Henderson history: Dixie Flyer ran over Henderson family in 1922

Elnora E. Burris bought her husband a drugstore March 3, 1922, and less than six months later the Dixie Flyer sliced through him and their two small children.

She was the only survivor of the train wreck, which also killed her husband’s sister and the sister’s daughter. All were Henderson residents. Accounts in various newspapers initially held little hope for Elnora’s survival.

The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer of Aug. 27, 1922, reported she had been rushed to Walker Hospital in Evansville, where she was not expected to live because “both legs (were) ground into a frightful mass and (she was) suffering internal injuries.” In fact, that paper reported, “both of her legs were amputated.”

That wasn’t the case, although both legs were broken at the ankles as well as above the knees. Dr. James Y. Welborn told the Evansville Courier she was probably sufficiently recovered to undergo surgery to set her legs, although it might take a few days to gauge the extent of her internal injuries. She spent months in recovery. And her trials were just beginning.

But let me back up a bit and tell you why I’m relating a story from 1922. I missed it in 2022 because there are no Henderson newspapers from August 1922 preserved on microfilm.

The reason I’m writing about this early automobile tragedy now is that The Gleaner of April 1, 1924, updated the story with the results of one of the lawsuits that resulted. I’ll get to that in due time. Meanwhile, that 1924 story prompted me to try to find out what happened.

Along with the Owensboro paper there were stories in both the Evansville Courier and the Evansville Press, along with the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Star-Press of Muncie, Indiana.

All of them made mistakes in one way or another. So, it’s a matter of sifting through the stories and comparing them with public records to see which reporters appear most reliable.

The basic fact they all agreed on is about 12:30 a.m. Aug. 26, 1922, J. William Burris was crossing the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad tracks in Haubstadt, Indiana, when his car was struck by the Dixie Flyer passenger train en route to New Orleans.

The train was running about an hour late and was traveling about 50 mph. The Press and the M-I reported his car stalled on the tracks, while other reports differed.

“Burris’ car was carried a block by the train,” according to the Courier-Journal story. “His view was cut off by the station and the driver apparently failed to hear the train. The bodies were horribly mutilated.”

The five people killed, and their reported ages, were Burris, 28; their son, James L., 7; their daughter, Dorothy B., 2; Mrs. Charles C. Sellars, (Cemetery records indicate her name was Clide B. Sellars, 30), and the Sellars’ daughter, Magdaline, 5.

They had been visiting relatives in St. Louis and were on their way home at the time of the accident.

“Miss Viola Wilson of Princeton and Miss Winona Holt of Okland City, student nurses at Nashville, who were on the train, gave first aid,” according to the Courier. Train engineer Frank Paine and fireman W.D. Smith “suffered nervous collapse after the accident and were relieved by another train crew sent out.”

The Press story said, “All Henderson is shocked at the frightful accident. Both families are well known in the city.”Mass burials were held Aug. 27 at Fernwood Cemetery. “The five bodies were buried in two graves,” according to the Press of Aug. 28. The Courier of Nov. 26 made a similar claim. “Mr. Burris … and two little children were laid to rest in one grave side by side in Fernwood Cemetery.”

That’s almost accurate. The three were laid side by side across two gravesites; grave records and the tombstone reflect that.

“One of the largest crowds ever known to attend a funeral in Henderson attended,” the Courier story continued.Meanwhile, Elnora was slowly improving from her grievous injuries, both physical and emotional. The Gleaner reported she “is much better” on Sept. 8 “and it is probable that she will be taken home within a week or 10 days,” according to hospital officials.

That was entirely too optimistic. She wasn’t released from Walker Hospital for three months, according to the Courier of Nov. 26, which reported she had been brought home the previous day.

“Mrs. Burris is not yet able to walk and is confined to her bed.”

That same story noted Mr. Burris ran a drugstore at the southwest corner of Powell and Mill streets at the time of his death. As I mentioned at the beginning, Elnora bought the drugstore March 3, 1922; tax stamps on the deed indicate she spent $1,500.

