But IT Was Too Late
'He Looked Up Saw Train'
Partridge, Kansas ----- Jon Smith was celebrating his 13th birthday Wednesday when a mail train ripped through his family's car killing Jon, his young brother and a friend.
Five others in the car, all members of the Smith family, were injured, two seriously. All were from Partridge, a town of 263 nine miles southwest of Hutchinson.
At 3:53 p.m. at a railroad crossing at the south end of Partridge, the train "slammed into the door post and just peeled off the top of the car, exploding it like a firecracker in a five gallon bucket," Shanley, Kansas highway patrolman.
Jon, his 4-year-old brother, Larry, and his friend, Dannie Fornwalt, 12, son of Mr. and Mrs. John O. Fornwalt, were killed instantly.
Other in the car were Jon's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Francis D. Smith and his three sisters. Mr. Smith was driving. Two sisters, Jeanette, 14, and Deborah, 10, are in serious condition at Grace Hospital, Hutchinson.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith, treated and released at the hospital, kept a bedside vigil with their injured daughters. Another daughter, Jackie Lou 17, was also treated and released.
Mrs. Smith is a registered nurse at the hospital She had taken four days off to coincide with her husband's vacation.
Jeanette has a broken hip, numerous cuts and a broken jaw and both Deborah's jaws are broken.
Heading for Y-Ranch
Earlier the happy group was going to the Y-Ranch at Arlington to cap off Jon's birthday celebration with a swimming party and picnic The boys were in their swimming suits.
Smith eased the old model car around the corner of the paved city street and headed south toward the train crossing.
Smith estimated the speed of his car at about 15 mph as it reached the crossing, three blocks from the Smith home. The Fornwalt trailer home is about a block and a half away.
Shanley said Smith told him "I just wasn't paying any attention."
"He said he could remember his wife screaming for him to stop the car. He looked up and was the train and thought he could beat it across," Shanley said.
The Rock Island mail train, Number 40, was going about 69 mph when it ripped into the car. It stopped about seven-tenths of a mile from the crossing Shanley said.
Scattered Far
Parts of the Smith car were scattered up to 150 yards away. The mangled bodies of the three boys were flung into the heavy grass along the track.
Mrs. Fornwalt heard the grinding crash, neighbors said, and ran to the crossing. She found her son's body, and walked, sobbing, slowly back to their home.
The train fireman, Dal Rosenbaum of Pratt, said he saw the car approaching the tracks at a slow rate of speed. Engineer H. LU. Dietz, also of Pratt, told Sahnley the warning devices on the train were being sounded. There are no flashing lights at the crossing.
"It's the worst disaster since I've been here," said Glen Goering, Partridge grade school principal. "We can't believe it has happened."
Jon would have been in the 8th grade at the school next year and Dannie in the 7th, Goering said.
"Dannie was a boy who was a very good student. He was musically inclined. A very good student….
"Jon participated in sports and was an active boy," Goering said.
A curious crowds gathered at the accident site. The train, which had been backed up to the death crossing by the engineer, let off an eerie whistle and the bells sounded a mournful warning. Spectators moved far away from the tracks and the train pulled slowly away.
Friends of the Fornwalt family were gathered outside the trailer home. The women were weeping.
Four houses away a woman and a young girl were sitting on a porch in the hot afternoon sun. The woman had her arm around the girl, and their eyes grazed in disbelief.
The three fatalities bring Reno County's 1964 traffic death total to seven.
Hutchinson News
Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas
Thursday, July 9, 1964
Page – Front Columns – 4 & 5
-----------------------------------------------------
Per: Rose Stout (49419337) 9/29/2022
'He Looked Up Saw Train'
Partridge, Kansas ----- Jon Smith was celebrating his 13th birthday Wednesday when a mail train ripped through his family's car killing Jon, his young brother and a friend.
Five others in the car, all members of the Smith family, were injured, two seriously. All were from Partridge, a town of 263 nine miles southwest of Hutchinson.
At 3:53 p.m. at a railroad crossing at the south end of Partridge, the train "slammed into the door post and just peeled off the top of the car, exploding it like a firecracker in a five gallon bucket," Shanley, Kansas highway patrolman.
Jon, his 4-year-old brother, Larry, and his friend, Dannie Fornwalt, 12, son of Mr. and Mrs. John O. Fornwalt, were killed instantly.
Other in the car were Jon's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Francis D. Smith and his three sisters. Mr. Smith was driving. Two sisters, Jeanette, 14, and Deborah, 10, are in serious condition at Grace Hospital, Hutchinson.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith, treated and released at the hospital, kept a bedside vigil with their injured daughters. Another daughter, Jackie Lou 17, was also treated and released.
Mrs. Smith is a registered nurse at the hospital She had taken four days off to coincide with her husband's vacation.
