Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1937, January 1 - Fatality at Holland Avenue, CNR., Renfrew sub.

Ottawa Citizen 2 January 1937 GIRL IS KILLED WHEN STRUCK BY TRAIN HERE Jean Hyde, 13,  of Merivale Road, Victim of Accident Near Holland Avenue. Returning home after spending New Year's afternoon at a theatre with a younger brother, Jean Hyde, 13-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hyde, Merivale road. Carlington, was fatally injured when struck by the west bound CNR. Ottawa-Pembroke local, just west of Holland avenue subway, at 4.30 p.m. Friday. Rolled along the track for a distance of 28 feet and then down the steep embankment on the north side for 30 feet more, the child was in a critical condition when picked up and died while being taken to Ottawa Civic Hospital. Brother Jumps Aside. Jean was walking west on the track with her 10-year-old brother, Harris. The latter remarkably missed the fate of his sister by leaping aside just as the train srruck her. A protruding part of the engine glanced the heel of his boot, but he was not injured. The brother later told The Journal the slory of the tragedy. which turned the Merivale road home from one of joy to sorrow, death claiming the eldest of a family of four children. "We were walking along the track as I always do and watching boys playing on the ice near there." Harris said. "I heard the whistle just as the train hit her and I jumped, the train just tipping my heel. I fell down the side of the hill and when I got up I saw part of Jean's goloshes on the track. Then I ran home and told mother Jean was hurt," the boy said. Harrris declared the surface between the tracks was icy and he didn't want to walk there choosing the north side insead. His sister, however, walked between the tracks. The father of the child recalled that during the morning Jean had remarked: "Well I wonder what 1937 is going to bring me." The train, carrying many people who were in Ottawa for the holiday, left Union Station at 4.20 p m. in charge of Engineer Edward Silverthorne, 55 Hazel street, and Conductor John McBain. Russell road, Ovcrbrook. The engineer told Constable James W. Moffat and Acting Detective Roy O'Neill he first noticed the children on the track when the train reached the subway, 150 feet from the scene of the accident. Put on Brakes. When he saw the children did not make any attempt to get off the right-of-way, he sounded the whistle and pulled on the emergency brakes., The train came to a stop 180 feet from the point where the girl was struck. Dr. Edward Box, of 76 Iona street, who was walking across Fisher Park with his father and two children, told police he didn't see the train until it was nearly upon the children. He saw the boy jump, but apparently the girl did not have time to do likewise. Dr. Box picked the child up as the train came to a stop and realised she was critically hurt, although there still was a trace of life. Her left foot was amputated while her right leg was broken and she suffered numerous injuries to her face, head and body. An ambulance from A. E, Veitch and Son, 453 Parkdale avenue, was called and took the girl to Civic Hospital. She was dead on arrival there. - - - Ottawa Journal 8 January 1937 Ask Parents To Keep Children Off Tracks Coroner's Jury Find Death of Jean Hyde Purely Accidental. Recommendation that parents constantly caution their children not to walk on railway tracks was contained in a verdict.Thursday evening of a coroner's jury inquiring into the death of Jean Hyde, 13-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hyde, Merivale Road. Carlington, who was killed when struck by a CNR. train, near Holland avenue subway, on New Year's Day. The jury found death was accidental and there was no negligence on anyone's part The girl was walking west on the track with her ten-year-old brother, Harris Hyde, and the train proceeding in the same direction. The boy said he did not notice the train until it was just about upon them. He yelled to his sister and jumped, just getting off the track himself in time. He did not hear the train whistle or bell. Dr. Edward Box and Robert Box, of 78 lona street, and Rupert Meldrum, 40 Java street, also said, they did not hear the whistle or bell, but Engineer Edward Silverthorne, of 55 Hazel street and Fireman J.L. Culhane, of 103 Springhurst, of the train crew, said the bell had been ringing steadily while the whistle was sounded for some time when the children were noticed on the track. The emergency brakes were applied about 75 feet from where the children were walking. The fireman, who first noticed the children and had a good view of them, said they appeared to make a confused movement just before the accident. Dr. Harry Dover, coroner, presided and witnesses were questioned by Acting Crown Attorney Raoul Mercier. Austin O'Connor, K.C, was present for the Hyde family, and Joseph F. Proulx, CNR. legal department, appeared for the company. Mr. Proulx submitted a plan of the scene of the accident, while other witnesses were Dr. T.R. Little, who said death was due to multiple fractures, hemorrhage and shock; Constable James W. Moffatt, and Acting Detective Roy O'Neil, of city police; John McBain, conductor, of Russell road, Overbrook, Harold Hutt, baggageman, ot 138 Arlington avenue, and Norman J. Henderson, brakeman, 48 Clarey avenue, members of the train crew.

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