Denver, Colorado, USA
1939 - ONE MAN KILLED, 28 INJURED IN DENVER TRAIN COLLISION. D. & R. G. ENGINES PLOUGH INTO SANTA FE PASSENGER CAR THIS MORNING.

Conductor Meets Death and Others Go To Hospitals For Treatment.

Denver, Aug. 12 (AP) - A Denver and Rio Grande Western train, pulled by two locomotives, crashed into a Santa Fe passenger train at a crossover in South Denver today, killing one person, injuring twenty-eight so seriously they required hospital treatment and hurting several others less seriously.

Conductor Dead.
All the injured were passengers on the Santa Fe train, which was rammed at the second coach back of the baggage car.

R. S. MOCK of Pueblo, conductor on the Santa Fe train, was killed instantly. He was standing near a washroom, at the point of impact. ROY S. SCOTT of Denver was injured so seriously hospital attaches said he may die.

The Denver and Rio Grande Western train, first section of the Scenic Limited for Salt Lake City, was fifteen minutes behind schedule. The Santa Fe, made up at La Junta, Colo., of passengers bound for Denver from both coasts, was fifty-five minutes behind schedule.

F. F. MARIETT, in charge of a railroad control tower near the scene of the crash, said the Denver and Rio Grande train crashed into the Santa Fe train.

Passengers Climb Out.
MARIETT, from his high tower a short distance from the intersection of the two tracks, had an unobstructed view of the wreck.

"The two came together with a terrific crash," he said. "The derailed locomotive spurted steam high into the air with a deafening hissing sound."

"Then the passengers began climbing out of the train. Some of them came through the windows."

MARIETT was forced to stay at his post and remained in the control tower directing first aid until police and other officials arrived.
The Scenic Limited, one of the Denver & Rio Grande's most popular tourist trains, had pulled out of union station a few minutes before the crash for its run to Salt Lake City via Pueblo and the royal gorge. The train was pulled by two locomotives.

MERIETT said the Santa Fe train, running late, had a signal to clear the cross-over switch. It was well into the cross-over when the head Scenic Limited engine crashed into the fourth car of the Santa Fe train.

Steam spurted 100 feet into the air from the smashed Scenic Limited locomotive.

Leaders of a force of fifty police officers rushed to the werck expressed fear the engine might explode. The officers tried to push back a crowd of about 2,000 massing around the scene.

An emergency fire department crew equipped with acetylene torches was called out, apparently to cut into the wrecked Santa Fe car if passengers were found to be trapped.

The northbound Santa Fe train, made up in La Junta, Colo., runs into Denver with cars from the road's crack California Limited and trains from Texas points.

Reno Evening Gazette
Reno, Nevada
August 12, 1939

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