IOWA AVENUE CROSSING

Ottumwa tri-weekly courier, May 28, 1910

Mrs. ANN QUINLAN AND MRS KATE DOUD VICTIMS OF "Q SWITCH ENGINE WHILE WAITING TO CROSS IOWA AVENUE.  ELDER WOMAN KILLED INSTANTLY, WHILE COMPANION HAD ARM AND LIMB SEVERED DYING TWO HOURS LATER.

Stricken down by a Burlington switch engine while waiting to cross the tracks at Iowa avenue crossing last night about 9:30, two residents of the east end paid toll to the grim reaper with their lives and two families with countless friends, mourn today. Mrs. Ann Quinlan, almost 73 years of age, and Mrs. Katherine Doud, about 50 years old, met a tragic death beneath the wheels of the south side switch engine No. 1438, of the Burlington, In charge of Engineer P. Hahn and Foreman C. I. Robinson. Death was instantaneous in the case of the elder woman, while the latter lingered for two hours until death relieved her sufferings. She died at the hospital about 11:30. This completed a death toll of five persons since Tuesday in East Ottumwa. The tragic accident of John Seely Tuesday noon in an elevator at the Morrell plant and that of the two men, J. Cloverdale and Frank Rhodes yesterday.

Lived Two Hours

No little excitement was caused by the accident last night, and immediately following the first news of the occurrence, numerous persons in the vicinity were on hand to render what assistance was needed. A hurried ambulance call brought Mrs. Doud to the hospital, where already there were gathered physicians to lend aid to the stricken woman.

Way Was Blocked.

The story of the accident gleaned from the stricken famines is 10 the effect that Mrs. Quinlan had left her home at 209 South Iowa avenue, within sight of the spot where she met her death, about 7 o'clock, and went to the home of Mrs. Doud to spend the evening. Leaving about 7 o'clock for her home, she was accompanied by Mrs. Doud, whose thought was to see the elder woman safely across the several tracks that are known as the Iowa Avenue crossing. About the time the two women arrived at the crossing, a freight train had just pulled in from the west and blockaded the crossing, causing the women to wait until the train was cut in two. The location of the tracks at that point left one south yard straight track parallel with the one on which was the freight train, and leading from the track on which they stood, a switch leading to the packing plant is located. It was near this switch that the two women were standing. Their attention being centered on the train that blocked their way, they failed to note the approach of the south side switch engine, which was working on the track on which they stood. Both women were struck by the oncoming engine and dragged some distance. Mrs. Quinlan was killed instantly, while Mrs. Doud had the left arm and left leg severed, the latter at the hip.

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Ottumwa tri-weekly courier, February 28, 1911

AGED MAN FALLS VICTIM OF TRAIN ANDREW STEFFEN FOUND BADLY MANGLED ON BURLINGTON TRACKS The horribly mangled remains of Andrew Steffen, who with his wife reside in the small office like building on the corner of Iowa avenue and Main Street, was found near the May street overhead crossing of the Burlington this morning about 7.45 o'clock. The train that caused his death is not known, except that it was either No.

10, the fast coast limited, or the "peavine" freight, eastbound, as the body was picked up on the South, or east bound track.

No One Saw Accident.

The accident seems enshrouded in a little mystery, as no one seems to have witnessed the tragic death, and the fact that Mr. Steffen, who is an aged man and employed at the packing house, had no visible reason for being near May street at the time he his met his death. Residing on Iowa avenue and Main Street, he had to cross over the railroad at Iowa avenue, which is fully three blocks distant to the west of the place his body was found cut in two. The fact that his body was still warm when found, coupled with his having to be at work at 7 o'clock, would lend a possibility of his having been struck at Iowa avenue while crossing over the tracks to his work, and being carried to May street before actually beneath the merciless wheels of the train. Little credence is given this theory, although no solution is available to his being found dead so far from his path to work at the packing house. He was employed in the foreign shipping room under Alex Brown.

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Ottumwa tri-weekly courier, February 20, 1912

CAR REPAIRER HIT BY ENGINE CHARLES NELSON MET WITH FATAL INJURY IN BURLINGTON YARDS THIS MORNING While inspecting a freight train that had just entered the Burlington yards, Charles Nelson, a car repairer, was struck by a passing switch engine and died at the hospital within an hour. The accident occurred about 3:50 a. m. today near Iowa avenue. The funeral will be held from the residence, 909 Hayne Street, Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock, conducted by Rev. W. H. Hormel.

Interment will be in the Ottumwa cemetery. Mr. Nelson was employed as a car repairer in the Burlington yards on a night shift and had worked for the company for a long time. When he met with the accident that resulted in his death, he, with a fellow car repairer, Charles Johnson, was inspecting a train which had pulled into the yards about 3:50 a. m. The train was a long one and had to cut the Iowa avenue crossing and. double over, as it is termed in the yards, in order to get accommodation in the yards. It was while the cut section of the train was backing into the yards that the accident occurred.

Mr. Nelson was standing along the outer edge of the ties on the north lead track that lays parallel to the tracks on which the train was backing. He, with Mr. Johnson, who stood some forty or fifty feet further up the yards, was watching for defects in the cars, and intently listening to the sounds for the purpose of noting flat wheels, as well as looking for hot boxes, etc., when the north side switch engine passing along the north lead struck Mr. Nelson, who failed to clear the tracks and likewise failed to note the approach of the engine. He was thrown some distance, sustaining a broken leg near the ankle as well as fractures of the pelvic bones and other internal injuries. Mr. Johnson who stood clear of the engine was unhurt and in looking toward his fellow workman missed his lighted torch and immediately investigated. The result of his search revealed Mr. Nelson some distance from where he had stood, in a heap on the ground. A call brought the ambulance to the yards in a hurry and the injured man was taken in haste to the hospital where he died within an hour. No cuts or mangling were visible, the contact of the footboard and pilot timbers of the engine having wrought, the injury to the car repairer. Mr.

Nelson is 35 years of age and married. He is survived by his wife, but has no children.

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