Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-07-06
SIX CRUSHED
TO DEATH BY
ELECTRIC CAR
HOLIDAY PARTY IN WAGON
MEETS AWFUL FATE
TWO MEN AND FOUR CHILDREN
HURLED TO THEIR DOOM
German Families DecImated by catas-
trophe That Immediately Follows
Happy Independence Day
Reunion

Rushing along at hurricane speed
last evening about 7:30 o'clock, a spe-
cial inbound Santa Ana Pacific Electric
car at the Linwood road erased into
farm wagon crowded with eleven per-
sons, seven of whom were children not
yet beyond the kindergarten age.
The big red car mashed down the
sides of the wagon, crunching the frail
bodies of little boys and girls beneath
it's sharp, heavy wheels, or hurting
them into the air to fall manned and
bleeding beside the track.
The blue-white headlight of the car
when it had been brought to g. stop
and backed to the scene of the collision
shone on a CHASTITY, pitiful picture.
Mangled little bodies were streWn along
each side of the track. Out of the
darkness bleated the groans of dying
little ones.
When the count of the death toll was
finally taken it was found that four
children and two men had been ground
to death.
Those dead are:
JOSEPH OLLER, Al years old, father Of
two of the dead children.
JOSEPH OLLER, jr., IA years old.
OLLER, years old.
THEODORE KUEHNER, years old.
ELSIE KUEHNER, years old.
PETER KUEHNER, ss years old. father
Of two Of the dead children, died after
reaching Emergency hospital.
Those injured are:
Mrs. Antonia Kuehner, wife of Peter,
badly shaken and suffering from
shock.
AIo-.;o II,ahoar IN .,aars old left
leg broken.
Annie, Marie and Bertha Oller, IL, 10
and years old respectively, were bad
ly Jared but not injured.
The entire party, including the un-
injured children, were taken to the
Emergency hospital. The dead bodies
were removed to Pierce Bros under
taking establishment
Peter Kuehner, who, while living,
was brought in with the nrst loau %
dead, passed away at the Emergency
hospital about midnight. To appear
ances he was not injured beyond a
broken leg But soon after reaching
the hospital his condition grew worse
from internal injuries and he died
after two hours of great pain. His
wife lay in an adjoining room ignorant
of his death.
shrouded In Mystery
The Kuehner family lives in this
city at 405 Douglas street. The oilers
have a ranch at Linwood, about half
a mile from where the accident oc-
Cured.
How the distressing accident came
about is shrouded in uncertainty. The
party had driven in from the Oller
ranch to catch the very car that
wrought such havoc. When the crash
came the wagon was completely across
the track, the horses having proceed
ed far enough to be untouched by the
smash.
THE incomprehensible feature of the
affair is that it was not necessary for
the wagon to have crossed the track
in order to unload it's party for the
oncoming car. In view of the fact that
at this point the searchlight of an ap-
preaching car can be seen Tor TWO
miles, it appears that the driver mace
a mistake as to which track the car
was on.
The Kuehners had been out at the
Oller ranch over Independence day and
Sunday. The two families being prac-
tically relatives, the visit was some
thing of a reunion. They were all Ger
mans, not many years from the ola
country.
Al the close of this joyous mingling
of the children of the two families
Oller loaded his friends into his farm
wagon to take them to the car line.
AS the Kuehlers were climbing into
the wagon two of Oilers youngsters
begged to go along. To let the children
spend little more time together Oller
consented. Neither father nor children
returned to the ranch house.
There We're a number of passengers
aboard when the car ployed into the
wagonload of children. Great excite
ment followed. Women grew hysterl-
cal when they saw the terrible sight lit
up by the ghostly rays of the search
light.
ed with horror at the terrible work OF
his car. But he and T. j. Wygal, the
conductor, assisted by passengers.
gathered up the bodies of the dead
children. Together with the injured
and frightened little ones and the
mother Mrs. Kuehner these were placed
aboard the car and brought to the city.
The injured were hurried in the re-
ceiving hospital at the Pacific Electric
station before being taken to the Elmer
gency hospital. Their wounds were at
tended by Physicians Case and Hall.
The mangled little forms of the chill
dren, chewed into fragments, lay on the
floor of the car, heart rendering spec
tacle. till the Pierce Brothers wagon
took them away.
More Bodies Overlooked
In the mental stress and excitement
following the collision and during the
gathering up of the bodies of the
youngsters the corpses of Oller and his
fourteen-year-old son Joseph We're
overlooked.
When the smash came Oller was driv-
ing, with his son on the seat beside
him. Both he and the boy were struck
full and driven many feet from the
crossroad.
On the dreary trip to the city the two
Oilers were missed and "a special car
dispatched back to the scene. It's
searchers found what was feared, that
the missing ones were dead. The bodies
were brought to the city and trans
ferred to the Pierce Bros dead wagon
at Hughes market
Mrs. Kuehner passed the night in
ignorance of the death of her husband
and two of her children
Conductor Wygal who had charge of
the ill-omened car, No. 391, lives in
this city at 824 Hawthorne street Mo-
torman Thornquist's home is at S27
Parker drive.
The Linwood road is between two
md three miles the her side of Watts