Husted, Colorado Train Wreck
August 14, 1909
PASSENGER TRAINS COLLIDE.
Nine Persons Dead and Between Forty and Fifty
Injured.
Colorado Springs – Nine persons are dead and
others are expected to die between forty and
fifty were injured, three engines are in the
ditch, two baggage cars, including the contents
were smashed and several passenger coaches are
badly damaged as the result of a head on
collision between eastbound passenger train No 8
and westbound passenger No 1 on the Denver & Rio
Grande, near Husted, thirteen miles north of
this city, at 10 25 a m Saturday. The wreck was
due to a misunderstanding of orders.
Carbon County Utah 1909-08-20
Submitted & transcribed by Stu
Beitler Thank you,
Stu!

NINE DEAD IN WRECK
RIO GRANDE TRAINS IN A HEAD-ON COLLISION.
NEARLY FIFTY ARE INJURED
NUMBER SO BADLY HURT THEY MAY NOT SURVIVE.
J. W. LEAFGREN of Axtell, Neb., Among the Victims-Misunderstand of
Orders Cause of Accident.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Aug 14-Nine persons are dead, and
others are expected to die; between forty and fifty are injured;
three engines are in the ditch; two baggage cars, including the
contents, are smashed to kindling wood, and several passenger
coaches are badly damaged as the result of a head-on collision
between east bound passenger train No. 8, and westbound passenger
No. 1, on the Denver & Rio Grande, near Husted, thirteen miles north
of this city, at 10:25 a. m. today. The wreck was due to a
misunderstanding of orders, it is said.
Misunderstood the Signal.
As No. 8 drew into Husted about forty miles an hours, the crew of
the engine saw a light engine standing on the switch north of the
station.
Mistaking the engine for the second section of No. 1, the crew did
not stop, and went through the station as fast as the two engines
could draw the thirteen heavily laden coaches. As soon as the train
got out of the station, the engineer of the first engine of No. 8
saw another train coming slowly down the incline. He slammed on the
air brakes, and the emergency brakes, and then shouted to the other
members of the two crews to jump. Before they had time to jump, No.
3 had rammed No. 1 so hard that all three engines lay in the ditch.
Fireman J. A. GOSSAGE, of train
No. 8, was killed as he was firing his engine, and never knew what
struck him. The members of the other crew escaped serious injury by
jumping.
The smoker, attached to train No. 8, was the car in which the people
were killed. All those badly injured were in the same car.
Collision Near the Switch.
The wreck occurred just east of the east switch at Husted. The
impact of the trains was terrific and the locomotives and the
baggage and smoking cars of both trains were badly damaged.
The shrieks of the wounded were pitiful and those who were not
injured among the passengers immediately started the work of rescue.
It was impossible to accurately determine the number of dead, but
first reports indicated that eight had been killed.
Some of the injured are severly hurt, and it is likely that some of
them may die.
The cause of the wreck is believed to have been the failure of one
of the train crews to properly carry out instructions.
ASSISTANT GENERAL PASSENGER AGENT WADLEIGH
of Denver had received only meagre reports of the wreck shortly
after noon today. They confirmed the first reports as to the dead
list being five, but who they were was unknown.
Train No. 8 was in charge of CONDUCTOR
DALTON and ENGINEER HATWOLD.
No. 1 was in charge of CONDUCTOR
RISLEY of Denver and ENGINEER
JOHNSON of Denver. The engines of both trains went into
the ditch. A wrecking train left Pueblo for the scene of the
accident.
List of Dead and Injured.
The following is a partial list of dead and injured in Denver &
Grande wreck at Husted.
A revised list of dead follows:
JAMES ROSEPORKA, Chicago.
C. M. LARKIN, Colorado Springs.
C. S. BROWN, Jericho Springs, Mo.
J. A. GOSSAGE, fireman on engine No. 8, Colorado Springs.
T. E. MURPHY, traveling car agent, Denver.
A. A. DAVIDSON, McPherson, Kas.
ATTORNEY F. G. FREDERICK, St. Louis.
F. W. BELESS, Colorado Springs.
JAMES J. PARKER, Chicago.
The injured:
ANDREW JACOBSON, Oldham, S. D.;
internal injuries.
ELMER JOKICH, Virginia Falls, Ill.; leg broken.
J I FRANK, McPherson, Kas.; leg and head cut.
F. J. SEDLACIK, St. Louis; head cut, legs broken.
MRS. T. M. RANDOLPH, Okamulgee, Okla.; internal injuries.
FAY STECK, Kansas City; slightly injured.
JOHN W. ROBERTS, Cambria, Mo.; head cut, legs broken.
E. C. WHITSIDE, Jericho Springs, Mo.; back injured.
HENRY C. SHIPMAN, 1572 Kimball avenue, Chicago; ribs and
leg broken.
J. W. LEAFGREN, Axtell, Neb.; legs cut
O. C. SKINNER, Topeka, Kas.; ribs broken.
E. C. TANNEHILL, Des Moines, Ia.; arm broken.
JOHN REINHART, Carson, Ia.; leg broken.
PETER NELSON, of Monroe, Neb., taken to St. Francis
hospital with his chest crushed, in a dying condition.
MRS. D. K. SEATON, Harrisbury, Ill., taken to the Arcadia
hotel; is suffering from a broken back. Her death is expected.
G. H. MCCREARY, Dallas, Tex.; severely injured.
EUGENE H. HALTACHER, Eau Claire, Wis., slightly bruised.
D. H. HOGAN, Lancaster, O., cut on back of head, slightly
injured.
EMIL KAUHER, 215 Johnson street, Chicago, severely
injured.
MRS. D. K. HETON, Harrisburg, Ill., sprained back,
slightly injured.
W. L. BALL, Decatur, Ill., sprained ankle.
The Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, NE 15 Aug 1909

WRECK DUE TO NEGLIGENCE.
Train Crew to Stand Trial on Charge of Criminal
Negligence.
Colorado Springs, Colo -- The coroner's jury
which investigated the head on collision on the
Denver & Rio Grande railroad at Husted, Colo,
Saturday morning, when ten persons were killed
and three score injured returned its verdict on
Tuesday. The verdict finds that the wreck was
due to criminal negligence on the part of the
train crew, composed of
Engineers Lezsig, and Hollingsworth, Fireman
Wright, Conductor Dalton and Brakeman McElhern.
The verdict also declares that the
evidence shows that a defective system for
issuing train orders was employed by the
railroad at the time of the wreck. An order was
sent to Denver to arrest the members of the
train crew.
Carbon County Utah 1909-08-20
Submitted & transcribed by Stu
Beitler Thank you,
Stu!

Search
for more information on the Husted Train Wreck
and other disasters in the Historic
Newspapers Collection. The number of
newspapers on line has recently doubled - search
over 1000 different newspapers. Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
Search for ancestors in
Husted, CO among billions of names at ancestry.com. Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
The
Indians of the Pike's Peak region - including an account of the
battle of Sand Creek, and of occurrences in El Paso County
Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
|