1957 — June 11, Train hits Farm Worker Truck at rail crossing, Vroman, CO — 12

–12 Carroll Daily Times Herald, IA. “12 Workers Killed as Truck…Train Crash.” 6-11-1957, 1
–12 Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “Dunbar Explains Reporting of Road Deaths.” 6-14-1957, p. 7.
–12 Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “ICC Unable to Fix Blame in Death of 12.” 9-12-1957, p. 16.
–12 Greely Tribune, CO. “McNichols Wants Warnings…Every Railroad Crossing.” 6-13-57, 8.
–12 Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “Would Protect All Crossings.” 6-20-1957, p. 7.
–12 Hutchinson News, KS. “Scene of Horror as Train Hits Truck, Kills Twelve.” 6-12-1957, 12.

Narrative Information

June 11: “Rocky Ford, Colo. (AP) – A Santa Fe Railroad freight train ground into a truck loaded with farm field workers Tuesday [June 11th], killing at least 12 persons. Five or six more were reported injured and taken to a Rocky Ford hospital. The crash was west of Vroman, a farm settlement near Rocky Ford in southeastern Colorado’s Arkansas River Valley.

“This was the second major truck crash in the United States in less than a week involving farm workers. Twenty persons were killed in an accident near Fayetteville, N.C., June 6.

“One of those killed was the driver, Sylvester Licano of Rocky Ford, Jack Lee of Radio Station KBNZ at La Junta reported. No other names of victims were immediately available. Bodies, arms, legs and heads were strewn for a distance of 380 feet along the railroad right-of-way,’ Lee said. The truck was crossing the tracks at the entrance of a farm a quarter mile west of Vroman when struck. Lee said he was told that persons in the truck apparently saw the train but either misjudged its speed or thought it had stopped. Men, women and children were passengers in the truck, he said. The train was a 56-car eastbound freight. None of the train crew was injured.

“Lee said it had not been definitely determined whether five or six persons were injured. He said the back end of the truck was torn off. The front end was hurled approximately 250 feet down the track. Lee said all the victims lived in the Rocky Ford area. The accident occurred at 6:05 a.m.” (Carroll Daily Times Herald, IA. “12 Workers Killed as Truck and Train Crash.” 6-11-1957, p. 1.)

June 11: “Rocky Ford, Colo., June 11 (AP) – A 56-car Santa Fe freight train rammed into a light truck jammed with 17 farm laborers Tuesday, killing 12. Five others were injured, three of them seriously. Victims were men, women and children. The highway patrol said it was Colorado’s worst vehicular accident. Two on the truck were treated for bruises and released from the hospital.

“A scene of horror was spread 380 feet along the right of way just west of the Vroman siding. Vroman is a farm settlement about six miles from Rocky Ford, center of a melon, sugar beet and onion growing area in southeastern Colorado’s Arkansas River Valley….many bodies were pulled under the train and dragged along the ties before it could be stopped.

“Gov. Steve McNichols ordered an investigation by highway patrol Chief Gilbert Carrel.

“All the people on the truck lived in this area and had been working several days in the onion and sugar beet fields.

“W. S. Inskeep, Pueblo, Colo., the train’s engineer, said the train was rolling at about 40 miles an
hour. He said he saw the truck turn south from U. S. Highway 50 and stop at the grade crossing. A moment later the truck started across the tracks and it was too late to stop, he said.

“Two survivors, Joe Lucero and Betty Licano said they thought the driver’s vision was obscured by box cars on the Vroman siding.” (Hutchinson News, KS. “Scene of Horror as Train Hits Truck, Kills Twelve.” 6-12-1957, p. 12.)

June 13: “Denver (AP) – Gov. McNichols demanded Thursday that warning signs or signals be placed at every railroad intersection in Colorado. The governor expressed his view in discussing the truck-train crash near Vroman Tuesday which cost 12 lives. ‘There shouldn’t be any crossings that don’t have warning signals of some kind,’ he declared at a news conference. ‘They need different kinds at different places’.” (Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “McNichols Wants Warnings at Every Railroad Crossing.” 6-13-1957, p. 8.)

June 14: “Denver (AP) — Colorado includes in its automobile death toll only fatal accidents occurring on highways because that is the system of reporting set up by the National Highway Safety Council, Atty. Gen. Duke W. Dunbar said Thursday. Dunbar is head of the Colorado Highway Safety Council….

“The attorney general gave the answer to reporters in explaining why the deaths of 12 persons Tuesday in a train-truck accident near Vroman, on a private road just off the highway, were not added to the highway death toll….

“Colorado law, Dunbar said, does not even require the highway patrol to investigate or report deaths which occur on private property. He said the patrol went to work on the train-truck crash on the basis of being helpful in a time of tragedy….” (Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “Dunbar Explains Reporting of Road Deaths.” 6-14-1957, p. 7.)

June 20: “Denver (AP) – Warning markers at all railroad grade crossings in Colorado, recommended Wednesday by the Highway Safety Council, would be very desirable, Gov. McNichols says. ‘I’ve recommended this and endorsed it,’ he explained when asked for comment about the decision reached by the council at a morning session.

“The council decision would apply even to crossings which are not on public highways — such as
the one near Vroman where 12 persons met death last week in a train-truck crash. The council asked the Public Utilities Commission to study the problem.

“Chairman Ralph Horton of the Utilities Commission, a member of the Safely Council, estimated there may be 11,000 railroad crossings in the state. He suggested the problem of marking all of them might prove expensive. ‘If there are that many crossings,’ Gov. McNichols said, ‘it must mean there are a good many people crossing them. They should cross in the safest way possible’.” (Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “Would Protect All Crossings.” 6-20-1957, p. 7.)

Sep 12: “Washington (AP) — The Interstate Commerce Commission said Tuesday it had been unable to pin down the exact cause of a train-truck smashup at Vroman, Colo., on June 11. Twelve farm workers were killed and five other occupants of the truck were injured.

“The truck was owned and operated by Silvestri Licano of Rocky Ford, Colo., who was among those killed. The commission said Licano was familiar with the highway crossing where the accident occurred and that, after leaving a main highway to enter a private farm road he stopped his truck before reaching the tracks and then proceeded. His vehicle was astride the tracks when it was hit by a 56-car Santa Fe freight. Because of Licano’s death, the commission reported, ‘the reason for his failure to ascertain that no train was approaching before starting the truck forward is not known’.” (Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “ICC Unable to Fix Blame in Death of 12.” 9-12-1957, p. 16.)
Sources

Carroll Daily Times Herald, IA. “12 Workers Killed as Truck and Train Crash.” 6-11-1957, 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=136284894&sterm

Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “Dunbar Explains Reporting of Road Deaths.” 6-14-1957, p. 7. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=56561984&sterm=vroman

Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “ICC Unable to Fix Blame in Death of 12.” 9-12-1957, p. 16. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=59300082&sterm=vroman

Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “McNichols Wants Warnings at Every Railroad Crossing.” 6-13-1957, 8. http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=59299324&sterm=vroman

Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “Would Protect All Crossings.” 6-20-1957, p. 7. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=56562022&sterm=vroman

Hutchinson News, KS. “Scene of Horror as Train Hits Truck, Kills Twelve.” 6-12-1957, p. 12. http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=137373119&sterm=vroman