The two had married Nov. 13, 1913, when he was 21 and she was 17, according to the marriage license. That doesn’t really line up with the ages the newspapers were reporting. Elnora was born in Henderson, but her husband and both his parents were natives of Butler County.

Having the property in her name meant it didn’t have to go through probate. The inventory of his estate, which was filed Nov. 18, says his belongings were worth a grand total of $3,646. The household goods accounted for $500 with a piano worth $100 making up a large chunk of that.

The rest included $1,500 in the safe; $450 worth of gold coins; a set of fixtures and show cases worth $345; a stock of drugs and merchandise worth $250 and a popcorn machine worth $200.

So, as you can see, Elnora wasn’t left destitute. She may have had her own money that allowed her to buy the drugstore. Or she could have received help from her parents. Her father, Samuel A. Smith Sr., was for 35 years an engineer for the cotton mill, so the family probably had an above-average income.

At any rate, once she got back on her feet, she took to running the drugstore like she was born to it, judging from advertisements in The Gleaner. And she rejoined society in that she was an active member of both the Business and Professional Women’s Club and the Music Club.

By the mid-1920s, though, she decided to do something different. As of early 1925 she was head clerk under Postmaster William G. Turpin. And on Aug. 21, 1925, she sold the drugstore to John T. Elam. Tax stamps indicate it brought $1,500 − the exact amount she had paid for it.

Trouble struck again June 26,1924, when she accidentally ran over Lonnie Blevens Jr., 5, at Washington and Holloway streets. Fortunately, though, the boy wasn’t seriously hurt.

She remarried in the mid-1920s and disappears from Henderson records. She shows up in the 1930 census as the wife of Roy C. Watley of the Huntsville, Alabama, area and listed her occupation as druggist. Happiness continued to elude her, however, because the Huntsville Daily Times of Dec. 5, 1930, reported on its front page that Roy had died at age 32 after an illness of several weeks. Think of it – twice a widow at age 35.

But she obviously married a third time – because her obituary in the Feb. 23, 1977, Springfield (Missouri) Daily News said her last name was Drury. She apparently outlived the third husband because her only survivor was a nephew. It also said she had worked as the pharmacist at a hospital in Alliance, Ohio.

She had been born in 1895 and lived her last nine years in Springfield, apparently because her youngest brother, Sam Smith Jr., lived there.

I’m going to wrap up the story of Elnora Elizabeth Smith Burris Watley Drury by quoting from the April 1, 1924, Gleaner article that got me started. Charles C. Sellars had been awarded $10,000 in St. Louis for the death of his five-year-old daughter, Magdaline. The trial against the railroad for his dead wife had not yet begun.

“Mrs. Burris, who was a witness at the recent trial, has suits pending for the sum of $105,000 against the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad for personal injuries and the deaths of her two children, and will file another for the loss of her husband.”

75 YEARS AGO

Henderson was assured of funding for a new National Guard armory within 90 to 100 days, according to The Gleaner of April 7, 1949.

The city was holding the property at Eighth and Elm streets for the project – but locals were wary. In 1934, a plot of land at First and Water streets was deeded with the understanding an armory would be built. It never materialized but the one at Eighth Street was in 1950.

50 YEARS AGO

The Retiki coal mine on Airline Road was required to go before the county Board of Zoning Adjustment to get a conditional use permit, according to The Gleaner of April 2, 1974.

The move was an attempt to fix the company’s failure to comply with the county zoning ordinance since 1971. The Gleaner of April 30 reported the conditional use permit had been granted for a year, provided the mine meet all requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency.

25 YEARS AGO

The Gleaner of April 8, 1999, reported the city of Henderson was going to use $464,500 in grant money to drive the cobras out of the downtown area.

The cobra-style streetlights were “all going to be yanked out,” said John Talbert, the city’s community development director, and be replaced with the current antique-style lights, which are both shorter and more closely spaced.

Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at YesNews42@yahoo.com.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Henderson history: Dixie Flyer ran over Henderson family in 1922