Leo Charles Schneider
Kentucky Post, Tuesday, 27 January 1942, page 1
GRAPHIC DETAILS-A graphic description of the Ft Thomas troop train wreck near Peria Ark. Jan 16, is contained in a letter written by Pvt. Leo C Schneider, a passenger on the troop train, to his parents and grandmother in Dayton. Pvt. Schneider was one of the Ft Thomas contingent en route to Camp Wallace, Tex. where e is attached to Battery A, 32nd CATB. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Leo Schneider, operators of the Mecca Cafe, 528 Sixth avenue, Dayton.
A Newport soldier, James Leroy Stewart, 21, of 130 E Second st. Newport was killed and Cyril Rolf, 22, of 814 Liberty street, Newport, suffered a slight leg injury in the accident. Pvt. Schneider ad Pvt. Bobby Fleischman and Pvt. Bobby Anspaugh, also of Dayton, were not injured. Pvt. Schneider's descriptive account of the wreck is as follows:
"Dear Mom, Dad, and Grandma: Just a few lines to let you know I am safe and sound. As you know, we left Ft Thomas at 8:10 Thursday the 15th. The train consisted of six Pullman cars, a kitchen and baggage car. At night when we went to bed a porter in each car made our berths for us. They sure were soft beds. The countryside through Missouri, Arkansas and eastern Texas looked poor. I thing our part of the country is about the best I have seen so far. All the towns we came through except a few were very small and very run down and shabby looking. No wonder everybody who comes to Greater Cincinnati stays there because things you have there you dont find any place.
The trip was uneventful until we reached Mela, Ark. We were going about 60 miles an hour when a local freight train switched out from a branch line onto our main line, which was a single track line. Our engineer, coming around a curve, saw the freight train and slammed on his air brakes. But we were going too fast to stop. We slowed down to about 30 miles an hour when he hit. The freight engineer and fireman sw us in time and jumped. But our engineer and fireman were injured seriously.
We drove the freight engine completely through the switch and our own engine went through it as well. Both engines were demolished. Our train was not derailed luckily, as there was a 30-foot ravine alongside. Our baggage care directly behind the engine ws completely smashed, driving its way half through the Pullman directly behind it, completely smashing that Pullman and pinning several soldiers in the structure. These were killed instantly, cut up so badly they were hardly held in one piece and three others died as they were laid alongside the right of way. We had but little medical equipment and could do very little for them. Help arrived about an hour after the crash, which happened at 5 pm Friday evening.
When the first ambulance arrived we had to carry a stretcher about one-third of a mile. It sure was a desolate spot in which to have a wreck. Soon about 50 ambulances arrived from Little Rock and nearby territory and speedily took all the injured away. An engine was sent to pull the remaining undamaged cars and pull out the damaged Pullman so they could get the remaining crushed soldiers. We were pulled back to Little Rock and our train was remade and continued on our journey, eight hours late. No one in our car was hurt, just shaken up a bit. We are sure were thankful."
Pvt. Schneider and his folks were in communication shortly after he arrived at Camp Wallace. He told his anxious paarents at that time that he and the other Dayton soldiers had not been injured in the crash.