Tragedy at the Erie Railroad Crossing

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY SALLY Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Aunt Sally, filled the air on the morning of January 18, 1952. It was her nephew David singing to his Aunt, along with her father Patty, while her mother Martha was preparing breakfast.
This was going to be a happy day. Sally had just turned 22 and she had plans to celebrate her birthday later that evening. As she dressed for her job at the Tile Plant that was on the other side of Olean, Sally left the bobby pins in the “pin curls” of her hair. There was excitement and happiness filling her being.

The January morning was dark, in fact it was pitch black outside when the car pulled into the Smith driveway. Sally said her Goodbyes and hurried to the auto where three more gals were waiting to wish her a Happy Birthday. It was almost
6:30 A.M.

The car backed out of the driveway, turned toward Union Street making a left turn to head up N. Union Street. As soon as she had entered the car again the sound of Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, filled the car. Can’t you just picture the smiling faces greeting Sally, her smiling face, as they headed off to cross the Erie Railroad tracks?

SUDDEN COLLISION As the car begun to cross the tracks, death loomed but a few moments away. In the pitch-black darkness a string of boxcars standing on the spur to Daystrom’s, made it impossible to see down the tracks to their right. The impending 140-boxcar Chicago to New York east bound freight was coming down the eastbound tracks fastly approaching the crossing. As the 1949 sedan approached the middle of the track, a bright light suddenly shone into it and at the same instant the blowing of a train whistle resounded. Shock and fear gripped the occupants in the auto; they had not seen nor heard the train approaching. Within a second the train hit the car hurling it into the air, spinning it around and sending it more than 100 feet down the westbound track. This caused the demolished vehicle to knock down about fifteen feet of the fence adjacent to the crossing. The vehicle continued the remander of the distance down the track on the opposite side of the train. An iron fence separated the two Erie mainline tracks at the nearby station.

HELPLESS PASSENGERS In the back seat of the car on the left side sat Mary Freaney. She saw the light and heard the train whistle at the same time the train hit. Mary remained in the car though the whole trip in the air and down the tracks. Jessie Steffen who was a passenger in the front seat and Leona Suchora, the driver, were killed instantly. The front doors of the auto were flung open upon impact ejecting both women as the car spun around. Sally Smith, who was sitting in back on the side of the impact, was also tossed out and flung between the bars of the fence.
FINDING SALLY ALIVE Sally’s mother heard the impact of the train hitting the car! She rushed out of the house and ran into the blackness of the morning. "Oh, my God!", she ran to and fro looking for her daughter. She wasn’t in the car. She ran up and down the tracks in panic. "Oh, my God!!", down the tracks she went. One body. No! The next body. No! There she is! "What can I do??" Sally's head was pinned between the iron bars of the fence. "Is she alive??" Yes, she was alive! Here comes her father. He tries to get Sally free from her imprisonment. He needed help. With the help of another they freed Sally. She kept moving her arms up and down. “Help me, I can’t breathe,” she kept laboring to say. What help could they give her. None.

There was not the ambulance service in 1952, as we have today. The train had blocked the Union Street crossing until 7:50 A.M. Traffic had to be directed to the Pine Street crossing. The ambulance finally arrived but it was twenty-five minutes before the ambulance left for the hospital. “Its getting dark”, was some of her last words before the ambulance left.

Somewhere in between the times of Sally being found and the ambulance leaving, two neighbors, Leo Mikoloczyk and Jake Mater, brought Martha home. Both of the men supported Martha, holding her up, one under each of her arms. Her feet were walking but they were not even touching the ground. So great was her grief, that she was almost in a collapsed state.

HOPE TURNED INTO GRIEF When her father and brother arrived at the Olean General Hospital they were told that Sally was alive. Somehow in the confusion and probably since both victims had their hair done up in pin curls, the wrong information was given out. Hope loomed and they called their doctor. (Emergency rooms were not part of the hospital service in 1952 unless a doctor happened to be available in the hospital.) After the arrival of the doctor it was brought to light that there had been a mix-up as to who survived and who didn’t. Sally was dead. Hope turned into grief. The accident had happened one-half hour before the gates at the Union Street crossing were to begin operation. There were no automatic gates in 1952. A watchman operated the crossing gates from 7 A.M. until 11 P.M. in the evening. It was reported that the train was traveling at a moderate rate of speed.

Sometime after the accident I had talked to Mary Freaney. She related the details of the accident to me. They never seen or heard the train until it was right upon them. It was a miracle that Mary survived.

Sally is sadly missed by her family,

those who knew her,

and those whom she never had the chance to meet.

"For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will lead them to fountains of the waters of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
~Revelation 7:17

"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
~John 11:25

The Christian should never consider death a tragedy. Rather he should see it as the angels do: they realize that joy should mark the journey from time to eternity. The way to life is by the valley of death, but the road is marked with victory all the way. ~Billy Graham

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