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- Former Rankin Man Killed at Bloomington
Accident Occurs at Bloomington
G. Griffith Injured
Rankin, Jan. 1 – One former resident of Rankin was instantly killed, and another badly scaled in a Nickel Plate train accident at Bloomington early Thursday.
The dead man is Claude Boyce, about 45, a fireman now at Frankfort, Ind. Injured is George Griffith, Lafayette, Ind., engineer. Griffith was rushed to Brokaw hospital, Bloomington.
A string of freight cars rolled down the track and struck the locomotive Boyce was firing. It was switching a freight car at the time. Boyce was killed instantly and Engineer Griffith was badly scalded before he could free himself by unstrapping his wooden leg, which had become pinned in debris of the crushed locomotive cab.
The Boyce family lived here until after the death of Mrs. Boyce about five years ago when they moved to Cissna Park. Last fall they moved from Cissna Park to Frankfort.
Mr. Boyce is survived by three children, Wilbur, Bernice and Robbie, all of Frankfort, three sisters and five brothers.
A McLean county coroner’s jury held defective brakes on an uncoupled string of 33 cars, which started rolling, responsible for the collision which nipped the cab off of a Nickel Plate freight locomotive and ran over the fireman after throwing him out. The fireman’s death was declared accidental by the jury.
All by one car of the train had been left on the Nickel Plate tracks east of the crossing while the engine proceeded west to the Alton interchange line to set out a car. Unnoticed in the darkness of early morning, the unattached train began to creep slowly west, on a very slight downgrade.
The engine, meanwhile, had reached the switch and backed halfway into the curve with the one car. The left side of the engine cab was directly in line with the runaway cars which struck with a crash, rebounded and struck again. Four of the head cars were derailed and the track was torn up for several rods.
Headbrakeman August C. Carlson testified at the inquest that he closed the angle cocks on the airbrake line before uncoupling the air hose, and Engineer Griffith told the jury from his hospital bed that he “set the air” from the locomotive before uncoupling. This procedure, he indicated, was supposed to set the brakes tight on every car on the train so that it could be left in safety.
The body of Fireman Boyce was returned to his former home in Cissna Park, Ill, Friday afternoon. Funeral services were held there this afternoon. Accompanying the body was his son, Wilbur Boyce, who went to Bloomington a few hours after the wreck.
Albert Steiner, of Paxton, a member of the Daily Record force, is a brother-in-law of Mr. Boyce. Mr. and Mrs. Steiner attended the funeral in Cissna Park on Saturday.
The Paxton Record, Paxton, Illinois. Thursday, 7 January 1937.
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1890 - 1936 (46 years)
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