Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Luce, May 1896
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Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net June 4, 2014, 5:04 pm

Ionia Weekly Standard, 4 Dec 1896

Alice Taft and May Luce Killed Instantly.  

Anna Taft Yet Alive, but in a Precarious Condition – A Fated Railway Crossing.

Various stories are currently touching the parties to the railroad accident
which happened on the D., L. & N. railroad, Monday eve, at a point known as the
Hodgson crossing, some five miles east of Ionia, and naturally they are
conflicting.  The young ladies in the buggy were Anna and Alice Taft and May
Luce.  The first named two are twin daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Riley Taft, who
live in the township of Orange, and are very well known in Ionia.  May Luce is
the daughter of Mrs. Mary Luce, widow, who now resides in southeast Ionia
township.  Miss May was also well known in the city, which was her home for a
short time; she was at one time in the employ of Simpson & Peer as saleslady.

Alice Taft and May Luce were killed instantly.  Anna Taft was severely hurt and
rendered unconscious.  She is yet alive, and has had semi-conscious moments, but
she is in a precarious condition.  She is at the home of C. Hodgson, whither she
was carried immediately after the accident.  Her father and mother are with the
poor girl; their grief is surely great.

The stories current about mutilations of the bodies are all greatly exaggerated.
 The injuries which caused death of the two girls were on the heads, and death
must have been almost instantaneous.  The heads, of course, were cut and
otherwise bruised, but no members were cut off or torn from the bodies, in
either of the three cases.

The engineer of the train was Jerry McCarty, one of the oldest and best
engineers on the road.  He saw the horse, on the run, some distance before the
engine reached the crossing, but the grade is heavily down ward coming west, and
the trains go at great speed here.  Whether the horse was running away, or
whether the girls were bent on beating the train, is not, and cannot very well
be known, unless Miss Anna lives to tell the story.  Under the circumstances,
however, the accident, though shocking, was inevitable – positively unavoidable.

After the accident the train was brought to a standstill and backed to the
fateful spot.  The bodies of the dead were taken aboard and brought to the city.

Mrs. Luce arrived from her country home in Ionia township soon after supper
Monday eve., sustained and soothed in the hope that the first rumors were
correct; that it was her child that was spared her life; but inquiry decreed
otherwise.  Her cup is surely full.  When May was about 8 weeks old, the father
was brought home from a hunting trip, dead; his head to being nearly shot to
fragments.

The funeral service for Miss May Luce was conducted at the Church of Christ
Wednesday, and the audience room was filled with a very large concourse of
sympathizing friends.  Rev. W.H. Scott officiated, and was assisted by Rev. D.
H. Shelly.  The address by Rev. Scott was beautifully impressive and full of
tenderest sympathy.  The floral contributions were beautiful and abundant.  The
remains were taken to Linden, where deceased was born, and deposited in the
family lot beside those of her father.


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