Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1915-09-13
-Four Killed When
Auto Engine Stalls

er, Mrs Margaret Anderson, and
cousin, Aaron Anderson of Astoria
Ore, were almost instantly killed a
! o'clock last Wednesday afternoon
when their machine was struck b,
passenger train No. 16 at the Gren
ada crossing of the Southern Pacific
railroad, six miles from Montague
A. Y. Anderson was deputy collector
of customs at Astoria and was just
recently married They were OF
their honeymoon trip by automobile
to the San Francisco exposition. The
approaching train was hidden by a
row of trees and a tool house, 1t APP
peared that the driver KILLED" his
engine on the track in an effort to
reverse. The car was struck in the
middle and hurled against tele-
graph pole, the occupants being
thrown out. One body lay 65 feet
from the car when the first aid was
offered by a doctor who was on the
train.
Mr. Anderson lived only half an
hour after the accident, dying on the
train before it reached Montague
Mrs. Anderson passed away twenty
minutes later while being hurried to
a hospital at Yreka. The victims
live at Astoria.
Archie Miller of this city was en-
gineer on the head engine and was
called to Siskiyou county to attend
the inquest. No blame for the acci
dent was placed upon the engine
crew as the trees shut off their view
of the crossing and there was no
chance to even materially lessen the
speed of the train. The engine must |
have struck with terrific force as the |
car was hurled a great distance and
one body cut completely in two At
the local roundhouse button from
one of the women's coats was found
wedged into the steam jacket and
flattened completely.
The train crew, consisting of En-
gineer Miller, Fireman c. B. Geer,
Conductor w. d. Gill and Brakemen
NJ. w. Smith and r. E. Hosley, were
examined by Coroner Turner at the
inquest held in Yreka Wednesday, and
the most important facts were given
by Engineer Miller. He stated that
the first he saw of the machine was
just as the cab of the engine passed
the tool house about 800 feet from
the crossing. At that time the auto
was approaching the crossing, having
just made the turn in the direction
of the track. The engineer states
that he blew the regular crossing
alarm about a quarter of a mile from
the crossing, two long and two short
whistles, AS soon as he saw the au-
tomobile he instantly blew the. whis-
tie again. The people in the car ap-
parently paid no attention to the
whistle. Instead of stopping the car
or swerving around, the car contin-
ued, and when the front wheels were
inside the first rail the car stopped.
1t is supposed that the driver of the
car, A. Y. Anderson, thought he could
get across the track in front of the
train, or became confused and killed
his engine on the track. The en-
gineer instantly saw that a collision
was inevitable and applied the emer-
gency air brakes. When the engineer
first saw the automobile the train
was running about thirty-five miles
an hour, and it is estimated that the
auto was running about twenty or Il
twenty-five miles an hour. I
The testimony of the fireman con-
firmed that of the engineer. The :
time of the collision was 1856 p. m
The automobile was badly smashed Z
up and the occupants of the car were N
thrown several feet, but the wheels l.
Of the train did not pass over any of u
them, their injuries being caused en- p
tirely by the collision There was u
report in circulation that there was u
a baby in the car, but this was refut- d
ed by all the testimony at the in Z
quest. e.
The verdict of the coroner's Jury II
was; 1--WE find that the deceased o
all came to their death by unavoid- u
able accident in collision between q
an automobile and Southern Pacific u
train No 16 northbound, on the 7th 81
day of September, 1915, at Grenada II
crossing, Siskiyou county, California. C.
We, the jury, exonerate the train II
men, but 1t is our belief that this u
accident as well as others could and p
should be avoided by the installation q
of automatically controlled arms ri
county roads and automatic a
bells operated by approaching b
trains" RI
Where 10 you get THE Cows?
TSLI THD .,