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- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/114303444/sallie-m_-powell
The Emporia [KS] Gazette, 30 Jun 1913, Monday
TERRIBLE MOTOR TRAGEDY
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Powell, Mr. and Mrs. John R. Powell, and their 11-year-old daughter, Esther, and their 7-month-old son, John, were instantly killed near San Jose, Calif., Saturday, when Mr. Robert Powell's motor car, in which they were riding, was struck by an interurban car. The terrible tragedy wiped out two well-known families which formerly were residents near Emporia. The accident occurred near Santa Fe. The motor car was struck by the interurban car with terrific force and hurled against a telephone pole. No details of the accident have reached the relatives of the victims, but all telegrams received thus far state that all were killed instantly.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Powell formerly lived five miles west of Emporia. They moved to San Jose six years ago and Mr. Powell hs been engaged in fruit raising. Upon leaving Emporia, Mr. Powell turned his farm over to his adopted son, John, who had been living on it until recently. Both Mr. and Mrs. Powell wished that their son and his family might be with them in California, and preparations were made for the change. Mr. Powell sold the farm, and just ten days ago, with his wife and family, went to join his parents in the West. He had intended to look the county over before he invested, and he was undecided as to his future.
Mrs. John Powell is survived by two sisters, Mrs. George Kirkendall, and Mrs. Lon D. Parker, of Emporia; four brothers, George F. Moyer, Cambridge; Henry H. Moyer, Ballentine, Mont., and John A. Moyer and James Moyer, of Emporia. Her maiden name was Sadie M. Moyer, and she was married in 1901 to Ed J. Davis, who died several years ago. She married John Powell two years ago, and her daughter, Esther Davis Powell, and little son, John Robert Powell, were both in the car with their parents.
Robert Powell is thought to have a brother in Wisconsin, but his address is not known. It is thought also that Mrs. Robert Powell has a sister or two in Ohio. John Powell has one brother and two sisters, and their place of residence is likewise unknown. Relatives in Emporia were trying to locate these people today, but without success. They also have tried to get the particulars of the accident, but have been disappointed. The bodies will be brought here for interment, and if delays are experienced, they will arrive Thursday.
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The Emporia [KS] Gazette, 02 Jul 1913 Wednesday
Thomas C. Williams, of St. Louis, brother of the late John Powell, who was killed in the automobile accident near San Jose, Calif., last Saturday, arrived in Emporia this afternoon. No other relatives of the families have yet been located. Mr. Williams was found yesterday afternoon, through the chief of police in St. Louis. The bodies are expected some time this week, from California, but no word has been received notifying relatives in Emporia that they have been sent.
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The Emporia [KS] Gazette, 04 Jul 1913, Friday
DETAILS OF THE POWELL TRAGEDY
An account of the motor tragedy at San Jose, Calif., last Saturday, in which Mr. and Mrs. Robert Powell, Mr. and Mrs. John Powell, Esther Davis and John Robert Powell were killed by a collision with an interurban car, has been received by the Gazette. The account is taken from the Los Angeles Times, and will serve to acquaint Emporia friends with the details of the disaster that have been missing. The account follows:
The accident came with such suddenness that neither the motorman nor John Powell, who was in charge of the automobile, had the slightest opportunity to avert it, according to several eye-witnesses. John Powell had purchased an auto and had taken the party to the home of J. D. Williams, near Cupertino, for a short visit. After they were again seated in the machine, Mr. Williams stood beside it and talked for a few minutes. He had just waved them good-bye, when his wife and son, standing in the doorway, noticed the approach of the interurban car from Palo Alto and shouted to Mr. Williams, who still stood in the driveway, and called to him to signal Mr. Powell that danger was ahead. Williams did this by shouting so lustily that even those in the interurban car heard him, but evidently the driver did not, for he plunged ahead upon the tracks, and in an instant all was over.
The automobile was cut squarely in two and it was shunted into a trolley pole eighteen or twenty feet from the driveway, cut the pole off at the ground and fell into the ditch alongside the track. The body of Esther Davis, the thirteen-year-old girl, went under the car and was terribly mangled. Her father was tossed several feet away and his body lay partly under the front portion of the automobile, and the baby near him. The other members of the party were strewn along the track for a distance of 300 feet.
Scarcely had the automobile fallen in the ditch when a blaze broke out in the front portion of the machine, which was separated from the rear part by twenty or more feet. Ray Harden, editor of the San Jose Magazine, jumped from the inbound car, and running under the dangling trolley wire, which had been broken when the pole was cut off, back 300 feet to where the body of the driver and his infant son lay, beat out the flames before they had made great headway.
With the aid of other passengers on the car and of neighbors, Mr. Powell was removed from under the scorched machine and was carried to a neighboring home and laid beside his infant son. A hasty examination of the other members of the party disclosed the fact that they were dead. In the course of a few minutes a half dozen calls for medical aid were sent. It was evident that their aid was of no avail except in the case of John Powell and his son, but even their lives could not be prolonged until the arrival of the ambulance.
