Simons, Samuel 1901-1936

SIMONS, EICKHOGG

Posted By: Paul Van Dyke-Volunteer
Date: 8/30/2014 at 23:12:25

Source: Hawarden Independent (1-2-1936)

Born: April 12, 1901
Died: January 2, 1936

The treachery of the highway was again brought home to the people of this community Saturday when the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Simons, who have operated the Tilgner farm, two miles west of Hawarden, the past year, were instantly snuffed out when their car was struck on the railway crossing in the west part of town shortly before 12:30 in the afternoon by an incoming North Western passenger train.

Mr. and Mrs. Simons had been in town shopping during the forenoon and were on their . way home when the fatal accident occurred. The highway was slippery with snow and ice and it is believed that when Mr. Simons, who was driving the car, saw the train approaching from the west as he neared the grade crossing and applied his brakes but due to the slippery highway the car skidded onto the track directly in front of the engine. The car, a Model A Ford, was hurled into the ditch on the south side of the road east of the track and came to rest on its four wheels about fifty feet from the point where it was struck, and was converted into a mass of wreckage. People near the scene of the accident rushed to the spot to find the mangled bodies of both Mr. and Mrs. Simons on the ground, one on either side of the car. The train, which was already slowing down for the Milwaukee crossing, was brought to a stop after the accident. D. Sutera and Ted Paulson, both of Huron, South Dakota, were engineer and fireman, respectively, of the train. Motorists who arrived at the accident and it was ascertained that life was extinct and that both had probably died instantaneously. Mr. Simon’s chest was crushed and both legs were broken and there were great gashes about his head and neck. Mrs. Simon’s neck and back were broken and her skull was crushed. The bodies were taken from the hospital to the A. Earl Ross Funeral Home.

A double funeral service for the accident victims was held at the Funeral Home at 10:30 Monday morning with Rev. J. Clyde Clark, pastor of the Baptist Church, in charge. The bodies were taken by train to the former home of Mr. and Mrs. Simons at Wayne, Nebraska, where funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon and interment was made there.

Mr. and Mrs. Simons first came to this community from Nebraska four years ago. After spending a couple of years near here they returned to Nebraska but only remained there a year, returning to Hawarden the first of last March when they took up their residence on the Tilgner farm, west of town. Mr. Simons was 34 years of age while Mrs. Simons was 32. Samuel Charles Simons was born on a farm near Emerson, Nebraska, April 12, 1901, and grew to young manhood in the community near Emerson. Mrs. Simons, who before her marriage was Margaret Rebecca Johanna Eickhoff, the daughter of Fred and Hermina Boschen Eickhoff, was born in Wayne, Nebraska, May 9, 1903. She attended the public schools and high school in Wayne and graduated from high school in May, 1920, teaching school for two years following her graduation.

The children left without parents are Wilma, a freshman in the Hawarden High School; James, seventh grade student in a country school and another boy, 4.