Fred Erkman

Fred Erkman

Born: Sep. 8, 1877, White Co., IL
Died: May 30, 1940

Buried: Danville National Cemetery, Danville, IL

Son of Jacob Erkman & Frederick (Probst) Dietz

Records:
1880 - June 30 - Illinois - White Co. 2 years old, living with his parents Jacob & Fredericka (Probst) Erkman

Fred Erkman #21777 

Enlisted 5/11/1899, St. Louis, MO, Corp., Co. D, 3 US Cav., discharged, 5/10/1902, Mariveles Bataan, Philippine Islands, E.T.S., disabilities when admitted to home 1036 ch nyosardites


Enlisted 5/11/1899 St. Louis, Mo., Pvt., Troop D. 3rd U.S. Cav., discharged 5/10/1902 Mariveles Bataan, Philippine Islands., cause of discharge E.T.S., disabilities - hemorrhoids

ETS = Expiration of term of service

1900 - June - Philippines, Luzon - census record for Company D, Third Regiment Cavalry - Erkman, Fred, private, residence in US: Millshoals [Mill Shoals], Illinois, white, male, born: Sept. 1877, age: 22, single, place of birth: IL, can read, can write, can speak English

1906 - Illinois - East St. Louis - Frederick Erkman, wagonmaker, boards at Zerweck Hotel

Enlisted 5/23/1908, Jefferson Barraks, MO, Sergt, 39 CAC, discharged 5/23/1911, Ft. Morgan, Ala., ETS, 1750 V.V. Visius (?) lelat, legs (?)

CAC = Combined Arms Company

Enlisted 5/23/1908 Jefferson Barracks, MO, Pvt., 39th Co., C.A.C., discharged 5/23/1911 Ft. Morgan, Ala., cause of discharge, E.T.S., disabilities - constipation

1910 - April 27 - Florida, Hillsboro Co. - this is the Tampa area - Erkman, Fred, 32, single, b. IL, parents b. IL, speaks English, soldier, 39 Co. CAC, employed, can read, can write

Enlisted 5/24/1911, Ft. Morgan, Ala., Sergt., 39 CAC, discharged 5/23/1914, Ft. Sam Houston, TX, ETS,

Enlisted 5/24/1911 Ft. Morgan, Ala., QM Sgt., 39th Co., C.A.C. or P.A.C., discharged 5/23/1914, Ft. Sam Houston, Tex., cause of discharge, E.T.S.

The 39th Company CAC while stationed at Ft. Morgan, Alabama. This photograph was owned by Fred Erkman:

Might be Fred Erkman

1913 Train Wreck involving the 39th Company CAC. These images provided by Wendy Hyatt of the Fort Morgan Historic Site. 

Seventeen of Uncle Sam's fighting men lost their lives and 154 were injured, when a troop train, of three coaches and baggage car toppled off a trestle near State Line Mississippi, on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 19th. The wreck, regarded as the worst in the history of railroading in the South, was made the subject of a rigid inquiry by the Interstate Commerce Commission, the result of which has not been determined as yet, and no definite cause given.

Two companies of soldiers from Fort Morgan, the 170th and 39th, with the Eight Band from Fort Barancas, Fla., entrained at Mobile at noon on November [October] 19 bound for Meridian, Miss., to take part in the Mississippi-Alabama State Fair which opened the next day. The soldiers never enjoyed the pleasure of taking part in the fair, to which they had looked forward with a great deal of interest, as two hours out of Mobile the engine tender left the rails as the train rushed on to the trestle, plunging every car of the train into the bed of what is know as Rube Burrows' creek, made famous by the escapades of the famous hold-up-man of that name, whose favorite spot for holding up trains was at this identical creek.  The bravery of the soldiers who escaped from the wreck with their lives, will ever live in the memories of people all over the country, in as much as the news of the terrible disaster and the bravery of Uncle Sam's men was spread far and wide. Immediately after the accident, one of the officers, who escaped uninjured . . .  

Fred Erkman listed as Quartermaster Sergeant

Newspaper Account of Train Wreck, The Newark Advocate, Ohio:

Twenty-six Bodies Have Been Recovered from Wrecked Train

Believe That Not All Have Been Taken Out - Number of Injured Soldiers at Hospitals Totals Ninety-Five

Derailing of Engine Tender Believed to Blame

Baggage Car & Three Coaches Left the Track & Plunged Over a 25 Foot Trestle - Coaches Catch Fire & Burn Fiercely - Killed Were Badly Mangled & Many Bodies Will Never Be Assembled - Coast Artillery Men Were Victims of the Disaster Which Happened Near Mobile, Ala.

Meridian, Miss., Oct. 20 -- At 10 o'clock this morning twenty-six bodies had been taken from the Mobile & Ohio troop train wreckage near State Line, Miss., according to a telephone report reaching this city. This report said all bodies had not been taken out. The same report gave the number of injured at ninety-five. Some of these are at Buckatuna and some at State Line.

Mobile, Ala., Oct. 20 - Victims of yesterday's troop train wreck on the Mobile & Ohio railroad at Buckatuna, Miss., were brought to Mobile early today on relief trains. The list of known dead at 8 o'clock was 17, most of whom were members of the 170th coast artillery.

There were 74 seriously injured soldiers in Mobile hospitals, while a number of the less seriously hurt were taken to the government hospital at Fort Morgan. Physicians who arrived on the relief train said they fear at least 15 among the seriously injured could not survive. 

