1964 — May 11, train hits station wagon with 8 children at crossing, near Mesa, AZ –all 10

— 10 European Stars and Stripes, Darmstadt. “Train Hits Car, Kills 10.” 5-13-1964, p. 2.
— 10 Arizona Republic, Phoenix. “Car-Train Crash Fatal to 8 Children, 2 Women.” 5-12-1964, 1.
— 10 Arizona Republic. “Crash Driver’s View Obstructed at…Crossing…” 5-13-1964, p. 1.
— 10 Arizona Republic, Phoenix. “Witnesses Describe Car Tragedy.” 5-14-1964, p. 38.
— 10 Yuma Daily Sun, AZ. “Burial Money Collected for Crash Victims.” 5-15-1964, p. 2.

Narrative Information

May 12: “Two women and eight children were killed yesterday when their eastbound station wagon hit a northbound Southern Pacific mail-express train at the Baseline Road crossing a half-mile east of U.S. 87 and 5 miles south of Mesa. Sheriff’s deputies tentatively identified the victims as:

—Mrs. Lola King, 26, 3232 W. Stella Lane, and her two children, Michele, 2½, and Victoria, 4.
—Mrs. Ina Lowe of Winkelman, sister of Mrs. King, and her six children: Clifford, 10, Mitchell, 8, Linda, 7, Karen, 5, Mark, 3, and Gregory, 1. Mrs. Lowe was pregnant, authorities said.

“Deputies said the station wagon apparently collided with the first of the two diesel locomotives after running through a flashing crossing light, slicing the vehicle in two. Deputies said the flashing signal was working. The front portion of the 1961 station wagon was thrown against a railroad signal pole where it hung firmly imbedded in the structure. The rear portion of the wagon was hurled an estimated 300 yards down the track, still containing some of its occupants.

“Mrs. King and one of her children were removed from the wrecked automobile and taken to Mesa Southside District Hospital, where they died soon after admission to the emergency ward. All other victims presumably died outright, deputies said.

“Southern Pacific spokesman John Carruth said the crossing, near the McQueen station stop, provides approximately a 900-foot unobstructed view from each direction.

“Carruth said the train, No. 39 mail-baggage-express, was westbound from Chicago and Tucson, toward Phoenix and Los Angeles. The train, operated by W. W. Witt, engineer, and C. W. McCorkle, conductor, was delayed an hour and 15 minutes before proceeding to Phoenix.

“The rear end of the station wagon was so badly crumbled that a hoist had to be used to pull it over to remove the bodies.

“Scattered along the railroad right-of-way were dozens of grocery items, clothing fragments, shoes, and a crumpled green-and-white teddy bear.

“The crash occurred just as agricultural workers and personnel from Williams Air Force base were swelling the afternoon traffic arteries south of Mesa. The traffic jam caused Mesa police to reroute vehicles at Mesa Drive and Southern Ave.

“Within an hour after the wreck, nearly 200 onlookers jammed the scene, requiring additional Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies to police the area.

“Yesterday’s accident recalled another train-automobile crossing wreck which occurred the night of December 16 [17th], 1956, in which 12 persons were killed. Their speeding vehicle smashed into a Southern Pacific train at the 35th Avenue crossing in Phoenix.

“Justice of the Peace and ex-officio coroner Coy Beasley said a coroner’s inquest into the deaths would be held in Chandler Justice Court at 2 p.m. tomorrow.” (Arizona Republic, Phoenix. “Car-Train Crash Fatal to 8 Children, 2 Women.” 5-12-1964, p. 1.)

May 13: “Tragedy – stricken brothers-in-law John F. (Bud) King and Hal Lowe shook their heads in disbelief yesterday. How, they asked, could a good driver, one who had driven over a familiar highway many times in recent years, ignore flashing warning signals and drive onto tracks in the path of a train? Their wives and eight children died in the wreck. ‘My wife was a good driver,’ said King. ‘She always watched the road. That’s what has got us stymied.’ King said his wife, Lola, 26, was driving their 1961 station wagon when it was broken in half by a 14-car Southern Pacific mail-express train at a crossing at Baseline Road, 3 miles south of Mesa Monday afternoon….

“Mrs. Jeanette Vaughn, 34, of 3238 W. Stella Lane, a neighbor of the Kings, said, ‘Lola was a perfect driver; she always stopped for stop signs; that was Lola, she wouldn’t go through a warning signal if she saw it.’ Lanham Thorley, 8827 N. 35th Drive, said he had known the Kings for five years and added that Mrs. King was a “real good driver.’ ‘I rode with her several times and I trusted her driving as well as I trusted my own,’’ he said.

“King said his wife was taking Mrs. Lowe, who was in her ninth month of pregnancy, and her six children back to Winkelman when the crash occurred at 2:45 p.m. Winkelman is 80 miles southeast of Phoenix.

