We have quoted verbatim from the Argos Reflector newspaper of November 9th, so please excuse the fact that reporters of that era did not miss the opportunity to create great drama when writing the news.
“Last Thursday evening the people of our neighboring community of Tippecanoe, seven miles east of here, were shocked to learn of a distressing accident that happened at the crossing of the Nickel Plate tracks near the depot. Daniel Fawley, a farmer living east of Tippecanoe, was struck by the westbound passenger train and his lifeless body was hurled against Agent Elliott with a violence that resulted in the latter’s death Sunday evening. It seems that Mr. Fawley, having alighted from the eastbound passenger train that arrives there about six o’clock, started to cross the main track to go uptown. Now, the fatal defect in the railroad company’s system of taking on and leaving off passengers at this place is that the eastbound train takes the siding which compels passengers to board from and alight upon the main track. This brazen disregard for the safety of human life is much emphasized by the fact that the westbound passenger train is due to pass here at the same time. When Mr. Fawley started across the tracks, unconscious of the approach of the train from the east, he heard a warning cry from W.C. Elliott, the veteran agent at this station. Just as he turned his head the locomotive struck him with the results above mentioned. The body of Mr. Fawley was badly mangled, being hurled 25 feet or more and death was practically instantaneous.
W.C. Elliott had been in the service of the Nickel Plate as agent for nearly 30 years, or since the completion of the road, and had come to be regarded as a landmark of the place and had won the respect and regard of all who knew him. His life hung in the balance of uncertainty til Sunday evening when the soul of this faithful servant left its earthly tenement. Mr. Fawley lived alone on his farm. He leaves one child, Mrs. Clyde Stockberger. Mr. Elliott was about 70, a soldier of the civil war and a Mason. His body was taken to Indianapolis for burial. In the unequal struggle between Duty and Dividends the latter has scored another point. But it shall not ever be thus. The awakening conscience of the people will assert itself and such death traps as this one will be relegated to the junk pile of oblivion.”
To learn more about trains in Marshall County, visit our museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. To see our model trains run, visit our train room from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays!