Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-07-10
TRAIN KILLS !: FOUR J
EAsTBoUND LOS ANGELES LINZ
TIED KILLS ENTIRE AUTO
S5s d MOBILE PARTY. II
AlRsHlP BURSTS; 5 MEN !. DIE ! E.

~ rs -
4 xe,vIn vanlman and Four Of Crew Die
II Explosion and Fall Into Sea
Before Crowd 1t Allan III
4 Ito City. 5 Is .s
,Sst Aurora. III, July 4 -Four persons
I two az whom, I man and q woman omar
( ifWsro beheaded, were killed Tuesday
when the east, bound Los Angeles Linn u
i tied Hof the Chicago & Northwestern
i railroad hit an automobile at Mel.
! sons Crossing, two miles west OF
Geneva, III. 3ii. / 4 ~ 5. ...,s
.S8 Tho occupants were all wealthy
Sresid ents Of Granger, Ia, enjoying an
autpmobile trip from their home to
Chicago and return. They chugged
Idirectly il front Of the train and were
dashed to death before they hardly
had time to know what struck them q
Following are the dead:
q N. 81. Anderson, Granger, Ia, hfty
years old. js}F ii 4, Il
4 Mrs. n. s. Anderson, Granger, Ia,
S5lforty-eight years old. y.
IL George Hanley, Granger. Ia, forty
years old. /. .1.,$3S 81 N q. 4.
james Hanley, forty eight years
5pld, Granger, Ia. 81. Il III II d
~ And erson, head Of the Granger Ele.
3vatsor company, had received an invi.
s|tation from the Hanley brothers, lum'
/ her dealers, to accompany them, with
his wife, On an automobile trip TO
Chicago ia their machine
ffTThey Had left Chicago on the return
ssfitrip. The road on which they were
driving runs parallel with the rail-
road tracks until / It reaches a point
! two miles west Of Geneva. Then It
takes q straight turn over the tracks.
George Hanley was. at the wheel and
drove the automobile down onto the
tracks directly In front OF the Los An
:keles Limited. Before they had even
!: Ia chance TO know that they were
trapped the pilot Of the locomotive,
running fifty miles an hour, struck
he automobil lie amidships. It was
,smashed to pieces. All in the car but
James Hanley were trapped. He was
dashed rs feet through the air, land
Ing IN the ditch at the side of the
track. III "a 81 s.53$ ;5$t.
II AS soon as possible the engineer
drought his train to stop. The
bodies OF Mr.. and Mrs. Anderson were
lying close together in the gutter, 50
y feet from the crossing. Both had been
beheaded, tho tops OF their heads
crushed on when caught under the
hutomob bile. They had been dragged
Tor many feet and their bodies rolled
out into tho ditch. The body Of
George Hanley was found at the side
,Iof the tracks about Is feet from the
crossing. Both legs and his head
were terribly mangled. When mem
3|bers Of the train crew found
James Hanley he was still alive, but
with mo; chance OF recovery. ., s3
Elsa Atlantic City, N. ~, July Five
lives were snufIed out here Tuesday in
! = $500, 900 explosion half a mile in the
|air and half milo on shore, while
5000 spectators looked son. The most
Jam bitious project for flying across
1.-The ocean died at the same moment.
! Melvin Vanimai,'s dirigible airship
Akron, In which he was planning to
Sfhy3 across the Atlantic, burst into
flames IN midair. An instant after the
3|nrst tongue Of flame licked the swollen
E!gas bag the entire fabric was blown
Into atoms with a report which was
plainly heard on shore .
The five men who disappeared IN
dthe explosion and four Of whose.
bodies are entangled in the wreck
|Iage. were: u 81 ..i:i !,
l Melvin yaniman, builder Of the air
ship.
Calvin vaniman, his younger bro.
.fher. 5s, n ri:
Fred Elmer, member Of crew. ~
8ss Walter Guest, member Of crew. ss
George Bourtillion, n member Of
crew. l5s$ .,.33 Va a 81
The headless body Of Calvin vani-
man was found floating near the
5fWreckage, which is sunk in IS feet Of
water. .s5s \ II
4 The cause Of the fire and explosion
iii believed to have been expansion
from the rays Of the sun. which had
been up only a short time, when its
heat apparently became too great for
the gas within the bag. #
The dirigible was sailing at a height
of ]. 900 feet when the accident oc-
cured. It was quarter of a mile
south Of Briguntine Beach. which Is
'Rcross the inlet from this city.
It burst near the middle. A mass
jpf flames hid the ship from view. For
II space OF possibly ten seconds the
half million-dollar dirigible was in
visible, while the air about the spot
where 1t had been lowering seemed to
he all flames. q