1955 — Nov 18, Truck drives into path of train at crossing near Newport, MI — 9

–9  AP. “Death Driver is Charged.” News-Palladium, Benton Harbor, MI, 11-23-1955, p. 19.

–9  UP. “Monroe Residents Mourn Victims of Train-Truck Crash.” Marshall Evening Chronicle, MI, 11-19-1955, 1.

 

Narrative Information

 

Nov 19: “Monroe, Mich. (UP) — The entire population of this city went into ‘unofficial mourning’ today as the families of nine victims of a train-truck crash prepared for separate funerals. The victims, all railroad section workers who made their homes in or near this community of 27,000, were scattered along three-fourths of a mile of railroad right-of-way Friday when the truck in which they were riding was struck by a New York Central passenger train at a nearby rural crossing….Relatives finally identified the victims as

 

Royal Green, 41;         Hobart Churchill, 52; Carol Woolfield, 40;   Earl Sweet, 31;

Pat Patterfritz, 32;       Joe McDaniel;             Robert Cline, 41;        Joseph Ellison, 27, and Eugene Duty, 48.

 

“The victims all were riding in the van of the truck. Three men riding in the cab were seriously injured and rushed to Monroe General Hospital. They were unable to give a clear description of the cause of the accident even after their condition improved enough to allow questioning.

 

“Deputy L. B. Richardson, one of the first men to arrive at the scene, said he believed the windshield of the truck was steamed up and the driver didn’t see the train but he was unable to confirm this by talking to the survivors. Richardson said all of the men were from Monroe except Woolfield who lived in nearby Petersburg….” (United Press. “Monroe Residents Mourn Victims of Train-Truck Crash.” Marshall Evening Chronicle, MI, 11-19-1955, 1.)

 

Nov 23: “Monroe, Nov. 23 – (AP) – The driver of a truck which carried nine railroad section hands to their deaths in the path of a New York Central train last Friday will be charged with negligent homicide, Prosecutor William J. Braumlich, Jr., said Tuesday [Nov 22]. He is Jarvis C. Martin, 26, of Monroe, who still is confined to a hospital with injuries suffered in the crash. Two others who survived the tragedy also are in the hospital. The passenger train, bound to Detroit from St. Louis, smashed into the truck at a crossing a mile south of the village of Newport in northeast Monroe County.” (AP. “Death Driver is Charged.” News-Palladium, Benton Harbor, MI, 11-23-1955, p. 19.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Death Driver is Charged. File Homicide Count in 9-Life Smashup.” News-Palladium, Benton Harbor, MI, 11-23-1955, p. 19. Accessed 2-22-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/benton-harbor-news-palladium-nov-23-1955-p-19/

 

United Press. “Monroe Residents Mourn Victims of Train-Truck Crash.” Marshall Evening Chronicle, MI, 11-19-1955, 1. Accessed 2-22-2019 at; https://newspaperarchive.com/marshall-evening-chronicle-nov-19-1955-p-1/