Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area
1926, January 20 - Crossing collision, Monklands, CPR., Winchester sub., one fatality
Ottawa Citizen 21 January 1926 APPLE HILL FARMER IS KILLED BY TRAIN James Colborne Struck by C.P.R. Flyer. MONKLANDS. Ont, Jan. 21. Jas. Colborne, well-known farmer of the Apple Hill district, was instantly killed yesterday afternoon at a level crossing of the Canadian Pacific Railway about one and one half miles east of this village. He was hurled from a sleigh he was driving by the eastbound flyer for a distance of one hundred feet end was dead when members of th train crew reached him. He was in his 60th year. It is believed that Mr. Colborne was sitting on the rear of the load of cordwood which he was delivering to Monklands, as the team of horses escaped injury, although the load was scattered. The train was in charge of Engineer Thomas Martin and Conductor J. Phillips, of Smiths Falls, and at the point of the accident generally travels at between 50 and 55 miles an hour, according to Supt Crabb of the C.P.P. Coroner Munro, of Maxvllle, has opened an inquest into the occurrence. The late Mr. Colborne is survived by a family of ten children. He was born at Ricevllle, Ont, and lived there until about ten years ago. Morrisburg Leader 22 January 1926 Wednesday afternoon the eastbound C.P.R. fast Chicago-Montreal train struck and instantly killed Mr. J. Colborne of Apple Hill, at the second crossing east of Mondland station as he drove on to the track. The horses were freed and ran away. Ottawa Journal 28 January 1926 No one to blame crossing fatality Apple Hill farmer had not noticed fast train. A verdict of accidental death, with no blame attachable to any person, was returned by the coroner's jury which yesterday afternoon investigated the death of James Colborne, farmer, of Apple Hill. Colborne was killed on January 20 when he was struck by the C.P.R. Chicago - Montreal flyer as he was driving a sleigh across the tracks, a few miles to the west of Apple Hill. Dr. J. H. Munro, coroner, of Maxville, conducted the inquest. Among the witnesses called were engineer J. Martin, Montreal, and fireman J. McCreary, Smiths Falls, crew of the locomotive which struck the sleigh, and William Barclay, a farmer, and neighbour of Colborne, who also saw the man approaching the tracks. Fireman McCreary testified that he saw the man driving onto the path of the flyer, which was travelling between 50 and 60 miles an hour. The victim was sitting on the front truck of the sleigh, with his back to the train, and apparently was quite unaware of its approach. The brakes were applied at once, and the whistle was blown. The heavy train was brought to a stop within a distance of 12 telegraph poles, but not before it crashed into the sleigh, killing the driver instantly, and hurting him over 100 ft. Barclay verified the evidence. Coborne had his back to the train. The dead man was very hard of hearing, and apparently did not know of the train's approach until it was right up on him. The horses escaped without injury. |
Updated 22 September 2021