Jeanette has a broken hip, numerous cuts and a broken jaw and both Deborah's jaws are broken.
Heading for Y-Ranch
Earlier the happy group was going to the Y-Ranch at Arlington to cap off Jon's birthday celebration with a swimming party and picnic The boys were in their swimming suits.
Smith eased the old model car around the corner of the paved city street and headed south toward the train crossing.
Smith estimated the speed of his car at about 15 mph as it reached the crossing, three blocks from the Smith home. The Fornwalt trailer home is about a block and a half away.
Shanley said Smith told him "I just wasn't paying any attention."
"He said he could remember his wife screaming for him to stop the car. He looked up and was the train and thought he could beat it across," Shanley said.
The Rock Island mail train, Number 40, was going about 69 mph when it ripped into the car. It stopped about seven-tenths of a mile from the crossing Shanley said.
Scattered Far
Parts of the Smith car were scattered up to 150 yards away. The mangled bodies of the three boys were flung into the heavy grass along the track.
Mrs. Fornwalt heard the grinding crash, neighbors said, and ran to the crossing. She found her son's body, and walked, sobbing, slowly back to their home.
The train fireman, Dal Rosenbaum of Pratt, said he saw the car approaching the tracks at a slow rate of speed. Engineer H. LU. Dietz, also of Pratt, told Sahnley the warning devices on the train were being sounded. There are no flashing lights at the crossing.
"It's the worst disaster since I've been here," said Glen Goering, Partridge grade school principal. "We can't believe it has happened."
Jon would have been in the 8th grade at the school next year and Dannie in the 7th, Goering said.
"Dannie was a boy who was a very good student. He was musically inclined. A very good student….
"Jon participated in sports and was an active boy," Goering said.
A curious crowds gathered at the accident site. The train, which had been backed up to the death crossing by the engineer, let off an eerie whistle and the bells sounded a mournful warning. Spectators moved far away from the tracks and the train pulled slowly away.
Friends of the Fornwalt family were gathered outside the trailer home. The women were weeping.
Four houses away a woman and a young girl were sitting on a porch in the hot afternoon sun. The woman had her arm around the girl, and their eyes grazed in disbelief.
The three fatalities bring Reno County's 1964 traffic death total to seven.
Hutchinson News
Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas
Thursday, July 9, 1964
Page – Front Columns – 4 & 5
-----------------------------------------------------
Per: Rose Stout (49419337) 9/29/2022
But IT Was Too Late
'He Looked Up Saw Train'
Partridge, Kansas ----- Jon Smith was celebrating his 13th birthday Wednesday when a mail train ripped through his family's car killing Jon, his young brother and a friend.
Five others in the car, all members of the Smith family, were injured, two seriously. All were from Partridge, a town of 263 nine miles southwest of Hutchinson.
At 3:53 p.m. at a railroad crossing at the south end of Partridge, the train "slammed into the door post and just peeled off the top of the car, exploding it like a firecracker in a five gallon bucket," Shanley, Kansas highway patrolman.
Jon, his 4-year-old brother, Larry, and his friend, Dannie Fornwalt, 12, son of Mr. and Mrs. John O. Fornwalt, were killed instantly.
Other in the car were Jon's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Francis D. Smith and his three sisters. Mr. Smith was driving. Two sisters, Jeanette, 14, and Deborah, 10, are in serious condition at Grace Hospital, Hutchinson.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith, treated and released at the hospital, kept a bedside vigil with their injured daughters. Another daughter, Jackie Lou 17, was also treated and released.
Mrs. Smith is a registered nurse at the hospital She had taken four days off to coincide with her husband's vacation.
Jeanette has a broken hip, numerous cuts and a broken jaw and both Deborah's jaws are broken.
Heading for Y-Ranch
Earlier the happy group was going to the Y-Ranch at Arlington to cap off Jon's birthday celebration with a swimming party and picnic The boys were in their swimming suits.
Smith eased the old model car around the corner of the paved city street and headed south toward the train crossing.
Smith estimated the speed of his car at about 15 mph as it reached the crossing, three blocks from the Smith home. The Fornwalt trailer home is about a block and a half away.
Shanley said Smith told him "I just wasn't paying any attention."
"He said he could remember his wife screaming for him to stop the car. He looked up and was the train and thought he could beat it across," Shanley said.
The Rock Island mail train, Number 40, was going about 69 mph when it ripped into the car. It stopped about seven-tenths of a mile from the crossing Shanley said.
Scattered Far
Parts of the Smith car were scattered up to 150 yards away. The mangled bodies of the three boys were flung into the heavy grass along the track.
Mrs. Fornwalt heard the grinding crash, neighbors said, and ran to the crossing. She found her son's body, and walked, sobbing, slowly back to their home.
