The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1920-09-23
THREE KILLED; TWO INJURED
WHEN TRAIN HITS AUTOMOBILE
Girls Lose Lives, Brothers Hurt, When
Struck By B. & o. Passenger
Train Near Oakland

Train Near Oakland.
Probably the most terrible accident
it has been the community's misfor.
tune to learn of was that which took
place last Sunday afternoon at a few
minutes past three O'Clock when the
east-bound accommodation train on
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad struck
an automobile at the Weber crossing
a mile east of town, killing three
young women and injuring two young
men.
The dead are:
Miss Hazel Ridder, 20 years old.
Miss Emma Fulk, % years old.
Miss Ruth Nicholson, % years old.
The injured are:
Harry Nicholson, brother of Miss Ruth
Nicholson, fractured ribs and other
injuries.
Clarence Fulk, deep decorations Of
the scalp and bruises about his body
his condition being such that it is con-
sidered inadvisable by his physician,
DR.. Broadwater, to remove him to his
home from the emergency room of
the physicians office in Oakland to
which place he was taken following
the accident.
So far as can be learned there was
but one eyewitness to the occurrence,
he being a young man named Morgan.
who has stated that he was standing
but a short distance from the railroad
track when the car in which the young
people were riding drifted down the
hill and across the bridge onto the
tracks, when it became evident that
the driver, Mr.. Fulk, had lost the
ignition spark, with the train fast APP
preaching the crossing. In his eff
forts to start the machine it was evil
dent that instead of using the forward
gear he reversed the motor and it
backed on the track directly in front
of the train, then but few yards dis
tant, the pilot of the locomotive strik-
ing the automobile just back of the
drivers seat and sent it and its &C.
cupants hurting through the air, the
automobile landing crosswise of the
west bound track, while the young
women were thrown forward in front
of the train.
Miss Ridder and Miss Fulk were
dead when picked up by passengers
and the trainmen, while the body of
Miss Nicholson, with a spark of life
remaining was placed on the train and
taken to Cumberland. She died, how
ever, before that city was reached.
The two men were brought to Oak
land where Nicholson's wounds were
dressed and he was taken to his horne
the same evening.
The young people had left their
homes early in the afternoon for a
motor trip to Oakland and points be-
yond, after having met the same morn
ing at the Red House church where
they attended service and participated
in raising fund with which to pay
off a slight Indebtedness for improve
ments recently completed.
The bodies of Miss Fulk and Miss
Ridder were prepared for burial at
the Bolden undertaking rooms in Oak
land, and that of Miss Nicholson was
brought from Cumberland and also
encased, later all three being taken to
the homes of their respectiv parents
south of town. All resided on farms
which adjoin and within half a mile
of one another.
Miss Ridder was the daughter of Mr..
and Mrs. Oscar S. Ridder, promi-
nent farmer. Miss Fulk was the ell
dest daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Charles
Fulk, who is also engaged in agricui-
tural pursuits, and Miss Nicholson was
the daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Richard
]. Nicholson, whose farm adjoins that
of Mr.. Fulk on the south.
The funeral of the victims took
place yesterday morning from st.
Johns Lutheran church at Red House,
being conducted at the same hour by
the pastor, Rev. DR.. S. S. Adams.
At the funeral three motor hearses
were used to take the bodies from the
grief-stricken homes to the church.
The edifce seats about six hundred
persons, which was crowded to its ca
pacity with more than thousand who
could not gain admission standing on
the outside.