From the Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville, Madison County, Illinois, Monday, November 8, 1920:
Two boys were dashed to death Saturday night when the automobile in which they were riding was struck by an Illinois Central fast passenger train at Binney, northeast of here. The accident from its nature and completeness shocked the entire countryside.
The victims were John Eiler, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Eilers, and Wilmer Volz, son of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Volz. The first was 19 and the second 9 years of age.
Eilers had returned just the day before from a visit in town. He wanted to go to Livingston on an errand and invited the Volz boy to accompany him in the Eilers' Ford car. They had made the trip and were nearing home, in fact had practically arrived at home, as they were within one hundred yards of the Eilers house when they ran onto the crossing immediately in front of the train. How it happened they did not see it has not been established.
The train struck the machine squarely and tore it to pieces. Eilers went under the wheels and was terribly mangled, both arms and both legs and the left side of his head being cut off. Volz was hurled through the air for a hundred feet clear of the right of way, and was found to have died instantly, his neck being broken.
The senior Eilers is employed by the railroad at that point and was at work but a hundred yards from the crossing at the time. He did not see the accident but heard the crash which drew his instant attention. As he ran toward the crossing he first encountered a green sweater which he remembered to have been worn by the Eilers boy. With his mind filled with premonitions of the fate of his own son he ran on in search of the latter and presently came upon the body in a huddled heap.
The train is a limited which leaves Chicago at 9 o'clock in the morning and it was running about 53 miles an hour at the time of the accident. It is due in Alhambra at 4:09, and it is figured from this that the mishap was exactly at 4 o'clock.
Deputy Coroner Robert Dauderman, of Alhambra and Coroner John H. Krill, of Granite City, were notified at once.
Both of the boys were popular in their neighborhood and their tragic taking off has cast a pall of gloom over the entire vicinity. The funeral of the Volz boy will be on Tuesday with services at 12 o'clock at the German Evangelical church at Alhambra. The Eilers boy's funeral will be Wednesday, according to present plans.
The Volz boy was a nephew of Edward A. Volz, an employee of the N.O. Nelson Company, and J.L. Volz, agent at Edwardsville for the Prudential Life Insurance Company.
Two boys were dashed to death Saturday night when the automobile in which they were riding was struck by an Illinois Central fast passenger train at Binney, northeast of here. The accident from its nature and completeness shocked the entire countryside.
The victims were John Eiler, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Eilers, and Wilmer Volz, son of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Volz. The first was 19 and the second 9 years of age.
Eilers had returned just the day before from a visit in town. He wanted to go to Livingston on an errand and invited the Volz boy to accompany him in the Eilers' Ford car. They had made the trip and were nearing home, in fact had practically arrived at home, as they were within one hundred yards of the Eilers house when they ran onto the crossing immediately in front of the train. How it happened they did not see it has not been established.
The train struck the machine squarely and tore it to pieces. Eilers went under the wheels and was terribly mangled, both arms and both legs and the left side of his head being cut off. Volz was hurled through the air for a hundred feet clear of the right of way, and was found to have died instantly, his neck being broken.
The senior Eilers is employed by the railroad at that point and was at work but a hundred yards from the crossing at the time. He did not see the accident but heard the crash which drew his instant attention. As he ran toward the crossing he first encountered a green sweater which he remembered to have been worn by the Eilers boy. With his mind filled with premonitions of the fate of his own son he ran on in search of the latter and presently came upon the body in a huddled heap.
The train is a limited which leaves Chicago at 9 o'clock in the morning and it was running about 53 miles an hour at the time of the accident. It is due in Alhambra at 4:09, and it is figured from this that the mishap was exactly at 4 o'clock.
Deputy Coroner Robert Dauderman, of Alhambra and Coroner John H. Krill, of Granite City, were notified at once.
Both of the boys were popular in their neighborhood and their tragic taking off has cast a pall of gloom over the entire vicinity. The funeral of the Volz boy will be on Tuesday with services at 12 o'clock at the German Evangelical church at Alhambra. The Eilers boy's funeral will be Wednesday, according to present plans.
The Volz boy was a nephew of Edward A. Volz, an employee of the N.O. Nelson Company, and J.L. Volz, agent at Edwardsville for the Prudential Life Insurance Company.
