Wyandotte County KS Archives News.....Two Women Die in Train-Car Crash 19?? ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sandy Kluge EgyptStudy@aol.com September 30, 2009, 12:53 pm Unknown Newspaper 19?? Two women were killed shortly after noon yesterday when the car they were in was struck by a westbound Union Pacific mail train at 102nd just south of Kaw Drive (K-32) in Edwardsville. The driver of the car was Mrs. Helen Malben, 73, of 8108 Jarboe, the Kansas Highway Patrol said. She was thrown from the car and then pinned under wreckage about 200 feet west of where the collision occurred. A passenger, Mrs. Clara M. Flaherty, 72, of 914 Minnesota, Kansas City, Kansas, was also thrown from the car. The two women were driving northward on 102nd toward Kaw Drive. They were returning from a visit at a nursing home in Edwardsville, a Wyandotte County sheriff's deputy said. On June 11 a Kansas City couple was killed when the truck they were in was struck by a 29-car Union Pacific freight train at the 88th Street crossing in Kansas City, Kansas, about two mile east of the 102nd Street crossing. Killed in that crash were Mr. and Mrs. Julius C. Alexander, 7219 Monroe. Twenty four train cars derailed in that collision and railroad workers still were cleaning up debris yesterday. The 85 car train in the crash yesterday was not derailed. Warning signals at both rail crossings are crossed boards. Lawrence D. Grubb, engineer of the mail train, told the patrol that the 1970 Buick sedan the women were in had approached the crossing slowly from the south, stopped, proceeded onto the tracks and then "froze." A patrol spokesman said it was not determined if the car was stalled from mechanical failure or because Mrs. Malden became frightened. "You don't know her human reaction," he said. "You don't even know whether she saw the train." He said it was impossible for the train to stop in time to avoid the impact. The train was brought to a halt about four blocks from the crash scene. Grubb told the patrol the train was traveling about 40 miles an hour. Richard Pincher, a Union Pacific spokesman in Omaha, said the railroad would study tapes in a speed recorder carried in the train. Pincher said that would take two or three days. The railroad has set a train speed limit of 60 miles an hour along the tracks from the Muncie area in Kansas City, Kansas, to a point west of Bonner Springs. County and city governments in Kansas have the power to set speed limits for trains but none have done so along that stretch of tracks, a railroad official said. Sheriff's deputies said the two women had attended funeral services at 11 am for a friend, Miss Mildred Morgan, who was buried at the Edwardsville Cemetery. After the burial the women had gone to the nursing home to visit a friend. Mrs. Flaherty was a lifelong resident of Kansas City, Kansas. She retired in 1955 as a chief operator for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company where she had been employed 30 years. She was a member of St. Anthony's Catholic Church. She leaves a son, Patrick J. Flaherty, Garden Grove, Calif., and two grandchildren. Mrs. Malben was a lifelong area resident. She retired in 1965 as an operator for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company where she had been employed 49 years. She was a member of St. Benedict's Catholic Church. She was a member of the Hiberian Society. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/wyandotte/newspapers/twowomen192gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ksfiles/ File size: 3.7 Kb