The train fireman, Dal Rosenbaum of Pratt, said he saw the car approaching the tracks at a slow rate of speed. Engineer H. LU. Dietz, also of Pratt, told Sahnley the warning devices on the train were being sounded. There are no flashing lights at the crossing.
"It's the worst disaster since I've been here," said Glen Goering, Partridge grade school principal. "We can't believe it has happened."
Jon would have been in the 8th grade at the school next year and Dannie in the 7th, Goering said.
"Dannie was a boy who was a very good student. He was musically inclined. A very good student….
"Jon participated in sports and was an active boy," Goering said.
A curious crowds gathered at the accident site. The train, which had been backed up to the death crossing by the engineer, let off an eerie whistle and the bells sounded a mournful warning. Spectators moved far away from the tracks and the train pulled slowly away.
Friends of the Fornwalt family were gathered outside the trailer home. The women were weeping.
Four houses away a woman and a young girl were sitting on a porch in the hot afternoon sun. The woman had her arm around the girl, and their eyes grazed in disbelief.
The three fatalities bring Reno County's 1964 traffic death total to seven.
Hutchinson News
Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas
Thursday, July 9, 1964
Page – Front Columns – 4 & 5
-----------------------------------------------------
Per: Rose Stout (49419337) 9/29/2022
'He Looked Up Saw Train'
Partridge, Kansas ----- Jon Smith was celebrating his 13th birthday Wednesday when a mail train ripped through his family's car killing Jon, his young brother and a friend.
Five others in the car, all members of the Smith family, were injured, two seriously. All were from Partridge, a town of 263 nine miles southwest of Hutchinson.
At 3:53 p.m. at a railroad crossing at the south end of Partridge, the train "slammed into the door post and just peeled off the top of the car, exploding it like a firecracker in a five gallon bucket," Shanley, Kansas highway patrolman.
Jon, his 4-year-old brother, Larry, and his friend, Dannie Fornwalt, 12, son of Mr. and Mrs. John O. Fornwalt, were killed instantly.
Other in the car were Jon's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Francis D. Smith and his three sisters. Mr. Smith was driving. Two sisters, Jeanette, 14, and Deborah, 10, are in serious condition at Grace Hospital, Hutchinson.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith, treated and released at the hospital, kept a bedside vigil with their injured daughters. Another daughter, Jackie Lou 17, was also treated and released.
Mrs. Smith is a registered nurse at the hospital She had taken four days off to coincide with her husband's vacation.
Jeanette has a broken hip, numerous cuts and a broken jaw and both Deborah's jaws are broken.
Heading for Y-Ranch
Earlier the happy group was going to the Y-Ranch at Arlington to cap off Jon's birthday celebration with a swimming party and picnic The boys were in their swimming suits.
Smith eased the old model car around the corner of the paved city street and headed south toward the train crossing.
Smith estimated the speed of his car at about 15 mph as it reached the crossing, three blocks from the Smith home. The Fornwalt trailer home is about a block and a half away.
Shanley said Smith told him "I just wasn't paying any attention."
"He said he could remember his wife screaming for him to stop the car. He looked up and was the train and thought he could beat it across," Shanley said.
The Rock Island mail train, Number 40, was going about 69 mph when it ripped into the car. It stopped about seven-tenths of a mile from the crossing Shanley said.
Scattered Far
Parts of the Smith car were scattered up to 150 yards away. The mangled bodies of the three boys were flung into the heavy grass along the track.
Mrs. Fornwalt heard the grinding crash, neighbors said, and ran to the crossing. She found her son's body, and walked, sobbing, slowly back to their home.
The train fireman, Dal Rosenbaum of Pratt, said he saw the car approaching the tracks at a slow rate of speed. Engineer H. LU. Dietz, also of Pratt, told Sahnley the warning devices on the train were being sounded. There are no flashing lights at the crossing.
"It's the worst disaster since I've been here," said Glen Goering, Partridge grade school principal. "We can't believe it has happened."
Jon would have been in the 8th grade at the school next year and Dannie in the 7th, Goering said.
"Dannie was a boy who was a very good student. He was musically inclined. A very good student….
"Jon participated in sports and was an active boy," Goering said.
A curious crowds gathered at the accident site. The train, which had been backed up to the death crossing by the engineer, let off an eerie whistle and the bells sounded a mournful warning. Spectators moved far away from the tracks and the train pulled slowly away.
Friends of the Fornwalt family were gathered outside the trailer home. The women were weeping.
Four houses away a woman and a young girl were sitting on a porch in the hot afternoon sun. The woman had her arm around the girl, and their eyes grazed in disbelief.
The three fatalities bring Reno County's 1964 traffic death total to seven.
Hutchinson News
Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas
Thursday, July 9, 1964
Page – Front Columns – 4 & 5
-----------------------------------------------------
Per: Rose Stout (49419337) 9/29/2022
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