In a statement by the members of the crew in charge of the car they assert that there was absolutely no possible way by which the accident could have been prevented.
"We were coming into San Jose from Palo Alto, running between twenty-five and thirty miles an hour," said Motorman David G. Jones, "and were exactly on schedule time. I had pulled the whistle for the Sterling road, which runs along the Williams property not more than eighty or 100 feet from where the accident occurred, and my hand was still on the cord when the automobile flashed before me, not more than a car length from the track, and when I was not more than this much distance from the entrance to the Williams place. I immediately threw off the power, reversed the lever and dropped the brakes, but the impact came before there was any possibility of stopping. My car, in spite of this, drifted along for three and one-half pole lengths, or about 300 feet, and came to a stop. As soon as we came to a standstill I stepped off to see of what assistance I could be to those who were hurt, and immediately got in touch with the office in San Jose for medical assistance, which arrived in the course of a few minutes. We took the two injured ones to the roadside to make them as comfortable as possible until the doctors arrived.
"I would not attempt to estimate the speed of the automobile, but, despite the fact that it had started only a short distance, possibly 60 or 80 feet away, it appeared to have been dropped into the high speed before it reached the track."
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The Emporia [KS] Gazette, 14 Jul 1913, Monday
THE POWELL FUNERAL
The bodies of the members of the two Powell families, who were killed in an automobile accident near San Jose, Calif., two weeks ago, arrived in Emporia yesterday afternoon on Santa Fe train No. 6, at 4 o'clock. The bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Powell were taken in separate hearses to the Uppper Dry Creek Cemetery for interment, and the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. John Powell and their children were taken to Maplewood Cemetery in three hearses, the mother and baby being together in one casket.
Rev. H. W. Hargett, of the First Methodist Church, conducted the services at Maplewood, and the choir of that church, composed of Mrs. F. A. Menkel, Miss Achsah Harris, E. J. Lewis and Rice Brown, sang "Lead Kindly Light" and "Abide With Me." The pall-bearers were Chester Thompson, August Cochennett, Everett Moon, Calvin Moon and Ben Turner.
The services in Upper Dry Creek Cemetery were conducted by Rev. R. Henry Jones, of the Second Presbyterian Church. The singing was furnished by the congregation, which sang "Jesus Lover of My Soul" and the Welsh hymn always is sung at the graveside. Pall-bearers were Hugh Hughes, Thomas Lewis, R. J. Edwards, W. S. Williamson, Edward Price and Charles Evans.
A crowd which has been estimated between 2000 and 2500 people were at the station yesterday afternoon when the train arrived, probably the largest ever seen on such an occasion. Hundreds of these were there out of curiosity, but many were close friends of the unfortunate couples, and followed to their graves, hundreds strong, both on foot and in vehicles.
Robert Powell was born in Wales in 1833, and came to America when he was 12 years old, settling in Wisconsin. He married Elizabeth Thomas, who also had come from Wales, and together they went to Colorado, where for ten years Mr. Powell prospected for gold. From Colorado, they moved to a farm southwest of Emporia on the Cottonwood, and lived there about twenty-five years. They made many friends and were widely known. Six years ago Mr. and Mrs. Powell gave their son to their adopted son, John Powell, and moved to Campbell, Calif., where Mr. Powell engaged in fruit farming. He was 80 years old at the time of his death, six years older than Mrs. Powell.
John Williams was born in Manchester, England, February 18, 1876. When he was 6 years old he was brought to America by his parents, coming directly to Emporia. After the death of his mother, two years later, he was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Powell, and his name was changed to John Robert Powell. With an exception of a few years which were spent in Dakota, he had lived all his life in Emporia. He married Miss Sallie M. Davis, March 28, 1911, and to them was born one child, John Robert Powell. John Powell is survived by one brother, Thomas Williams, of St. Louis; two sisters, Mrs. Tillie Schied and Mrs. Sallie Reed, whose whereabouts are not known.
Sallie M. Moyer was born near Emporia, February 24, 1832. She married E. J. Davis, February 24, 1900, and to them was born one daughter, Esther Davis. Mr. Davis died eight years ago, and in 1911 she married John Powell. She is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Clara Kirkendall and Mrs. Lon Parker, of Emporia; four brothers, George F. Moyer, of Cambridge; Henry H. Moyer, Ballentine, Mont.; John and James Moyer, of Emporia. Mrs. Powell and her daughter, Esther, were members of the First Methodist Church.
Esther M. Davis was born in Emporia, January 9, 1902. After the second marriage of her mother, her name was changed to Esther Powell, by which name she was generally known. John Robert Powell was born August 25, 1912.
John Powell had farmed the land given him by his foster father for six years. At the recent request of his parents, he sold the place and, with his family, joined them. They had been in California but a week when the fatal accident snuffed out the lives of the two families.
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1882 - 1913 (31 years)
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