Freight Cars Flew in All Directions – Telegraph, Express Offices Demolished When 26 Cars Leave Track; No Fatalities
What a weekend for little old Continental. The worst wreck in Continental’s history happened at 4:30 Saturday afternoon when a dreailment piled up 26 freight cars of the fast Nickel Plate eastbound 70-car train No. 56, demolishing the telegraph office and the express office and damaging the rear end of the depot without a fatality. Traffic was held up for 21 hours.
Thousands of sightseers from far and near came Saturday night and Sunday to look at the wreckage, without a doubt more people than have ever been here over a weekend in Continental’s history. State patrolmen of Defiance, Lima and Findlay assisted with the automobile traffic.
There were 4 cars of hogs. Thirty of them were killed outright or had to be disposed of at once. Twenty-six others which were injured or running loose were butchered by Frank’s Market. Two hundered or more were corralled in the nearby stockyard.
Thank you to CHS grad Chuck Place of Destin FL for sharing the April 17, 1947 issue of the Continental News Review!
