Novice, TX Train Wreck, Jan 1944

BODIES OF SEVEN DEAD IN TRAIN WRECK IDENTIFIED

List of known dead in the crash of one railway train into another at Novice Thursday was believed complete 24 hours later with tentative identification of a seventh body, that of a woman being held at a Coleman morgue.

The woman was thought to be Mrs. J.L. Poston, Antlers, Okla., mother of four month old James Richard Poston, instantly killed when a four car troop extra bound for Camp Barkeley plunged into the rear of a west-bound Santa Fe passenger train halted at the flag station.

Earlier the dead had been identified as follows:

Pvt. Ewald Zwernemann, Caldwell, Texas, son of Mrs. Emma Zwernemann

Mrs. Jack Grimes Roberts, 18, and her three month old daughter, Bonita Madge, McGregor, Texas

Alice Jean Bailey, 9, daughter of Mrs. Janie Bailey, Garvin, Okla.

Marvin Riordan, 11, son of Mrs. Ed C. Young, enroute to Winslow, Ariz., from their former home in Hattiesburg, Miss.

James Richard Poston, 14 month old son of Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Poston of Antlers, Okla.

Santa Fe division headquarters in Temple, which announced Thursday night 12 were killed in the wreck, said yesterday this was caused, apparently, by duplication of information. It was definitely established that only seven lost their lives.

The injury toll stood at 83 with only a few of them thought in serious or critical condition. Of that number, 62, seven of them civilians were taken to the Barkeley station hospital, six to Hendrick in Abilene, six to Coleman hospital, six to Brownwood and three, all service men to the Coleman Army Flying school.

The Abilene Reporter News, Abilene, TX 15 Jan 1944
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