From the Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville, Madison County, Illinois, Monday, November 8, 1920:
Two boys were dashed to death Saturday night when the automobile in which they were riding was struck by an Illinois Central fast passenger train at Binney, northeast of here. The accident from its nature and completeness shocked the entire countryside.
The victims were John Eiler, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Eilers, and Wilmer Volz, son of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Volz. The first was 19 and the second 9 years of age.
Eilers had returned just the day before from a visit in town. He wanted to go to Livingston on an errand and invited the Volz boy to accompany him in the Eilers' Ford car. They had made the trip and were nearing home, in fact had practically arrived at home, as they were within one hundred yards of the Eilers house when they ran onto the crossing immediately in front of the train. How it happened they did not see it has not been established.
The train struck the machine squarely and tore it to pieces. Eilers went under the wheels and was terribly mangled, both arms and both legs and the left side of his head being cut off. Volz was hurled through the air for a hundred feet clear of the right of way, and was found to have died instantly, his neck being broken.
The senior Eilers is employed by the railroad at that point and was at work but a hundred yards from the crossing at the time. He did not see the accident but heard the crash which drew his instant attention. As he ran toward the crossing he first encountered a green sweater which he remembered to have been worn by the Eilers boy. With his mind filled with premonitions of the fate of his own son he ran on in search of the latter and presently came upon the body in a huddled heap.
The train is a limited which leaves Chicago at 9 o'clock in the morning and it was running about 53 miles an hour at the time of the accident. It is due in Alhambra at 4:09, and it is figured from this that the mishap was exactly at 4 o'clock.
Deputy Coroner Robert Dauderman, of Alhambra and Coroner John H. Krill, of Granite City, were notified at once.
Both of the boys were popular in their neighborhood and their tragic taking off has cast a pall of gloom over the entire vicinity. The funeral of the Volz boy will be on Tuesday with services at 12 o'clock at the German Evangelical church at Alhambra. The Eilers boy's funeral will be Wednesday, according to present plans.
The Volz boy was a nephew of Edward A. Volz, an employee of the N.O. Nelson Company, and J.L. Volz, agent at Edwardsville for the Prudential Life Insurance Company.
Two boys were dashed to death Saturday night when the automobile in which they were riding was struck by an Illinois Central fast passenger train at Binney, northeast of here. The accident from its nature and completeness shocked the entire countryside.
The victims were John Eiler, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Eilers, and Wilmer Volz, son of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Volz. The first was 19 and the second 9 years of age.
Eilers had returned just the day before from a visit in town. He wanted to go to Livingston on an errand and invited the Volz boy to accompany him in the Eilers' Ford car. They had made the trip and were nearing home, in fact had practically arrived at home, as they were within one hundred yards of the Eilers house when they ran onto the crossing immediately in front of the train. How it happened they did not see it has not been established.
The train struck the machine squarely and tore it to pieces. Eilers went under the wheels and was terribly mangled, both arms and both legs and the left side of his head being cut off. Volz was hurled through the air for a hundred feet clear of the right of way, and was found to have died instantly, his neck being broken.
The senior Eilers is employed by the railroad at that point and was at work but a hundred yards from the crossing at the time. He did not see the accident but heard the crash which drew his instant attention. As he ran toward the crossing he first encountered a green sweater which he remembered to have been worn by the Eilers boy. With his mind filled with premonitions of the fate of his own son he ran on in search of the latter and presently came upon the body in a huddled heap.
The train is a limited which leaves Chicago at 9 o'clock in the morning and it was running about 53 miles an hour at the time of the accident. It is due in Alhambra at 4:09, and it is figured from this that the mishap was exactly at 4 o'clock.
Deputy Coroner Robert Dauderman, of Alhambra and Coroner John H. Krill, of Granite City, were notified at once.
Both of the boys were popular in their neighborhood and their tragic taking off has cast a pall of gloom over the entire vicinity. The funeral of the Volz boy will be on Tuesday with services at 12 o'clock at the German Evangelical church at Alhambra. The Eilers boy's funeral will be Wednesday, according to present plans.
The Volz boy was a nephew of Edward A. Volz, an employee of the N.O. Nelson Company, and J.L. Volz, agent at Edwardsville for the Prudential Life Insurance Company.
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