User:Magnoliasouth/Jordan High School bus crash

The Jordan High School bus crash occurred on the morning of December 1, 1938 when a Denver & Rio Grande Western freight train known as "The Flying Ute" slammed into the school bus at sixty miles per hour, resulting in the deaths of X number of students in addition to the bus driver, himself.

Delete this section

 * This is just a list of link names to keep the links in the order which I want them:
 * Am using New London School explosion.
 * I want the victims tables to have a static number column (after all, the number column in no way indicates who got help first or who died first or whatever, it's just a generic number of victims, to help the reader know how many there were total. The problem is that the code works fine for the survivor list, but not so for those that died. I need to figure out why. I used the following template static column begin and end tags in addition to sortable tables. If all else fails, remove those tags and the values within them.

Facts

 * Approximately 20 children from Riverton Junior High School had already been dropped off and so they survived.
 * Jordan School District
 * Students in the middle of the bus were killed (source sensationalizes the news by saying "ground to death" and "cut into pieces by the wheels")
 * Bodies strewn 1/4 mile.
 * 4 died on the way to the hospital (who?)
 * train was delayed by the snowstorm for about 2 hours (need exact)
 * bus driver also slightly delayed by slippery icy roads and low visibility
 * railroad claimed (perhaps only initially) that there was clear visibility
 * the accident occurred at Lampton, a beet loading point,
 * Train called "The Flying Ute"
 * Alfred Elton, 44, was the train's fireman and was a "veteran employee".
 * train had 85 freight cars
 * the body of the bus was crumpled beneath the locomotive
 * C. R. Nelson is superintendant
 * the bus was a 1935 model (doesn't say make)
 * the route was 13 1/2 miles, was to start at 8a and make it to the school at 8:50
 * Jordan High principal is L. W. Neilson, was one of the first persos to the crash site and said 10 children who ordinarily rode the bus "took an earlier bus" which saved their life
 * Three students were mistakenly named as dead, Don Silcox (driver's brother), Dorothy Bills and Ardith Perry.
 * Some of the kids who fatefully missed the bus were Kay and Max McMullen 15 and 16.
 * June Wynn was next to be picked up, lives 400 yards east from crossing, said she could see lights of bus and train a half mile away, she was standing in doorway and saw the bus and train crash, she screamed loud enough that her mother came running out.
 * The Web and Lewis children were cousins.
 * Six victims lived within a block of each other at Bluffdale: Rosa and Byard Lewis, just across the road from them were Rae Miller and Naomi Lewis, then Wilbert and Naomi Webb. This means then that Rosa and Byard were cousins to Naomi. Naomi, Rosa and Byard were cousins to the Wilbert ad Naomi Webb.
 * Obituaries found here for most victims, not all: None of which mention that the Lewis' and the Webbs were cousins.
 * Marjorie Groves had the least of all injuries.
 * Groves said "Someone yelled train - then I woke up lying in the snow" and "Whether I went out through the top or side, I don't know or how I happened to get out with only this little scratch. The back of my coat was torn to shreds."
 * There were 39 people on the bus.
 * Mack Bateman sat near rear end. Said he was thrown to the side of the tracks. and was told by other students he was administering first aid and helped some get into the caboose, but he doesn't remember it.
 * There were 22 dead by Thursday night.

Sandy's history

 * Jordan High School was founded in 1907 {not sure where they built the "original" building, but maybe on the NW corner of 3rd and 2nd, located on this 1911 map.
 * Its own building was built "somewhere around 1907" a couple of blocks north of its current site, according to the Jordan High School's official site.
 * Name is unknown, but the soil in the region is sandy
 * Sandy is 4th largest city in Utah (ditto)
 * The railroad arrived in "early September 1871", was known as "the Utah Southern" and had its ground breaking in the previous May of that year (ditto)
 * Sandy first settled in 1871 (ditto)
 * Had a post office in 1872 (ditto)
 * They had 4 homes by 1873 "...between Union (7200 South) and Dunyon (Point of the Mountain (note that Point of the Mountain is on the bus route map)), according to the Utah History Encyclopedia, edited by Allan Kent Powell. That book also keys on Sandy being located on an alluvial terrace, with 'thirsty soil.'" (ditto)
 * Region founded before Brigham Young arrived by train there. (ditto)
 * Streetcars connected citizens of Sandy to Salt Lake for daily commutes in 1907.
 * Trains transported ore in and out. (ditto)
 * Mines failed in 1890s, Sandy was originally a mining town. (ditto)
 * Sandy was incorporated in 1893 "largely as part of an effort to combat what Mormon inhabitants considered 'unsavory' elements in the town." (ditto)
 * When mines failed "Gone were the large numbers of single, transient men." (ditto)
 * By 1900 "there was only a handful of saloons and hotels, and Sandy began to more closely resemble other rural Utah towns--a place where everyone knew everyone else. Church, farming, business, and family formed the focus of the inhabitants' world." (ditto)
 * The 1914 school was demolished in 1997 and replaced with Megaplex Theatres at Jordan Commons.
 * Current address is 9400 South State Street, Sandy, UT 84070 (common knowledge, doesn't need reference)
 * Jordan High School (JHS) began in church basement with 7 students. [Jordan High Alumni Assoc. http://www.jhsalumniassociation.com/then_and_now.php]
 * First school building was The People's College (students of all ages) opened in 1911 at 8800 South 250 East (no idea what that means). [Jordan High Alumni Assoc. http://www.jhsalumniassociation.com/then_and_now.php]
 * During that time, Lunch was 2-3¢ per dish. [Jordan High Alumni Assoc. http://www.jhsalumniassociation.com/then_and_now.php]
 * Students rode horses to school, or walked. [Jordan High Alumni Assoc. http://www.jhsalumniassociation.com/then_and_now.php]
 * 1920s school buses established, "believed to have been first in the nation" to do so. [Jordan High Alumni Assoc. http://www.jhsalumniassociation.com/then_and_now.php]
 * Construction began in 1913 for new building, located at then address 9351 South State Street. [Jordan High Alumni Assoc. http://www.jhsalumniassociation.com/then_and_now.php]

