Bluffton, Indiana

Interurban Train Wreck

March 11, 1917

A.C. Thompson, Employe, Loses Life in A Collision on Bluffton Inter-Urban Line Near City

DEAD.
A.C. THOMPSON, Bluffton, burned to death.

INJURED.
GEORGE NORTH, section hand, compound fracture of the thigh and deep scalp wound. Condition of North is considered most serious of the survivors. Slight hopes are entertained for his recovery.

ROY SHIELDS, of Bluffton, conductor on the freight car. Internal injuries are feared and his head is hurt.

MIKE DRAGOON, 1702 Hoagland avenue, foreman of the section workmen. His left hand is broken and his body badly bruised. May be injured internally.

BILL WILLIAM KELLY, motorman on the freight car. Badly cut and bruised.

ALPHONSO BONDAUPS, section hand, hurt about the head.

FRANK PRILLA, section hand, Fort Wayne. Scratches, bruises and may be internal hurts.

As the result of a south-bound Bluffton interurban line at Sand Point, one mile west of the county farm at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, A.C. Thompson, motorman of Bluffton, was burned to death, and a dozen employes of the company suffered more or less serious injuries.

Thompson, who came to the city Wednesday morning, was dead-heading back, and was standing beside the stove. It upset, and held him pinned to the wall while he roasted alive. The freight car was heavily loaded, chiefly with bakery goods, and the whole interior was a mass of flames within a few minutes. Both cars were completely destroyed.

Occurs on Curve.
Sand Point, where the wreck occurred, is Stop No. 7, on the Bluffton road, and there is a slight curve at the place. Owing to this the work car had practically stopped, and the south bound freight was aid to have been running slowly. The cars came together within a few feet of the greenhouse of E.E. Neuenschwander, and although the trucks remained on the rails, the bodies of the cars were telescoped about three feet and were lifted from the wheels.

Conductor W.H. Kelly and Motorman Roy Shields, in charge of the freight, succeeded in getting out of the wreckage before the flames had spread to such an extent as to block the exits, and although painfully hurt did what they could to assist the dying man in the train.

On the work train many men, chiefly foreigners, were thrown to the floor and received painful although not serious injuries. Motorman W.D. North and Conductor Glenn Carr were in command of the work train.

Bring Injured to City.
Several of the injured trainmen and workmen were hurried to the city in automobiles that were near the scene of the accident, and a telephone call to the city brought chemical companies from engine houses 1 and 3 and Assistant Chief George Jasper and Lieut. Harry Grimme of the police department handled the bringing in of the injured in the police patrol.

The most seriously injured were brought to St. Joseph’s hospital, where physicians were awaiting them, and the workmen who were but slightly hurt remained at the scene until a special car arrived to bring them in.

Cars Burn Rapidly.
Twenty minutes after the crash both cars were blazing too fiercely to make any rescue work possible or to save any property. The first fire apparatus to arrive found itself unable to handle the situation and apparatus form N. 1 engine house was called. The cars are a total loss and none of the contents could be saved. The loss on rolling stock is estimated by officials of the company at about $15,000, and several thousand dollars worth of property aboard the cars was destroyed.

Firemen Get Body.
The north side or the freight car burned away almost before the chemical crew as able to get a line laid, and there under the stove firemen saw the blazing body of Thompson. Beating their way into the terrific heat in the midst of s spray from the nozzle, Captain John Stahlhut of No. 3 station and several of his men were able to reach the body with poles.

Probable Cause.
The cause of the collision is attributed to a misunderstanding of orders, it being claimed that the motorman on the freight car had no orders to be on the lookout for the work car. At the point of the wreck there is a bad curve and it would have been impossible for the motorman on the freight train to see the work car in time to bring his car to a stop.

Pipes Were Frozen.
The Neuenschwander greenhouses are situated at the curve, ad so close to the tracks that the view along the right of way is obscured by them. It was directly in front of them that the crash occurred and pieces of the car crashed through the sides and doof of the buildings, doing considerable damage.

Employes of the greenhouse immediately saw the smoke curling out of the car and attempted to extinguish the blaze by means of a gasoline driver pump and a garden hose. However, the pipes were found to be frozen and it was some time before the water could be run through them. The little stream was played on the blazing cars until long after the arrival of the department and saved the greenhouse from destruction.

Passengers Walk In.
Just behind the work car a northbound passenger car was stopped and passengers assisted in caring for the injured, who were taken into nearby farm houses. Several dozen of the passengers walked into the city.

A cable was attached to one of the burning cars and the passenger car pulled it off the crossing, making the recovery of Thompson’s body possible. A telephone pole nearby burned out and telegraph and telephone lines were put out of service.

The bodies of the cars were total losses, only the trucks remaining. The roadbed was badly damaged, the rails being twisted by the heat. It will require at least twelve hours to get the road into condition for service at this point.

Body Burned to Crisp.
Thompson evidently did not live long after he was caught under the stove, although his cries for help were heard for a moment. The body was terribly burned, the legs, arms and head being burned off, and the trunk being merely a crisp. When firemen picked it up on a car door and carried it away, the trunk broke open, the sight being so horrible that even the morbid crowd turned away. Someone brought a sheet and spread it over the mass of charred flesh, and little hose were burned in the cloth. Coroner McArdle, who arrived shortly after the firemen and police, took charge of the body and turned it over to the Klaehn and Melching undertaking establishment.

Hundreds of Sight Seers.
Hundreds of people attracted by the smoke, which could be seen very plainly in the southern part of the city, rushed to the place and roads were blocked with automobiles in every direction.

Mr. Thompson was a very prominent man in Masonic circles in Bluffton and was very well known throughout the city. He is survived by a wife and two children. Motorman Shields, who was painfully injured, is also a resident of Bluffton.

The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN 14 Mar 1917

R.N. Garrett Dies Under Wheels at Portland.

(Peru Chronicle.)
Information was received at the Lake Erie offices yesterday of a fatality that befell R.N. Garrett, a brakeman on the Sandusky division, who was a brother of A.G. Garrett, transmaster of the L.E.&W. for this division. The deceased was caught between a locomotive and the first car of his train at Portland yesterday afternoon about 2 o’clock and crushed to death. The locomotive had been detached from the train to be driven to the water tank and upon return to the train some misunderstanding in the signals occurred while the brakeman was between the engine and the car. His death occurred shortly after the accident. Transmaster Garrett left yesterday afternoon for the scene and to take charge of the remains. The deceased was about 30 years of age. Four brothers survive.

The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN 14 Mar 1917

Articles transcribed by Loraine Jordan.  Thank you, Loraine!

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