Enterprise 11 Aug 1938

2 Killed As Car Crashes Train Friday

Two Lives are Lost at Crossing East of Blair Friday Night

CROSSING BLOCKED

Another fatal accident occurred at the “Y” crossing just east of Blair Friday evening when Fred Genke, 28, of Fort Calhoun, was almost instantly killed and his companion, Jimmy Sailors, 30, of Florence, was injured so badly that he died shortly afterward.

The only witness to the crash was Albert J. Matya, a CCC worker, who stated that he believed that the driver did not see the train until it was too late to stop and that he swerved and ran into a box car. The auto was a complete wreck.

Wrecks at this point have happened before and at the mainline crossing just west of this crossing. The train in this instance was a forty car train moving south and the pavement being wet it was next to impossible to see it.

This crossing and the one near it should have attention and signals placed to prevent further loss of life.

The impact of the auto with the car in Friday’s accident was terrific and the engine was driven well up to the front seat and the wreck was so lodged that bars had to be used to release it.

The young men in the car were in the employ of M. Spickler and were, it is rumored, on their way to work on the new cabin camp being built by him east of Blair.

Pilot Tribune 11 Aug 1938

2 MEN DIE AS CAR CRASHES TRAIN HERE

Nolan Sailors, 22 on Way to His Wedding, Fatally Hurt in Crash

Companion, Fred Genke, Also Dies

Two Men Meet Death as Their Car Crashes into Train at the “Y” Crossing in East Blair; trapped in Wrecked Auto After Accident

Nolan Sailors, 22, and his companion, Fred “Fritz” Genke, 28, both of Fort Calhoun, were killed at the “Y” railroad crossing on east Washington street here at 11 p.m. Friday when their automobile crashed into a freight train while they were on their way to Iowa for Sailors’ wedding.

Sailors, bartender at Spick’s cabin camp south of Fort Calhoun was to have been married Monday to an Iowa girl. Genke was accompanying him on his trip to Iowa and was to have driven the car back to Fort Calhoun.

Albert Matya, a member of the Blair CCC camp, was walking to the camp at the time and was the only witness to the crash. He said Sailors, the driver, apparently did not see the train until too late.

He said Sailors’ car, travelling east towards the Blair bridge approached the crossing over which the southbound train was slowly rolling, and did not slacken speed as it neared the track.

Says Auto Swerved

Suddenly, Matya said, the car swerved as the brakes were applied. It was too late and the auto crashed into the space between two of the last few boxcars. The train pulled the crumpled automobile across the road and threw it into the ditch, breaking off a railroad warning post.

“I ran out into the road and stopped the next car,” Matya said later. “I told them to get a doctor and an ambulance. Another man from the car I stopped ran with me to the wrecked car. We could hear groans, but couldn’t get the car door open.”

Dr. Robert Donley, who answered the call, and others worked for some time with a crowbar before they could extricate the victims.

Genke was dead when removed. Sailors was taken to Court View hospital, where he died two hours later without regaining consciousness.

The CCC boy said that he had been watching the train as he approached the intersection on foot. He said he was positive there was no warning flare at the unprotected crossing on the side from which the car came. He added, however, that there was a small red flare on the other side of the tram, but that it was blotted from vision part of the time by the moving train wheels. He said it was quite possible that the men could not see the flare on the other side of the train from the vision line inside the car.

Worst of Many Crashes

It was the most serious in a long series of car-train collisions at the intersection, which although located on the heavily-travelled Lincoln highway (U.S. 30), has no warning signal or bright street light.

Both Genke and Sailors had been employed for some time by M. M. Spickler, who operates the cabin camp on highway 73 between Fort Calhoun and Omaha, and who is now building a new tourist court east of Blair, near the scene of the fatal crash.

Genke, who lost a hand several years ago in a corn picker at Spick’s farm, has lived in the Fort Calhoun vicinity most of his life. He was born there November 19, 1909. Surviving him are his mother, Mrs. Vena Fink of Fort Calhoun; a sister, Mrs. Wayne Moffett of Blair; and two half-sisters residing in Fort Calhoun. Funeral services for him were held Sunday afternoon at the Sievers mortuary there, with burial following in Fort Calhoun cemetery.

