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...
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