ROBERTS, Lee - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

The construction train on the I. B. & W road ran off the track near Troutman's Station last Monday, killing the conductor, engineer and fireman. The train had been ordered to side track at the station and await the passing of the express train going east. It was making for the side track at the rate of about 16 miles an hour, and when near the high trestle work at that point the engine, which had been running backwards, pulling the cars, jumped the track and fell down a distance of some thirty feet, carrying five of the cars with it. The engine fell upon and buried the engineer, James Talbert, of Covington and the fireman, Harry Nittendorf, of Champaign, Ill. The conductor, Lee Roberts, of Knightstown, fell upon the track and was run over by the rear cars. His body was literally torn to pieces. The only other men on the train, two brakemen, escaped uninjured. The bodies of the dead men were brought to this city in the evening, where the formality of an inquest was gone through with. On Tuesday morning they were sent to their respective homes for burial. The engineer was a married man, and the others were single. This is one of the worst accidents that has yet occurred on the road.