1944 — Sep 14, passenger train & mail train collide head-on in heavy fog, Terre Haute, IN–29

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-27-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

 –29  Bennett.  The Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, IN).  2007.

–29  Linton Daily Citizen, IN. “All C.&E.I. Train Wreck Victims…Identified…” 9-15-1944, p.1.

–29  McCormick. “Train wreck kills 29 – 60 years ago.” Terre Haute Tribune Star. 6-27-2004.

Narrative Information

McCormick: “It was the most deadly disaster in Vigo County history, claiming the lives of 29 people. Two speeding Chicago & Eastern Illinois trains collided head-on in a dense fog at 2:20 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 14, 1944, a few hundred yards north of Haythorne Avenue near the Terre Haute city limits. On board the southbound Dixie Flyer – consisting of two baggage cars, seven Pullman sleepers, five coaches and the locomotive – were 600 passengers, including 75 members of the 12th and 15th Army Air Force en route to Miami, Fla., from Fort Sheridan, Ill.

 

“All 26 soldiers who were killed were veterans of overseas service, many highly decorated….

 

“The impact propelled a Dixie Flyer baggage car into a sleeper occupied by the 39 servicemen, crushing it ‘like a matchbox’ and shearing off the roof and one side. Soldiers were pinned to their seats and crushed in the twisted wreckage….

 

“The wreck occurred about five miles south of Atherton, where the two trains were supposed to pass each other. According to initial reports, the Dixie Flyer missed the passing point because of fog….” (McCormick, Mike. “Train wreck kills 29 – 60 years ago.” Terre Haute Tribune Star. 6-27-2004.)

Newspapers at the Time

 

Sep 14, UP: “Terre Haute, Ind., Sept. 14 – (U.P.) – The speeding Dixie Flyer passenger train of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois railroad and a northbound mail train collided in a heavy fog early today and state police said that at least 27 persons were killed and 40 injured, some critically. The accident occurred in North Terre Haute, about two miles north of here, piling bodies of soldiers and civilians – injured, dead and dying – among tons of twisted railroad cars, baggage, mail and spilled milk cans along the right-of-way.

 

“Vigo county coroner Denzil M. Ferguson said that the discovery of two more bodies in the wreckage raised the toll of known dead to 27 shortly before noon – 23 of them soldiers. Reports from the scene to Capt. Walter Eckert at state police headquarters in Indianapolis said that hospitals and funeral homes had listed 27 dead and 40 injured. Unofficial reports said that about 100 persons, many of them military personnel, had been hurt. Carl Bauermeister, chairman of the Red Cross disaster committee who was compiling a casualty list, estimated the dead at 35 and the injured at 100 after a partial check.

 

“Railroad officials said that the trains crashed head-on in a heavy fog about 2:20 a.m. They said the single track was protected by automatic safety block signals. The two engines were demolished, two baggage cars and three tourist cars on the 14-car Flyer were derailed and the first two cars on the 15-car mail train damaged.

 

“Most of the casualties were soldiers riding in the first three cars of the fast train bound from Chicago to Miami. Some of the soldiers had returned to this country only recently from the fighting in Italy. They had been at Ft. Sheridan, Ill., were enroute to Florida….

 

“The passenger train struck the standing north bound mail train at North Terre Haute with such force that the tops of the first car on each train were sheared off when hurled against the locomotives.

 

“Among the known dead was Louis Rausch, 55, Evansville, Ind., fireman on the flier. Engineer Frank Blair, 55, Evansville, was injured. Charles Rohlfer, 55, Evansville, engineer on the mail train, also was injured. The fireman of the mail train escaped by jumping just before the crash.

 

“Reports on the total number of casualties varied, and the names of the soldiers were withheld by military authorities until after next of kin could be notified….

 

“Lt. E. B. Owens, 29, Chicago, an army officer aboard the Flyer, said there were 48 soldiers in the first car which was demolished and at least 15 were killed.

 

“The dead also included the engineer in one of the trains who was killed outright, a fireman who was scalded to death in the cab and one other crewman…..” (United Press. “27 Persons Killed and 40 Critically Injured In Terre Haute Wreck. Speeding Dixie Flyer Crashes into Mail Train Near Terre Haute. Those Killed Are Mostly Soldiers.” Linton Daily Citizen, IN. 9-14-1944, p. 1.)

 

Sep 15: “The total known dead in the wreck was twenty-nine, twenty six members of the armed forces and three civilians, all of whom were employes of the C. & E. I. Railroad.

