OBIT: Henry S. MARTZ, 1945, native of Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

Copyright 2007.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
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HENRY S. MARTZ

Veteran Trainman Killed in Trolley Car Collision
Victim of Crash, Henry S. Martz, Was Native of Somerset County

  Henry S. Martz, native of Southampton Township, Somerset County, Pa., veteran 
trainman of the West Penn Railways, was fatally injured at 10:30 o'clock Tuesday 
night, Feb. 13, by the collison [sic] of two trolley cars at Bitner siding near 
Connellsville.  Another trainman and five passengers were less seriously 
injured.
  Martz died in the Connellsville State Hospital about four hours later.  Adam 
Fogle, operator of the car that collided with Martz's car, escaped with cuts and 
bruises.  Both of Martz's legs were so badly broken and mutilated that they had 
to be amputated.
  Martz's car was proceding [sic] toward Connellsville while Fogle's was going 
toward Uniontown.  The two were to have passed at the Bitner siding.
  For some unexplainable reason, possibly because of faulty brakes, officials 
said Fogle was unable to bring his car to a stop at the siding where he was to 
have changed the signal lights.  As the car sped through the siding, it plunged 
headon into Martz's car, which was pulling into the siding from the other 
direction.
  The two street cars were badly damaged as they collided.  All passengers on 
the two cars were shaken up by the impact and some were cut up by glass that was 
shattered.
  Both operators are veterans of many years of service.
  Mr. Martz was born September 10, 1878, in Southampton Township, Somerset 
County, a son of the late Simon G. and Hannah Stouffer Martz.  From 1898 to 1904 
he taught school in Somerset and Westmoreland counties.  He entered the employ 
of the West Penn April 19, 1904, and was one of the most widely known men of the 
West Penn system.
  On October 13, 1925, he was married to Miss Ruth Nemon.
  He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Connellsville.
  Besides his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Mary Hannah, a student at 
the Pinkerton Secretarial School, Pittsburgh, and Wilma, at home, and a brother, 
Alvey Martz of Poplar Grove.
  Funeral services were held at 2:30 o'clock Saturday afternoon at the Charles 
A. McCormick Funeral Home, Connellsville.  Rev. Harry R. Roach, pastor of the 
First Presbyterian Church, officiated.  Burial was in Green Ridge Memorial Park.

Meyersdale Republican, February 22, 1945