Youth Train Wreckers

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Feb 18, 1904

Youth Train Wreckers

Three youth of Florence, Colo., the oldest being fifteen years of age, recently turned train wreckers, their intention being, as they confessed, to rob the bodies of the dead and dying in the wreck, and to secure revenge on the trainmen who had on occasions put them off the cars. They practised pulling spikes until they had acquired some proficiency at this work, and then pulled a dozen or more spikes from the rails near Florence just before a fast passenger train was due. It happened that an extra freight train was given the right of way, and met the fate intended for the passenger train. Twelve cars of the train were destroyed, and the engineer was killed.