Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Pierce, Richard 1930
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Marilyn Ransom mlnransom@chartermi.net June 19, 2013, 4:49 pm

The Ionia Sentinel-Standard, Monday, May 26, 1930

Eagerness to unloosen his fishline that had become tangled as he walked across 
the Grand Trunk railway trestle over Prairie creek, east of the city limits, 
cost the life of Richard Pierce, 11-year-old son of Chris C. Pierce, a wall 
guard at the Michigan reformatory, at 4:35 Sunday afternoon.

As Richard worked to free the line, apparently oblivious to danger, westbound 
passenger train No. 21, plying between Detroit and Grand Haven, struck him, 
hurling him a hundred feet or more through the air, killing him instantly.  
The body  landed against a boulder at the foot of the six-foot roadbed 
embankment.

The youth’s body, crushed and broken by the impact, was picked up by members 
of the train crew and taken in the baggage car to the Grand Trunk depot here, 
where it was turned over to Coroner B. J. Boynton.

Richard had been fishing most of the afternoon at the creek with three other 
lads, Billy Cooper 10; Walter Kirchen, 12; and Jack Font, 14.  A few minutes 
before the train was due to arrive, Richard left this companions on the east 
concrete abutment and walked across the bridge.  As he reached the west side 
the line he was using to fish with caught on a projection on the bridge.  As 
he tugged away to free it, the train bore down on him.

J. Mulvey, of Detroit, engineer of the train, reported he saw Richard soon 
enough to sound a sharp warning and attempted to slacken the speed of the 
train, but was unable to bring it to a halt before striking the boy.  

There are five other children in the family to survive with the parents.  They 
are Imogene, 15; Lois, 9; Virginia, 6; William, 7; and John, two weeks old.

Coroner Boynton impaneled John Wieczorek, Claude Otto, Ora Shattuck, E. A. 
Possehn, Charles Shuneman, and Don Erridge as jurors.  After viewing the 
remains they were dismissed until it is decided whether or not an inquest is 
necessary.  

Funeral services will be conducted Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock from the 
home, 807 Maple street, by Rev. Paul L. Stewart.  Burial will be in Balcom 
cemetery.

A dog’s unflinching devotion to its youthful master was strikingly noticeable 
at the scene of the tragedy.  Rex, the boy’s black and tan terrier, fought 
vainly to leap into the baggage car as trainmen lifted the body of Richard 
into the car.  Prevented from clinging to his master, Rex started for home, 
reaching there some time later, plainly disconsolate and grieved by the fate 
that had been Richard’s.

Richard had once before figured in an accident.  About two years ago he was 
knocked down by an automobile near the courthouse square while crossing the 
street to listen to a band concert.  His injuries at that time were not 
serious, however.

Richard was the second boy to give his life in recent years on the trestle.  
About nine years ago, Kenneth Erridge, seven years old, was killed by a 
train.  Observing the train bearing down on him while in the middle of the 
bridge, Kenneth prostrated himself at the side of the rail and lay there 
several moments.  Believing the train had passed, the boy raised his head just 
in time to be struck by a packing box on the last coach, ending his life 
instantly.


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