Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Derrick, Herbert 1918 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Marilyn Ransom mlnransom@chartermi.net May 31, 2013, 4:20 pm The Ionia Standard, Friday, July 19, 1918 Herbert Derrick, who comes from one of the earliest of the Ionia county pioneer families, and who received his earliest railroad education in Ionia, met his death in Grand Rapids on Sunday afternoon. The Grand Rapids Herald reports the accident as follows: Catching his foot in a hole in the railroad tracks at 3:05 o’clock Sunday afternoon in the Pere Marquette yards at Wyoming, Herbert Derrick, 52 years old, 42 Arthur street, S.W., was unable to extricate himself in time to miss an oncoming freight car and was crushed under its wheels, both legs being amputated at the knees. He was picked up in an unconscious condition and rushed to Butterworth hospital, where he died shortly after being placed upon the operating table. Derrick was yard conducted for the P.M., and had stepped between two freight cars to open up a coupler. As he swung the coupler open he caught his foot in a hole in the middle of the track and vainly endeavored to extract it, as he knew that several freight cars had been switched down the track and would bump the cars which he was between. The crash came and his foot was still held in the hole. He was knocked to he ground and both trucks of a freight car passed over his legs. Derrick had lived in Grand Rapids for 25 years and had been employed on the Pere Marquette for the last 10 years. During the first 15 years here he had been employed as yard conductor for the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad. He is survived by a widow, Mrs. Etta Derrick; a daughter, Mrs. Lydia Pickard of this city; a stepson, Private Robert Daley, who left with the last contingent from Camp Custer for France, and three brothers, Gus and Frank Derrick of this city, and Lon Derrick of Ionia. Both Gus and Frank Derrick as also employees of the Pere Marquette. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/d/derrick20685nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 2.4 Kb