Grayson County TXGenWeb

Missouri ~ Kansas ~ Texas
Railroad

(Source: unknown newspaper and date)
TWO KILLED IN UNUSUAL ACCIDENT ON KATY NEAR DENTON WEDNESDAY EVE
(by Associated Press)

Denton, Texas, April 4 - A Denton family of six sat in their automobile at a railroad crossing here last night, waiting for a long string of freight cars that blocked their path to allow them to cross.
There was a deafening crash and the freight cars writhed and buckled. Six of the heavy carriers plunged from the track, and the wreckage of one fell upon the car.
Mary Lynn Church, 3, sitting in the front seat with her parents was killed instantly when caught beneath the overturned freight car. Her father, Herbert Church, was crushed so badly he will probably die.
Mrs. Church and the three other children miraculously escaped serious injury. They were taken from beneath the mass of heavy timber. Their automobil was almost flatened and was surrounded by wreckage of the six box cars.
A quarter of a mile away Fred Werline, 48, of Dallas was found dead in the splintered cab of his locomotive. He and the girl were the only victims of the unusual accident, which officials of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas investigated today.
Werline's long freight containing 86 cars, was drawn on a siding in the railroad yards to allow a fast freight to Ft. Worth to pass. The locomotive was not clear of the main line, however, and the fast train struck the cab squarely where Werline sat.
Both engines were overturned and damaged badly. The engineer and fireman on the fast freight were not seriously hurt.
The tracks on which Werline's train stood were torn up for several hundred yards.

No. 71, the southbound freight train which sideswiped the local left Denison at 5:50 Wednesday afternoon in charge of Engineer Hodge and Conductor Quigly with Fireman Cox. The local was in charge of Conductor Lacy and Engineer Werline. Mr. Werline resided in Denison many years before taking the local run out of Dallas. He was promoted from fireman to engineer on November 22, 1920, while working on the south end out of Denison.
Fred Werline, a brother, resides at 1218 West Woodard Street and left for Dallas where interment will probably take place. Time of the funeral had not been announced today. The engineer is survived by a sister in New Mexico, a widow in Dallas and three children of Denison by a former marriage.