Obituary Record

Carl Henkle
Died on 7/14/1929

None

18 July, 1929 - The Pilot-Tribune

BRAKEMAN DROWNS IN RAIN WASHOUT

Flood at Tekamah Takes out Section of Track

An extra northbound freight train on the M. & O. was stranded about four miles west of Tekamah early Sunday morning when a part of the tracks washed out in a small cloudburst that struck that part of the state shortly after midnight Saturday. The engine of the freight turned over on its side when the track gave way and the head brakeman, Carl Henkle, was killed in the accident.

Frank Kemp of Omaha was engineer of the freight, and he stated that rain was falling rapidly when the freight left Takamah. He stated that they were making slow progress, and that when the train was about two miles west of the Tekamah brick yard he felt the engine suddenly weave, first to one side and then to the other. The engine turned over to the south side although none of the freight cars of the train left the track. Henkle was pinned under the oil tender of the engine and his lifeless body was taken from the wreckage and brought to Tekamah. Henkle lives at Sioux City and leaves a wife and eight children.

A total of a thousand feet of track was washed out by the storm, and section crews were put to work replacing the track two and three miles from the wreck to allow the wrecker to get to the scene of the accident. A wrecker was called from Missouri Valley to clear the tracks. Several hundred feet of track near the wreck were left without support as the water had washed out most of the roadbed from underneath.

Six inches of rain visited the Tekamah and Oakland community early Sunday morning, and the water in Tekamah creek rose rapidly and flooded the lowlands to a width of about three quarters of a mile. The M. & O. tracks leave Tekamah to the west and pass near the Tekamah creek. A high wind accompanied the rain and many fields of small grain that had not been cut were blown flat while shocks in other fields were washed across fields and lodged in fences. Many fields of corn had been blown flat by the high wind. The flood passed through the business section of Tekamah and the streets of Tekamah were reported to be under two feet of water.

Several thousand people drove to the scene of the accident on Sunday, and the highway from Blair to Tekamah was crowded with traffic. A number of highway bridges were washed out and state highway employees were kept busy all day putting in temporary bridges to keep traffic avenues open.

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

Printed in the Washington County Pilot-Tribune on 7/18/1929


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