 

“Civilian dead are:

 

Frank O. Blain, 52 years old, engineer of the Dixie Flyer, Farmersburg, Ind.

Louis Rousch, fireman on the Dixie Flyer, of Evansville, Ind.

James C. Turner, 39 years old, colored, porter on the Dixie Flyer, of Chicago, Ill.

 

“Military authorities announced the following Army dead:

 

T/Sgt. Henry L. Baldauf, Leo W. Baldauf, father, Box 63, Chatsworth, Ill.

T/Sgt. Benjamin R. Brown…418 East Twenty-eighth Street, Minneapolis, Minn.

T/Sgt. Donald W. Clapp, Donald E. Clapp, father, R.R. 7, Meadville, Pa.

T/Sgt. Wallace F. Doerfler, Lillian Doerfler, mother, 4410 West Jackson Blvd, Chicago.

T/Sgt. Robert C. Hecht, Frances Hecht, wife, 5625 Vernon Street, Dearborn, Mich.

T/Sgt. Robert Hoeskstra, George Hoeskstra, father, 10050 South Racine Ave., Chicago.

T/Sgt. Charles A. Loeffler, Charles A. Loeffler, father, 5545 Wayne Avenue, Chicago.

S/Sgt. Donald J. Van Dixhorn, Laura Van Dixhorn, Route 2, Sheboygan Falls, Wis.

S/Sgt. Robert H. Yartz, Clarence Wendell (Mrs.) mother, 1813 Shore Drive, Marinette, Wis.

S/Sgt. Henry W. Barnholts, Violet Barnholts, wife, Postville, Iowa.

S/Sgt. Robert W. Cundiff, Mrs. Jessie Cundiff, mother, 2627 Seventeenth St. Detroit, Mi.

S/Sgt. Arthur D. Fitch, Evelyn F. Fitch, wife, Tipton, Iowa.

S/Sgt. Norbert H. Gnoit, Miss Loretta Gnoit, sister, 1701 Florence Street, South Bend, Ind.

S/Sgt. Richard A. Hancock, Mrs. Signa G. Baker, mother, 116 Aurora St., Des Moines, Ia.

S/Sgt. Charles B. Jordan, Mrs. Madge A. Jordan, mother, 1736 Walker St., Des Moines, Ia.

S/Sgt. Charles W. Mercer, Mrs. Edward Mercer, mother, Packwood, Iowa.

S/Sgt. Marion F. Minnear, Mrs. Rosemary E. Minniear, wife, 409 E. Buttlesst, Midland, Mi

S/Sgt. Robert Purdue, Mrs. Mary M. Purdue, mother, Byrn, Minn.

S/Sgt. William L. Schley, William R. Schley, father, R.F.D. 1, Forestville, Wis.

S/Sgt. Robert W. Stoddard, George C. Stoddard, father, 105 Charles St., Jackson, Mich.

S/Sgt. Robert P. Thorn, Ben M. Thorn, father, 803 Union Street, Jackson, Mich.

S/Sgt. Wallace E. West, Mrs. Gertrude West, mother, 608 N. Montgomery, Watertown, Wis.

S/Sgt. Oscar W. Lange, Mrs. Flora Lange, mother, 14535 East Eight Mile Rd., East Detroit.

T/Sgt. Robert F. Vernette, Mrs. Ernest Vernette, mother, 23 Elizabeth St., River Rouge, MI.

 

(Linton Daily Citizen, IN. “All C.&E.I. Train Wreck Victims Have Been Identified, 26 Soldiers Wreck Dead.” 9-15-1944, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Bennett, Mark. “Wabash Valley Native, Pulitzer Prize Winner Writes Song on Fontanet Powder Mill Explosion.” The Tribune Star (Terre Haute, IN), 10-10-2007. Accessed at:  http://www.tribstar.com/features/local_story_283191051.html

 

Linton Daily Citizen, IN. “All C.&E.I. Train Wreck Victims Have Been Identified, 26 Soldiers Wreck Dead.” 9-15-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-27-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/linton-daily-citizen-sep-15-1944-p-1/

 

McCormick, Mike. “Train wreck kills 29 – 60 years ago.” Terre Haute Tribune Star. 6-27-2004. Accessed 3-27-2024 at: https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/vcpl/id/10444/

 

United Press. “27 Persons Killed and 40 Critically Injured In Terre Haute Wreck. Speeding Dixie Flyer Crashes into Mail Train Near Terre Haute. Those Killed Are Mostly Soldiers.” Linton Daily Citizen, IN. 9-14-1944, p. 1.)