TRAIN ACCIDENTS

My cousin, Jude Tropp, emailed the other day asking about whether John B. Kauffman (JB), our grandfather, had been in a railroad accident at some time in his career.  Railroad accidents were extremely common when the railroad was at its height in the 1900's so it wouldn't be surprising.  The reason Jude asked was that his mother had shared a story about JB being in an accident that caused him to have all his hair burned off and when it grew back his hair was pure white.

John B. Kauffman began working for the Chicago and North Western Railroad in 1904 working continuously for 41 years and 6 months and retiring in 1947.  It is likely that he heard about many railroad accidents over the years that he was employed.  Upon researching the accidents that occurred in Janesville involving the Chicago and North Western railroad during the time that JB was working I found three accidents that I would categorize as being quite severe and injuring railroad workers. In the reports that I read no mention was ever made of JB being involved in any of these accidents.  

John B. Kauffman, 1943

The first accident occurred on February 14, 1906.  A freight train and a DeKalb passenger train collided head-on on the Chicago and North Western line.  Two firemen and an engineer were killed in this accident.  Almost instantly after the collision the engine of the passenger train exploded throwing the fireman and the engineer into the air and away from the wreck.  The fireman on the freight train was found several hours later under the wreckage of the engine.  Seven other railroad employees were injured.  A conductor in the caboose of one train was hurled forward headfirst into the stove and was unconscious in the hospital at the time of the newspaper report the next day.

The body of the engineer of the passenger train, Thomas Lafferty of Baraboo, was taken by train to Madison.  His father, Robert Lafferty came to pick up the body of his son.  Robert had been an engineer for 47 years on the railroad.  This was the second son that he lost in the same manner in 10 years.  

The second and third accident involving the Chicago and North Western railroad occurred in 1930.  The first was January 18, 1930.  In this accident a southbound Sioux limited passenger train ripped into the side of a passenger train on the North Western line.  The North Western engine was hurled from its tracks and over an embankment.  The Milwaukee line train was turned over on its side on the opposite side of the tracks.  The wheels of the North Western train were in the air with the boiler and the cab crushed below.  The fireman, a Janesville native, was badly scalded about the face and body.  (I think this scalding accident was quite common in the steam powered locomotive accidents.)  No one was killed in this accident. 

The last accident that I found that involved a Chicago and North Western train occurred April 25, 1930.  This was the third train wreck in Janesville in 1930, the second to involve a Chicago and North Western train.  In fact, this wreck involved two C&NW trains, resulting in one fatality, injuries to one other member of the crew and heavy damage to two C&NW locomotives.  A switch train, pulling a string of automobile freight cars from the Chevrolet plant, collided with a C&NW freight being drawn to the south Janesville yards. Al Schumacher was pinned between the boiler of the switch engine and the tank of the tender (coal car) and was instantly crushed to death.  The engineer of the switch engine suffered severe burns from scalding water when the water pipes feeding the steam engine burst as the trains collided.  

Any one of these accidents could make a co-worker's hair turn white!  Perhaps that is what happened to JB.

References

Carlson, Frank, compiler. Accidents R.R. 2012.  Accessed at https://www.cnwhs.org/articles/1361642286.pdf on 17 SEP 2020

Three Killed in Bad Wreck, Janesville Daily Gazette, February 15, 1906, page 1 and 5.  Accessed at Newspapers.com, 17 SEP 2020

Two Engines Plunge Down Embankment; Cold Wave Blamed. Janesville Daily Gazette, January 18, 1930, page 1. Hedberg Public Library, microfilm collection, Accessed 8 SEP 2020

Al Schumacher Is Killed As Engine, Freight Collide. Janesville Daily Gazette, April 25, 1930, page 1 and 13.  Hedberg Public Library, microfilm collection, Accessed 8 SEP 2020.