Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1923, May 30 - Child killed by train near Russell, NYC System

Winchester Press 7 June 1923 Following her father along the railroad tracks where he left for the pasture to bring the cows in, two-year-old Dorothy Boland was instantly killed when she was struck by an eastbound passenger train near Russell, on Thursday of last week. The child was walking close to the tracks, and as one of the coaches passed her, the step struck her about the neck. Her head was completely severed. Winchester Press 21 June 1923 A Terrible Accident The account of the accident at Russell in the afternoon of May 30th, in which little Dorothy Boland lost her life, published in several newspapers, was incorrect and somewhat exaggerated. Dorothy had not followed her father for the cows as was reported. Had she done so all would have been well, as he went in the opposite direction from the railroad. She had not been allowed to accompany him when he worked over the railroad track and had not been near the track since last summer. She had been riding with him on the machinery all spring and had been on the cultivator with him for the day of the accident. When he left for the cows she was playing in a shed near the house. Her mother who was caring for a baby brother 17 days old, supposed she was with her father, and did not hear the train whistle as usual in the cut North of the house. But so great had been her fear of what might happen, that when the train stopped and backed up both father and mother felt instinctively what was wrong and ran to the spot as quickly as possible. She was on the opposite side of the track and a neighbour boy seeing her walk up the ditch towards the train ran as fast as he could but was too late. When the step of the coach struck her it did not sever the head completely ( as was reported) but tore off the race [sic] from the forehead down. Her father carried her home and then fainted away. Kind friends and neighbours soon came to their site [sic] to help them and to do what they could for them. Little Dorothy would have been 3 years old in July. She was a beautiful and active child, who by her cunning ways and baby speeches had enthroned herself in the hearts of all who knew her. Her heart- broken parents need every sympathy, for while words of sympathy cannot tbring her back, they may help to soften the keen edge of their suffering. Mrs. Boland must still be remembered by many in Cornwall, where as Miss Laura Adams of Finch, she graduated from the Cornwall High School afterwards teaching there in the Public School and also at Cornwall Center. - Sstandard

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Updated 3 Setember 2021