A RAILWAY WRECK.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 277, 30 June 1888, Page 3

A RAILWAY WRECK.

AN KXPLOSIOK ADDS TO THE HOUUOK. FIVE KILLED AND THIRTY IN. •HIRED. A DhN\KK despatch of May 14th •aiyr, : A collision occurred at 3.20 this morning between a freight tiuin and a p:\ssengei train on the Alchison, Topeka and Santa Fe load at Fountain, twelve miles south-east of Colorado Springs, and caused a terrific explosion of a ear ot*" giant powder. The explosion killed fivu pel sous and destroyed the entire town. It tore a hole ten tVct deep and thirty bj sixty feet in area in the earth, threw iron rails 300 yards, scattered debris for half a mile, and demolished or damaged every strm-tme in the place. The report was heard tor twenty miles- and awakened ncaily every pei&on in Coloiado springs. Us tearful eileet can only be j imagined, and not described with any approach to the true horror of the situation. ! which was heightened by the blazing of a { car of naphtha and the llamos that issued from half-a-dozen burning eais and the depot buildings. At 2.41 the north-bound "Thunderbolt " stopped at Fountain for oi ders. She had hardly come to a standstill when a caboose with four loaded freight cai>, wliich had broken away from the through freight at Colorado Spiings, thirteen miles away, came dashing down the long guide at lightning speed, crashing into the expiess, piling the caboose and hr&t car into ruins on top of the engine and baggage car. I The car next to the caboose was a huge tank of naphtha, which, being wrecked, scattered the oil over the depot, cais and adjoining buildings. This caught lire, and in an instant everything was. a sheet of flames. The engineer and fireman escaped somewhat injured. The Pullman and t\\o-da> coaches of the passenger train were hastily detached from the burning baggage car and run down the track to a safe distance from the lire, which had now enveloped the depot and was rapidly approaching the ear of runaway freight, when an alarm war- gi\en that this car was loaded with powdei and for everyone to run tor their li\ es. All uho heard the warning attempted to obey, but had gone but a short distance when 17,000 pounds of giant powder with which the car was loaded exploded, shaking the eaith as though by an earthquake. Twenty housein the city were almost totally de&tioyed, together with the new Baptist church, which w-i-i blown from its foundation and scattered over acres of ground. Men and women were knocked senseless, and pieces of broken rails, car wheels, and timbers were carried with terrific force for half a mile. A number of freight cars standing on a side track were blown to atoms. The passengers in the "Thunderbolt"' weie severely shaken up, and a number cut by pieces of gluss from the window, but none were seriously injuied. The yard of the Newton Lumber Company took tire and was completely destroyed. People standing a quarter of a mile from the explosion were hit by the flying fragments and badly wounded. The dead are : C. Y. Smith, manager of the Newton Lumber Company, foi merly of Keokuk, la. He was trying to extinguish the flames at the depot when the explosion occurred. He was so badly wounded that he died in an hour. A piece of iron was blown through his body and the hole was two inches in diameter. The burned remains of an unfortunate man were found underneath the engine after theme was extinguished. Lawrence Weiehart, a Herman carpenter, while assisting to put out the tire in the lumber yard was struck on the head by a flying timber, sustaining concussion of the brain, and died in a short time. Mrs Wedridge, virile standing 600 yards from the track, was struck on the head by a flying bolt and died in two horns. 11. Hutchins, merchant ot 60 years, standing in a door some distance away, was struck by a bar of iron and died this afternoon. The wounded number about thirty, but none will die, although all are painfully injured. The loss to the town, which was completely ruined, i& estimated at *60,000, while the amount of the raihoad company's loss is variously estimated at from *75,000 to §100,000. The cause of the collision is attributed to the fiendish work of tramps, who started the freight ears from Colorado Springs. A late freight train from the south on the Santa Fe arrived at Colorado Springs at 2.30 o'clock in the morning. In this train were three cars of live stock, a car of naphtha, a car of giant powder, a car of rails for the Midland road, a car of merchandise and a caboose. The stock cars were cut off from the rest of the train, which was left standing- on the main truck. The conductor, W. C. Chub buck, instructed the brakeman to securely set the brakes on the standing cars, and this was done. Ten minutes afterward a tramp asked the brakeman -what had become of the cars. The latter ran to the place where they had been, but found them gone. The cars when loosened started at once at a high rate of speed clow n the steep grade toward Fountain, fourteen mile? away. Their momentum increased until the speed was frightful. The Kansas City passenger express train had just reached the depot at Fountain and stopped as the wild cars crashed into the engine. The shock was terrific and burst open the naphtha car tank. The inflammable fluid ran out under the depot platform, around the engine, and the cars immediately caught on tire. The whole population of the town were aroused by the shock and brought out hastily by the fierce ilames which shot up about the wreck. Next to the naphtha car was the one with nails, and next to it the car with 17,000 pounds of giant powder. The naphtha immediately enveloped in a blaze the whole depot building, the shattered locomotive and the wrecked freight cars as well as the baggage and express cars of the passenger train.