“Lowe, who came to Arizona five months ago from Washington, was away on a sales trip last weekend when Mrs. Lowe visited her sister at 3232 W. Stella Lane. Lowe makes and sells miniature covered wagons. Lowe said his wife wanted to be with her sister last week-end in the event Mrs. Lowe gave birth to the couple’s seventh child. Mrs. King, he said, drove the Lowe family back to Phoenix from Winkelman last Friday.

“Meanwhile, authorities yesterday continued to piece together information involving one of the worst train-car accidents in Arizona history. There were these developments:

—A spokesman for the Southern Pacific said the train was traveling at 60 miles an hour, the legal speed.
—The engineer, W. W. Witt, said he was on the opposite side of the cab and did not see the approaching vehicle until it was too late.
—Authorities said flashing signals were located on both sides of the crossing and that both were working….”

(Arizona Republic, Phoenix. “Crash Driver’s View Obstructed at Railroad Crossing Approach.” 5-13-1964, p. 1.)

May 13: “Mesa, Ariz. (AP) – Two women and eight young children were killed when a Southern Pacific express train sliced their station wagon in half at a crossing about 2½ miles south of Mesa. There were no survivors. The victims were identified as Mrs. Lola King, 26. of Phoenix and her two children, Vicky, 4 and Shelley, 1; Mrs. Ina Lowe of Winkelman, Ariz., and her six children, Clifford, 10, Mitchell, 8, Linda, 7, Karen, 5. Mark, 3 and Gregory, 1. Officers said the two dead women were sisters and that Mrs. Lowe war pregnant.

“The flashing light at the crossing was working, the sheriff’s office said. John King, husband of the dead woman, said Mrs. Lowe and her children had been visiting them in Phoenix.” (European Stars and Stripes, Darmstadt. “Train Hits Car, Kills 10.” 5-13-1964, p. 2.)

May 14: “Chandler – ‘The car literally exploded and was cut in two.’ This was what happened Monday when a Southern Pacific mail train slammed into a station wagon containing two women and their eight children. All of them died.

“The description of the impact was given yesterday by Army Sgt. Harold Ackers, 140 E. Santa
Cruz Drive, Tempe, at an inquest, conducted by Justice of the Peace Coy Beasley.

“The Coroner’s six-man jury said the testimony given by 11 persons did not reveal any evidence of negligence. Among those testifying were John F. (Bud) King, 30, and Harold Lowe, 30, husbands of the two women, who were sisters….

“Ackers said he was driving west when he noticed flashing signals at the railroad crossing on Baseline Road, 3 miles south-east of Mesa. He said he was 300 to 400 yards away, and that he heard the train’s whistle. ‘I saw an oncoming car,’ he said, ‘and the more it came toward me the more concerned I became. It didn’t appear to slow down until it was about 75 to 100 feet from the crossing and then it began to swerve from side to side.’

“Another eyewitness, Donald Smith, 3754 E. Taylor, Phoenix, said he was driving a truck and did not see the train or hear its horn. He was behind Ackers’ auto. Both Ackers and Smith said they had traveled the road many times and that there are trees, a barn and brush on the south side of the road and west of the crossing. This, they indicated, made it difficult for motorists approaching from the west to see the crossing.

“The train was going north. William W. Witt, 59, the train’s engineer, said the 14-car express was going 60 miles per hour. The legal maximum speed at the crossing is 69 mph, he said. Witt said he was east of the station wagon and didn’t see it until it was too late. He said he was unable to apply the train’s brakes until after impact.

“Deputy Sheriff Jack Gilchrist said he saw the flashing signal working on both sides of the railroad crossing about 20 minutes before the accident….” (Arizona Republic, Phoenix. “Witnesses Describe Car Tragedy.” 5-14-1964, p. 38.)

May 15: “Phoenix (AP) – Harold Lowe, whose wife and six children were killed Monday in a car-train collision near Mesa, has no money to pay funeral and burial expenses. So Phoenix posts of the Veterans of Foreign Wars are raising funds to help him out. Lowe, 38, of Winkelman, suffers from a lung ailment. He and the family made and sold covered wagon lamps as their only means of support. Lowe has asked the VFW to take names of any contributors because he says he intends to pay them back. Lowe’s brother-in-law, John F. King, lost his wife and two children in the same accident. The two men have been living together since the crash….” (Yuma Daily Sun, AZ. “Burial Money Collected for Crash Victims.” 5-15-1964, p. 2.)

Sources

Arizona Republic, Phoenix. “Car-Train Crash Fatal to 8 Children, 2 Women.” 5-12-1964, 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=126072183

Arizona Republic, Phoenix. “Crash Driver’s View Obstructed at Railroad Crossing Approach.” 5-13-1964, 1. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=172951507

Arizona Republic, Phoenix. “Witnesses Describe Car Tragedy.” 5-14-1964, p. 38. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=172951549

European Stars and Stripes, Darmstadt. “Train Hits Car, Kills 10.” 5-13-1964, p. 2. Accessed 7-16-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/european-stars-and-stripes-may-13-1964-p-2/

Yuma Daily Sun, AZ. “Burial Money Collected for Crash Victims.” 5-15-1964, p. 2. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=50222369