Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Font, Bert C. 1929 ************************************************ 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: Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net March 27, 2014, 3:27 pm Ionia County News, 17 Jan 1929 Men Killed In Train Wreck Fireman, Brakeman Die As Engine Leaps Track; Legs Of Engineer Burnt, Broken Crash Near Shiloh Fail to Crew; Locomotive Hurled Into Muck Swamp Late Wednesday Afternoon; One Body Under Wreckage Wrecking Outfit Still At Work W.C. Gierman, Bert C. Font, Dead; Herman Humphrey In Hospital; In Cab Two Hours Two Ionia railroad men are dead, a third is in Community hospital here seriously injured, the result of a wreck on the Pere Marquette track a mile north of Shiloh which hurled to the engine and it’s crew into the muck swamp beside the right-of-way, Wednesday at about 5:15 p.m. The dead are the firemen, William Gierman, 38, 620 N. Jefferson Street and Bert C. Font, 49, brakeman; 218 King Street. Herman Humphrey, 60, engineer, is in the hospital, one leg broken, the other scalded from contact with escaping steam when he was pinned into the cab by muck and debris packed into the cab by its plunge into the swamp. Rescued from Cab The engineer was removed from the muck-filled cab with great difficulty when his rescuers succeeded in pulling him through the window after he had been held imprisoned in the corner nearly two hours. The fact that he was pinned in the corner where a little airspace was provided is all that saved his life. Gierman attempted to jump but was caught in the cab and instantly killed as it hurtled into the muck. The bravery of the railroad man was exhibited during the rescue work Humphrey endured his suffering without a murmur, aiding the workers in extinguishing with snow, a fire that broke out in the cab, and directing the rescue party as to the location of the body of the firemen who was pinned against his legs in the muck. All-night efforts of a big crew of men and all available equipment were fruitless in attempts to locate the body of Mr. Font, who was buried beneath a veritable avalanche of dirt hurled over him when he leaped down a six foot embankment. It is believed his body was pinned under the boiler as the locomotive plunged down after the tender. His body, if under the engine, could not be recovered until wrecking equipment from Saginaw reached the scene with a wrecking crane capable of hauling the engine out of the muck and back to the roadbed. Rails Spread The accident occurred as the result of spreading rails. The engine was backing up, pulling a string of empty box cars attached to the front of it. It was proceeding at about 20 miles an hour when the spreading of the track threw the tender off the rails and over the embankment, forcing the locomotive to follow. The two sections were hurled at opposite angles into the swamp the force of the locomotive being such that it literally buried the cab in the muck, driving it full of the half frozen earth as though it were a great shovel. Melvin Kunkel, Ionia, conductor, and Don Robbins, of Edmore, brakeman were riding in the caboose on the rear end and escaped injury. The conductor went back along the tracks a mile to Shiloh to summon help while Robbins did what he could to aid Humphrey. Arriving at Shiloh the road’s officials at Ionia were notified. They at once dispatched an ambulance to the scene of the wreck and started a wrecking crew there to help. B.J. Boynton’s ambulance rushed to the scene and reached there before they had extricated the engineer who was rushed to the hospital at once after his removal. Jury Selected Mr. Boynton, as coroner, impaneled a jury composed of Walter Garrett, Ionia; Jay Stitts, Sheridan; James White, Earl Greenhoe, Harold Robinson and Earl Jenks, of Fenwick. They will meet Monday to hold an investigation to determine whether an inquest will be required. Mr. Gierman is survived by his wife and two children, Jack, aged 13, and Pauline, aged 8. Mr. Font leaves his wife and three sons, Albert, 24; Floyd, 21 and Brunson, 18, and a daughter Mrs. Olive Tracey, Grand Rapids. Allan E. Stebbins will take charge of the body of Mr. Font when it is brought to Ionia and Matthew Bradley will conduct the funeral for Mr. Gierman. Arrangements for the funeral had not been completed at noon Thursday. ------ At noon Thursday hope that the body of Bert Font can be removed from under the engine before evening was practically abandoned. More wrecking equipment, now being rushed to the scene, will be required before the engine can be lifted and dragged from its bed in the deep muck. Since all other wreckage has been removed it now is certain the unfortunate brakeman is pinned beneath the boiler. ------------------- Ionia County News, 24 Jan 1929 Train Wreck Victims Laid To Rest Here William Gierman, Bert Font Funeral Services Held In Ionia Saturday Many Send Flowers Hundreds Mourn at Biers Decked with Flowers Saturday morning funeral services were held here for William Gierman and Bert Font, Pere Marquette trainmen, who had worked together and who died together when their train was derailed Wednesday afternoon last week in a wreck near Shiloh. The funeral of Mr. Gierman, was from the SS Peter and Paul Church with a solemn Requiem High Mass celebrated by Rev. Fr. Joseph Maiers. The body was born to the grave by Edward Groening, Irwin Redemsky, Carl Kreger, Charles Corcoran, George Banhagle and Harry H. Gemuend. The Ionia Lodge of Elks, of which Mr. Gierman was a member, furnished a corps of honorary pallbearers made up of Max Grell, William Hahn, Leo Corcoran, Harold Lampkin, A.H. Tuttle, A.J. Hemmingway, Edward Scheidt, Jerald Burke and Don O. Mellinger. The esteem in which Mr. Gierman was held by his many friends and by his fellow workmen was testified to by the abundance of floral tributes which were in charge of Miss Ruth Redemsky and Miss Joanna Bielow. Bert Font Services The services for Mr. Font were held at the Stebbins funeral home which was filled to capacity by sorrowing friends. The services were conducted by Rev. John Young, of the Interdenominational Holiness association. He was assisted by Joseph Beeman also of the I.H.A. and music for the service was by the association choir. Fellow employees of the Pere Marquette formed the group of pallbearers at his funeral. These were: Earnest Peabody, John Fitzgerald, John Jay, Patrick Teufel, Robert Hoy and Melvin Kunkle. Burial was in Woodward Lake cemetery. Mr. Gierman’s body was interred in Mt. Olivet cemetery. Many friends and relatives from out of town attended each of the services and floral offerings from Ionia and other parts of the state were numerous including those from the railroad general offices and from railroad and other organizations of which the men were members. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/f/font24178nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 7.2 Kb