Car-Train Wreck Victim's Rites Set

Funeral for Samuel Fred Mapes, 77, car-train wreck victim of Rt. 1, will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with Father Kevin Heyburn officiating.

Burial will be in Elmwood Cemetery under direction of Elliott's Funeral Home.

Mr. Mapes was killed instantly Wednesday about 12:30 p.m. in a collision between a car and a freight train at Tuscola. The accident occurred at the Santa Fe crossing of U.S. 83.

Mr. Mapes, Ballinger native and longtime Runnels County rancher, had moved to Taylor county earlier this year. He was returning home from Ballinger where he had attended a friend's funeral at the time of the accident.

R. J. Hutchins of Abilene investigating highway patrolman, said Mr. Mapes' northbound car laid down 96 feet of skid marks before reaching the intersection at almost the exact time as the train's engine.

The front wheels' skid marks stopped halfway between the two rails and the car was nearly sheared in half by the force of the impact. The motor was carried nearly one-half mile down the tracks by the southeast-bound freight, while the rest of the car stopped only a few feet from the point of impact.

Justice of the Peace, Silas Clark of Abilene pronounced Mr. Mapes dead at the scene. He was thrown about 60 feet from the rear portion of the car.

Carol Pierson, 17, of Tuscola, who was stopped on the northside of the tracks waiting for the train to pass, was an eye-witness to the crash. She told Hutchins that the railroad lights and bells at the intersection were working and that the engineer was blowing his whistle.

"When he (Mr. Mapes) finally saw the train, it was too late," she said. "He looked like he was standing up in his seat, he was trying so hard to stop."

Born Dec. 31, 1891, in Ballinger, Mr. Mapes married Ollie Smith in Abilene June 4, 1924. He ranched in Ballinger and retired in 1962, when he moved to San Angelo, moving to Abilene in February.

He was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

Survivors include his wife of the home; two daughters, Mrs. Dwain Simpson of 1625 Belmont and Mrs. Elmo Harral of Marfa; two sons, Douglas of Wichita Falls and Charles of Crane; three brothers, Pryor Mapes of LaMesa, Calif., Leo Mapes of Dallas, and Harry Mapes of Corpus Christi; four sisters, Miss Annie B. Mapes and Mrs. Laura Rayburn, both of San Angelo, Mrs. Lena Fritts of El Paso and Mrs. Newt Wardlaw of Waco; 13 grandchildren.

THE ABILENE REPORTER-NEWS
Thursday Evening, July 18, 1969
p. 2-A, cols. 1 & 2.
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Married Ollie Rivers Smith on June 4, 1924 in Abilene, Taylor, Texas.

Children:
Marjorie Jean (Mapes) Simpson
Fred Douglas Mapes
Mary Elizabeth (Mapes) Harral
Charles Dexter Mapes