Box Elder, Montana
Train Wreck
May
22, 1878
Accident on the K. P.
Engineer, Fireman and Brakeman Killed.
[From the News.]
A terrible accident occurred at Box Elder, on
the Kansas Pacific, about 12 o'clock last
Tuesday night, by which three employees lost
their lives and a whole freight train was
wrecked. It appears that the flood had washed
away a bridge over the creek during the evening,
the absence of which was discovered by the
section foreman, who hastened to secure a red
light for the purpose of signaling the freight
train, then about due, but before he had
completed his preparations the train thundered
down upon the dreadful chasm and into the
torrent of wild waters that swept along the bed
of the creek. JOHN
BACON, of Denver, the engineer, his
fireman, FRANK SELLVIN,
and another employee named
JOHN PIATT,
were carried down with the engine, and the whole
train of eighteen cars, one of them loaded with
railroad iron, piled upon the wreck and buried
the brave men as if a mountain had fallen upon
them. It may be several days before their bodies
can be recovered, but it is almost certain that
their deaths were instantaneous, or nearly so.
BACON and
SELLVIN were
valued employees of the company, and both were
married. They have many friends and some
relatives in Denver --
MR. BACON, we believe, being a
brother-in-law of
Conductor HOSKINS, of the same road.
LATER --- A BODY FOUND.
At a late hour last night a switch engine
arrived from Box Elder, the scene of the wreck,
conveying the body of
FRANK W. SELLVIN, the fireman of the
ill-fated engine. It appears that SELLVIN was
not carried down with the wreck, nor buried
under it, as his body was found fully a mile and
a half below where the accident occurred, and it
is surmised he jumped from the engine as it fell
and was carried by the raging torrent out of the
reach of the wreck. The remains were placed in
charge of Undertaker Brown upon their arrival.
The other bodies had not been recovered up to
midnight. Colonel Fisher
is making every effort
to remove the wreck as speedily as possible,
that the bodies of the dead men may be restored
to their friends.
Evening Call Colorado 1878-05-23
Submitted & transcribed by Stu
Beitler Thank you,
Stu!
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