Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-07-17
GEORGE SMITHS AUTOMOBILE
HITS MOVING TRAIN At
GREENE CROSSING.
WILLIAM HOFFMAN MEETS
ALMOST INSTANT DEATH
Waterman For Steam Shovel Crew,
Standing on End Of Flat Car, Thrown
Under Car When il fs Derailed by
Impact With ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Smith Hurt Seriously.

Taking It for granted that an engine
was pulling its train. and that the To-
connective, judging from the smoke. was
far enough away from the crossing to
allow him to pass, George Smith, a
farmer living a mile southwest of the
city on the Lincoln highway, drove his
automobile over the Merritt Greene
crossing of the Minneapolis & st. Louis
railroad late Saturday afternoon. AS
II proved. however, the locomotive was
pushing its cars instead OF pulling them.
Smith reached the crossing just as did
the first of a string of fifteen fat cars
of a work train. and the collision re-
suited in the death of one man and in
jury to four of the i've occupants of the
Smith car.
The man killed was William Hoffman,
watchman employed by the railroad
company at its steam shovel, which is
at work near the brick yards. The in
jured were Mr.. and Mrs. Smith. their
son Claude, aged y. and daughter
Alice, aged s. Neal Smith, aged 10,
escaped from the automobile with not
so much as bruise or scratch.
Auto Derails Two Cars.
Altho Smith, who was driving the au-
tomobile, a e-passenger Hudson.
heard the electric warning bell at the
crossing, he figured that he had plenty
of time. He saw the smoke of the en-
CINE off to the east, about 500 feet
away. We did not even speed up to
make tn crossing, ne says. The view
of the Il lex is obscured toward the east
by the ut, and the fat cars were too
low to be seen from the road until di-
rectly upon the crossing.
The Smith automobile struck the end
of the first car directly over the front
trucks. lifting the car just enough to
take the wheels off the rails. The mo-
mentum Of the train, and the ohstruc-
ton of the automobile shot the car off
the track toward the south. and it land
ed high on the bank Of earth. The car
next to it also left the rails.
Smith said that he applied his emer-
gency brake as soon as he reached the
crossing, and turned his automobile to-
ward the left. The auto was swung
around to the right, and the front part
of it was badly demolished.
Hoffman Thrown Under Car.
Hoffman, who was standing on the
end of the car, was thrown suddenly off,
and was doubled up beneath it. He was
badly crushed about the left side of the
chest. and his left hip was broken. In
an examination made Sunday by Coro-
ner A. R. Lynn and DR.. H. H. Nichols,
the companys surgeon. it was believed
that a fracture at the base of the brain
had been sustained, altho no post NOR
tenn was held to verify the supposition.
Hoffman lived about five minutes after
the accident
Boy Cut by Glass.
Claude Smith. who was the worst
hurt Of any Of the occupants Of the au-
tomobile, was thrown thru the shattered
windshield Of the automobile. The lad
sustained depressed fracture over the
left frontal sinus, severe gashes over
both eyes, and a bad cash down along
one side of the nose. From the frontal
bone on the right side the glass shaved
of piece Of the skull an inch long and
fully half an inch wide.
Clinton Smith, a brother of George
Smith, happened along in his automo-
bile shortly after the accident and took
the injured to the Deaconess hospital.
Here Drs. Nichols, Edwin Cobb and
George NJ. johnson dressed the injured
boys wounds and looked after the in
Juries to the other members of the
family.
Alice Smith suffered from conclusion
Of the brain, and was bruised about the
nose and under the right eye. Mrs.
Smith sustained a slight scalp wound,
and Mr.. Smith was cut slightly on the
forehead and bruised about the right
arm and knee.
This afternoon both Claude and
Alice Smith were declared by DR..
Nichols to be doing very satisfactorily.
Hoffman Not Known Hers.
But little is known here OF Hoffman.
He had not been in the city long. He
had lost his left arm in a railroad ac-
cident several years ago. From letters
in the mans clothing it is supposed
that he has brother living at Canton,
Ill. Efforts are being made to COM
municate with him. It is said by rail-
road men that Hoffman has a wife.
q,
Peoria, III. Hoffman was about As
years old.
Conductor On Car.
On the same car from which Hoff-
man was thrown stood Conductor
Hal Mason He was in the line of
duty in being on the end Of a train that
10 either backing up or being pushed by
an engine. There were fifteen fat cars
in the work train, which was engaged
in hauling earth from the point where
the steam shovel is working to the fill
being made in the yards. F. 3. Reed
was the engineer of the train.
Will Not Hold Inquest.
Coroner Lynn investigated the acct
dent shortly after it occurred, and to-
day announced that he did not intend
to hold an inquest
HAVE NARROW ESCAPE.