The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-12-20
(From Tuesdays Daily

(From Tuesdays Daily
Mrs. Maud Merrill, aged thirty-fve
years, wife of Albert Merrill, well
known Kenosha county farmer living
near the village of Trevor in the town
of Salem, was instantly killed, her
seventeen year old son Leland Merrill,
was severely injured, just after eight
O'Clock this morning when the automo-
bile in which Mrs. Merrill and her son
were riding, was struck by a north
bound train on the Chicago, North
Shore and Milwaukee Electric Railway
at the Avery street crossing.
The automobile, driven by young
Merrill, was coming from the west at
good rate of speed and the train was
coming from the south at a rate of
more than thirty miles an hour. The
collision came when the automobile was
in the very center Of the railway
tracks. The light automobile was car
ried fifty feet on the front of the car.
lhlbs NlCLIIll was balOWn IlUIl IlO du"
tomobile and in some way went under
the trucks of the electric car. Her
terribly mangled body was pinned I'M
der the rear trucks of the car when it
was stopped. Young Merrill was
thrown from the car when the collision
took place into the ditch at the side
of the tracks. He was picked up in a
dazed condition and hurried to st.
Catherine IS Hospital where he was at
tended by DR.. Herbert A. Robinson,
surgeon for the company in Kenosha.
1t was found that his injuries were
mostly bad bruises and shock and it is
thought that he will recover.
On Christmas Shopping Trip.
Mrs. Merrill is the mother of eight
children and she had left the farm home
near Trevor this morning to come to
Kenosha for Christmas shopping. She
had planned to come in on the train
from Salem, but as the weather was
favorable at the last minute she de-
cided to come into Kenosha in the au-
tomobile and Leland drove the car.
Mother and son had been planning the
Christmas gifts they were to buy all
the way into Kenosha. They got an
early start from the home out in the
country and the car driven by young
Merrill was moving along at a good
rate of speed. AS they approached the
fatal crossing box car and gondola
car obstructed free view of the cross
ing and young Merrill declared at the
hospital that he did not see the APP
preaching train. He drove onto the
track ignorant that he was driving in
the very path OF death. Added to the
handicap of the cars on the track was
the fact that the automobile was
curtained and this made it difficult
for the driver of the automobile to
see the train.
There were more than forty passen-
gers in the car and some of them
watched the automobile coming along
the road toward the track. CT sup
posed that the driver was going to stop
the car close to the crossing,'' said one
of the passengers. 81 was fascinated
by the way in which the driver was
flirting with danger and second later
was thrown out of my seat. 1 knew
what had happened"
The motorman saw the danger too
late to stop the car. He applied the
emergency brakes but the rails were
covered with frost and after the brakes
had been applied the train skidded
along the tracks for some distance.
Clash of Authority.
A sickening clash of authority oc-
cured after the accident when the re-
mains of the woman were allowed to
remain under the trucks of the car for
more than an hour. Efforts to locate
the coroner were unavailing and the
officials of the company insisted that
under the law the body could not be
moved until after the coroner had been
called. Police officers on the scene
of the accident took the same view of
the matter and the mangled body of
the woman remained under the trucks
of the train until District Attorney
Peter Fisher ordered the police to re-
move it and send it to the morgue.
The investigation into the accident
will probably be made by the coroner
tomorrow and after an hour and a
half the men in charge of the train
were permitted to proceed on their
way toward Milwaukee.
Passengers on the car were effected