KOBER, Doris Marie 1899-1916

KOBER, VAN VLIETE, DUNLAVEY

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 8/23/2013 at 23:15:24

[Waterloo Evening Courier and Reporter, Monday, June 5, 1916]

MANY PRESENT AT DOUBLE FUNERAL

KOBER GIRLS, WRECK VICTIMS, LAID TO REST

2000 at Cemetery Rites

First Methodist Episcopal Church was filled to capacity yesterday afternoon and many were unable to enter the building for the funeral services of Misses Ruth and Doris Kober, victims of the wreck at Flood Creek Firday, more than 2000 attending the rites at the cemetery.

Rev. F. W. Court, pastor of First church, preached the sermon, taking as his text Rev. 1:3, "There was a rainbow round the throne." Music was by the chorus of West High and Mrs. H. B. Kelly.

The girls were the only children of Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Kober, 524 Hammond Avenue. Ruth, aged 19, was a junior at West High and Doris, 16, a member of the eighth grade.

They were active in First Church with which they had united immediately upon coming here from Traer about six years ago. They were members of Epworth League and the Sabath School, each of which attended the services in a body.

Besides their parents, the girls are survived by an aunt, Mrs. Charles H. Dunlavey, and their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Kober of Traer.

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Note: Parents were John G. Kober (1868 - 1940) and Olive R. Van Vliete Kober (1874 - 1949)
Also killed in the train wreck was Olive Kober's mother, Flora Van Vliete of Traer

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[Waterloo Evening Courier and Reporter, Saturday, June 3, 1916]

25 MAY BE DEAD IN THE PACKARD WRECK

RECOVER 6 BODIES;
5 KNOWN MISSING;
3 INJURED MAY DIE

Efforts to Raise Submerged
Coach Pushed; May Contain
Several Bodies;
Drag Stream for Others.

SURVIVORS DESCRIBE TERRIFYING SCENES

Woman Rescued as She is Near Drowning;
Another Faints and Falls Back to Death;
Fate Saves Mrs. Kober

Greene. June 3.—(Special.)— The death List in the wreck of the Rock Island train No. 19 five
miles east of here early yesterday will he much larger than was anticipated.

After working working all night, persons who returned to Greene today said it was possible that the death list would reach 25, and in addition to five bodies already recoverd, the known missing are six. Those missing, it is conceded, are in all probablility in the day coach or possibly have been washed downstream.

The reason why the list is expected to be larger than was first announced is because the car is known to have been crowded to capacity. There were proably 60 persons in the car, and so far, only 35 have been accounted for.

Boys from Greene who have dived into the car, say they have seen seven or eight bodies.

Preparations to raise the car are being pushed as rapidly as possible and the railway officials believe it will be lifted out of the water of Flood Creek late today.

Mrs. Kober's Story -

Mrs. John Kober, 524, Hammond Avenue, whose mother, Mrs. Van Vliete, and two daughters are among the dead, today told how she happened to be in the sleeper and escaped.

"We were on our way to Minnesota to spend the summer," she said, "and as I had been ill, the others insisted that I go into the sleeper. I was awakened by the shock and dressed when I learned there had been an accident. The porter assisted me to cross on the fallen girders of the bridge to the Greene side of the creek and there I identified the body of my mother."

Woman almost drowned -Mrs. William Alford, Louisville, Ky., had a narrow escape from death by drowning in the day coach. "I was dozing when the accident occurred," she said today. "The first I knew of what had happened was when the water began to rush into tie car. In almost no time I was in water up to my neck. I tried towork my way toward a window but on the way I sank twice. When I reached a window, I was unable to get it open or smash the glass. I sank again. Just as I was about to give up hope, rescuers smashed the glass from the outside. I was so weeak I could not raise my arms to be pulled out, but they reached in and got me."

Mrs. Alford said that Mrs. Mary Grewell. who was on her way to her home in Seattle from Iowa City, was pulled out of the coach at the same time as herself. Mrs. Grewell was also in a weakened condition and after she had been taken from the coach, she fainted and fell into the water and was drowned.

Kober Girl's Funeral - Arrangements for the funeral of Ruth and Doris Kober have been completed. There will be a short prayer service at the home at 2 p.m. tomorrow with a service at the First Methodist Chruch at 2:30 p.m. The body of Mrs. Van Vliete will be taken to Traer where the funeral will be Monday.

SCENE OF THE WRECK - The scene of the wreck where the Rock Island Railroad crosses Flood Creek is about two miles north of Packard. It is about 35 miles northwest of Waterloo and near the northern line of Butler County. Ordinarily Flood Creek is a small stream of water if not entirely dried up, but the heavy rains of Thursday afternoon and night swelled it to the proportions of a river and weakened the abutments of the steel girder bridge.

Brakeman's Account - E. Crookston, brakeman on the wrecked train, told what he knew of the wreck when he passed thru Waterloo last night on his way to Cedar Rapids.

"When the train came to a stop, I didn't have time to see what was the matter," he said. "I started back to put torpedoen on the track. As I hurried away from the train I could hear the cries of the passengers caught in the day coach and as they were carried downstream by the water.

"After placing the signals I ran to the nearest farm house and telephoned to Greene and to Clarksville. The farmers came to our help and did great rescue work."

Conductors Statement - "I was in the smoker when the crash came," said Conductor Tiffany. "It was so sudden I was not aware what had happened.

"But shrieks of passengers, the heavy clang of the steel coaches as they struck together with a splash in the water, soon told the story.

"I fought my way thru the smoke down the aisle crowded with passengers. When I proceeded finally in getting outside I ran to the water's edge.

"In the darkness I heard the breaking of glass. As soon as I became accustomed to the blackness around me I could see figures crawling along the side of the car out of the water. They cried for help.

"We got into communication with the nearby stations and asked them to send men to the rescue.

"We had a few lights. It was awful knowing that in the cars were lives which might be save and no way to get them out."