Sailors’ body was taken from the Bendorf Funeral Home here to Barada, Nebraska, near Falls City, where he had resided until coming to Fort Calhoun about a year and a half ago. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Sailors, reside there. Funeral rites for him were held at Barada Monday – the day he would have been married.

Ft. Calhoun Chronicle 11 Aug 1938

Two Young Men Killed

The appalling death rate by automobiles was brought home to this community when on Friday night of last week two of its young men, Fred Gienkie and Nolan Sailors, were killed when Nolan’s car, driven by himself, crashed into a slowly moving freights train on the “Y” crossing just eat of Blair. Fred was instantly killed, and Nolan died about here hours after being taken to the Blair hospital. Fred was badly mangled, his legs and arms being broken and his face crushed One of Nolan’s arms was nearly torn from his body, but his fatal injuries appeared to be from his crushed chest. The car, a 1935 Ford coach, was almost completely demolished. It is said that despite the terrible impact the crew of the train were not aware of the accident, the train proceeding without a stop.

Mrs. Vena Fink, mother of Fred, was prostrated by the terrible tragedy and has been under the doctor’s care ever since the accident. The death of Nolan was made doubly sad by the fact that he was to have been married on Monday, and at the time of the accident was on his way to Lakeview, Iowa, to meet his bride-to-be. His funeral was held on the day he was to have been married. Shortly after he died his parents and other members of the family came to Blair, and accompanied the body to Shubert, Nebr., their home. Fred’s body was first taken to a mortuary in Blair and later brought to Sievers mortuary in Ft. Calhoun, where the funeral services were held Sunday afternoon, with Rev. Donaldson officiating. Both of these young men were well known in this community, and their tragic passing shocked their host of friends. Fred, aged 28, spent most of his life here, and it is no exaggeration to say that he was liked by all. Despite the handicap of the loss of one hand in an accident a few years ago he maintained his cheery disposition and was always a dependable and capable worker. He is survived by his mother and three sisters, Mrs. Vane Moffett of Blair, and Louise and Francis Fink, at their home in Ft. Calhoun. Nolan, aged 22, had been employed at Spicks Cabin Camp about a year, and was highly regarded by his employer and the public with whom he came in contact.

Ft. Calhoun Chronicle 11 Aug 1938

Helpful Friends

Below is a list of subscribers to a fund to assist Mrs. Fink in her bereavement:

M. M. Spickler $10, Allen and Piper $5, W. J. Topping $2.50, Aug. Schroeder $1. V. A. Boggs .25, Peter O. Schmidt .50, Emil Kruse .50, H. H. Rohwer .50, Jack Falk .15, Jacob J. Sierk .15, H. M. Campbell $2, Wm. H. Schmidt $1, Fred H. Schroeder $1, Niel McMillan .50, Merlin Miller .50, Henry Rohwer .25, Henry A. Kruse $2, Ernest Schmidt $1, Frank Adams $1, L. Clasen .50, Fred Hansen .25, Harry Nelson .25, L. V. Smith .75, Dean Slader $1, E.S.B. Geesaman $1, Richard Sievers $2.50, Francis Zaepffel .25, C. M. Coffin $1, Herb Jones .50, Carl H. Kay .60, Herman Iversen $1, Otto Asmussen $1, Fred H. Frahm $1, Arthur W. Clausen $2, J. W. Trisler $1, Clarence A. Smith 41, Max Jipp $1, L. J. Day $1, G. V. Beadle $1, Al Croft .50, Ed Cachlin $1, Ed Fitzgerald .25, Ray Hansen .50, Hans Kay Jr. $1, Clare Thomas $1, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Staben $2, Arthur Staben $1, Otto Staben $1, Fred McNair .50, P. J. Pearson. 50, Ernest Rix .50, C. R. Jensen .50, Emil Fuhrman .50, Wm. Prochnow .25, Herman Fuhrman .25, Henry Prochnow .25, Art Henrichsen .25, Chas. Wilderson .10, Arnold Jipp .25, B. R. Cox .25, John Autzen .25, John Schroeder $1, Henry Schmidt .50, John Klabunde $2, Otto Egnell $1, Lawrence Pease $5, Ernie Bianchi $2, Hans Jorgensen .50.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~