Background

 * In a ten year period, there were six known bus and train collisions at highway grade crossings, that the ICC had investigated. pg 1-2
 * 89 people had been killed and 66 injured during that time. pg 1-2
 * 84,061 school buses daily carried 3,000,000 in the U.S. pg 1-2

Sandy links

 * Utah History Encyclopedia
 * Utah Digital Newspapers

The Engineer

 * Engineer (perhaps only initially) says he was going at 52 mph.
 * engineer was E. L. Rehmer, 57 and had been employed as an engineer since 1907. Address was 2209 Fifth East Street Engineer since October 1907
 * DRGW also said that 52 mph was normal and that Rehmer said he sounded his whistle but he couldn't keep holding onto the whistle because he had to apply the brakes so hard.
 * Rehmer said that the bus did stop before moving on.
 * Rehmer said the train was within 200 feet of the crossing when the bus continued over the track
 * Rehmer said he'd never had a train accident since he started his job in October 1907.
 * Rehmer said he applied the brakes immediately, but the train continued until after caboose reached the crossing

The Driver

 * bus driver traveling north, parallel to the RRX
 * Driver's wife's name is Mary Adamson Silcox. Said husband's final words were "Honey, I love you more than anything else in the world. Take good care of little Lawrence." and "I have to hurry now deat. It's a bad day and I have to see that the children get to school on time."
 * Bus driver's 1/2 sister was a Mrs. Estella Egbert (could she be related by marriage to victim Roger Egbert?)
 * Bus was inspected on 9/14 and met all requirements. also sparked a recheck of all vehicles
 * Silcox was a properly licensed chauffeur and passed "his exam for his 1938 license" on 12/29/37
 * He was 19, 5" 10" tall, 150 lbs, had been driving bus since 1935.

The investigation

 * Several agencies began investigations immediately after. Two investigators were to arrive 12/4 from the Interstate Commerce Commision, one from the Public Commission and an L. G. Wilson (assistant general manager of the DRGW railroad) headed the railroad investigation and "county officials" were also investigating.
 * On April 27, 1939 district court Judge M. J. Bronson awarded $23,400 to be divided between 15 children injured in the crash with the remaining $80k settlement to be divided between the parents of the "23 children" who died as a result of the crash. Although a motion by the railroad to dismiss damage suits was filed (maybe for outstanding damages since the suit was consolidated?).
 * The ICC reported that Silcox made a stop at the crossing about 25 feet from the track and the train was about 200-300 feet away. It further said that "had the driver taken proper precautions, he could have heard or seen the train as it approached." http://www.newspapers.com/image/27125995/
 * The ICC also reported that the current rules were insufficient and "A provision should be incorporated in the regulations governing pupil transportation that the driver should open the front side door to enable him to listen for approaching trains and this provision strictly enforced." http://www.newspapers.com/image/27126021/ pg 1-2

Aftermath

 * Soon afterward the state public commission closed railway crossings deemed "dangerous". Millard county, for example, was ordered to close five.
 * The U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission (later absorbed by the U.S. Department of Transportation) ruled that all drivers of school buses be required to fully open the bus doors after making a stop at all railroad crossings "at grade", only. It further http://www.newspapers.com/image/27125995/
 * Utah's "state department heads" designed in a bill that reappoint regulation of mass transit from the state road commision to the state public commission. pgs 1-2 (need to find out if it passed or not)
 * Another bill submitted by Utah State Representative W. Frank Liston (elected for the first time less than a month before) would also require that bus drivers carry their own liability insurance. pgs 1-2 (need to find out if it passed or not too) Representative Liston previous position was related to insurance.

Links
For further reading.
 * "1938 Jordan High Bus Accident". The Gale Center of History and Culture. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
 * "Victims of school bus-train crash remembered 75 years later (14 photos)". Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah) October 19, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.