signal was O. K. It was, and he was Just coming back up tho step when the car hit the switch. The Jerk threw his light and cap twenty feet out from the car and tossed him up on tho platform. How it happened he did not know, as ho ivaa, "'ipcked senseless for a moment. Looks like naturally he would havo gone the same way the lantern and his hat did. "The pooplo in tho Pullmans wero awakened, of course, but not shaken up much as they had plenty of space to stop In. because the three cars ahead of the 3inokcr aort of doubled up crossways of the track, but off to ono side. The second sec-ond car was lifted bodily over tho parallel paral-lel tracks. They were of steel, while tho smoker was of wood, nnd if those three cars had not gone out of our way those Pullmans behind us would have telescoped tele-scoped the wooden smoker and killed every man in It. "All said and done, It was a prettv lucky accident. The way we hit was enough to have wrecked the whole train and killed a lot more than it did. We got out fortunately with only four dead. It looked for a moment as If it wore thirty. And the man farthest from the wreck, way off there half a mllo at the end of tho freight train, was hurt the most, while ono of tho men on tho passenger pas-senger engine escaped alive. It seems Just a matter of luck who got hurt and who didn't." |