Mr. and Mrs. Ole Erickson

ERICKSON, SWENSON

Posted By: Alan Nicholson
Date: 4/24/2010 at 00:14:05

Roland Record
29 July 1909

Terrible Auto Accident Kills 3

Auto Party Killed In Michigan City, Are Relatives of Roland People, Formerly Lived Near Here and Jewell

People here were shocked last Sunday to read in their papers of the killing of Mr. and Mrs. Ole Erickson and a Miss Della Erickson at Escanaba, Mich., on Saturday. It was at once surmised that the young lady was Bertha Erickson, formerly of this place, and her friends and relatives did not know what to think of the matter. A telegram on Monday however, gave some particulars which relieved the anxious friends to some extent. The story of the catastrophe as near as we have been able to secure them is as follows: Mr. and Mrs. Ole Erickson, their niece Miss Bertha Erickson, nephew Edwin Erickson, and another young lady and gentleman and the chauffeur were out riding in the elder Mr. Erickson's automobile, and were just about to cross the Chicago & Northwestern railway tracks, when they sighted a fast train coming around a curve a few feet from them. The chauffeur stopped the car, but it had such a momentum that it was carried nearly across the track before it stopped, when the train struck the hind part of the auto and carried it on the pilot for fifty feet. Mr. and Mrs. Erickson were thrown under the wheels of the moving train and their bodies fearfully mangled, and were killed instantly. Another young lady was also killed instantly, but her body was not thrown under the wheels of the train. The others in the car jumped from the car and were thus saved from instant death. Edwin Erickson sent a message to Ben Swenson on Monday stating that Mr. and Mrs. Erickson had been killed, but that himself and sister Bertha were unharmed.

Mr. Ole Erickson was known to several here, having worked on the farm for Oscar Henderson, northwest of town, about twenty years ago, but thought that he was making money too slowly in that way, so he went to Chicago and from there to Escanaba, Mich., where he has since lived and accumulated a fortune. He was married to a lady from near Jewell, but no children were born to them. Mr. Erickson was one of the most prominent men in Escanaba, having been mayor of the city and was at present a member of the state legislature.

Miss Bertha Erickson will be remembered as the young lady, who made her home at the Ben Swenson home for several years, but left last year for Escanaba to make her home with her uncle and aunt. Mrs. Ben Swenson and Mrs. A. A. Olson of this place are her aunts.

The accident is a most shocking one to the friends and relatives of the worthy couple that came to their end in such a terrible and hasty manner.

Roland Record

12 August 1909

Miss Bertha Erickson, a neice of Mrs. Ben Swenson and Mrs. A. A. Olson, who narrowly and miraculously escaped death in an auto collision with a train a few weeks ago, arrived here yesterday for a visit at the Swenson and Olson homes. The accident occurred while a party were on their way from Escanaba, Mich., to Menominee, Wis. for a pleasure trip, when the auto was run into by a train and three persons were killed, her uncle and aunt being among those who suffered such a terrible fate. Miss Erickson was slightly injured, but has fully recovered.