[List of known dead]

Investigations of the cause of the wreck continued today. It was believed to have resulted from the derailing of the locomotive tender which dragged the baggage car and three coaches off the track and over a 25-foot trestle.  The injured were members of the 170th and 39th companies and the 8th band. They were enroute from Fort Morgan and Fort Barancas to a state fair at Meridian, Miss.  Additions to he list of seriously wounded officers included Captain B. Taylor of the 39th, in command.

The first section of a relief train from the wreck on the Mobile & Ohio railroad near Buckatunna, Miss., Sunday afternoon arrived here at 2:30 o'clock this morning, bringing seventeen dead and 85 injured. At least five more bodies were seen in the debris and rescue work is being continued. 

[list of officers injured]

All of the victims of the Mobile & Ohio troop train wreck had not been removed from the wreckage early today, according to travelers arriving from there. They said that at 3 o'clock this morning 23 bodies had been recovered but they were certain more dead and injured still were in the wreckage. Most of those killed were badly mangled and passengers said they believed that many bodies never would be assembled.  Arms and legs and even heads are scattered about the wreckage.

The train was a special running as the second section of a regular passenger train on the Mobile & Ohio railroad. 

The soldiers were bound from Ft. Morgan for Meridian, Miss., to give an exhibition drill at the Alabama-Mississippi State Fair.  

All available physicians, ambulances and dead wagons are gathered at the terminal station here last night, the first named being sent away at 8 o'clock to assist the corps of medical men on the scene. The wrecked cars are in a ravine, sixty feet deep. The suffering of the injured has been terrible, although the soldiers who escaped injury have done noble work.

The trestle on which the train was wrecked, was destroyed. 

The train was running at great speed when the accident occurred at a curve on the lofty trestle the rails spread and the entire train pitched into a great gulch.

Almost instantly the wreckage caught fire.

United States. Interstate Commerce Commission. Reports on Investigation of Accidents, Nov. 28, 1913:

On October 19, 1913, there was a derailment on the Mobile & Ohio near Buckatunna, Miss., resulting in the death of 17 passengers, and in the injury of 139 passengers and 6 employees.  . . .

The train involved in this derailment was the second section of northbound train No. 4 and consisted of 1 baggage car and 3 coaches, hauled by locomotive No. 353, and was in charge of Conductor Pruitt and Engineman Beasley. . . . The train was conveying a detachment of troops from Fort Morgan, Ala., to the Alabama-Mississippi Fair at Meridian, Miss.  It left Mobile, Ala. at 12:03 p.m., passed State Line, the last telegraph station south of the point of derailment and nearly 5 miles distant therefrom, at 1:45 p.m. and at about 1:50 p.m. was derailed at a point about 300 feet south of bridge No. 67-B, which was about 3 miles south of Buckatunna.

The engine was not derailed and passed over the bridge, coming to a stop at a point 932 feet beyond the initial point of derailment. The tender, the forward wheels of which were the first to leave the rails, remained on the roadbed until the bridge was reached. It is probable that the derailed wheels under the tender then caused the ties on the bridge to become bunched and broken, thus weakening the structure to such an extent that it collapsed under the weight of the cars, throwing them to the bed of the creek.  In the meantime the tender had broken away from the engine and come to a stop on the outside curve at a point about 350 feet south of the engine. Sixty feet south of the tender the baggage car came to rest with its forward end jammed into the bank of the creek. This car was badly damaged. The three coaches lay immediately behind the baggage car, the rear end of the first coach being telescoped by the forward end of the second coach for a distance of 10 feet. All of the cars came to rest on their right sides, and on the outside of the curve. [photo of the wreck] . . . 

The greatest loss of life occurred in the baggage car and in the first coach, only one passenger being killed in the third coach. In the baggage car many of the casualties were caused by an iron express safe and the heavy baggage and equipment of the troops being thrown from one end of the car to the other by the shock of derailment. The speed of this rain at the time of the derailment is believed to have been about 55 miles per hour. The weather was clear.  . . . 

Engineman Beasley stated that this was the second time he had ever run a passenger train. His train left Mobile at 12:12 p.m. and he thought that it was running at a speed of about 35 miles per hour when the jumping of the tender and the noise made by it indicated it was derailed. He at once reversed the engine and applied the air brakes in emergency, a which time the pilot of the locomotive had nearly reached the bridge. He stated that the engine was not working steam at the time, as he had shut off steam at milepost No. 66, more than a mile south of the point of derailment. On previous trips over this part of the road it had been his practice to slow-down at this curve, but on this occasion he did not do so.  . . . 

[Train speed was estimated from between 30 to 45 miles per hour at the time of derailment by various employees.]

Lieut. Cunningham, one of the officers connected with the detachment of troops, stated that there was considerable discussion of the men about the speed at which the train was traveling, many of them thinking it was excessive. . .  

Pvt. Thompson stated that at the time of the derailment he was riding on the rear platform of the last car timing the train, having been there about 20 minutes. A friend was holding a watch, while he himself called the mileposts. The last 2 miles south of the derailment were traveled in 65 seconds and 64 seconds, or at the rate of 55.38 and 56.26 miles per hour, respectively. At that time he remarked on the speed being attained by the train, saying that the next mile would probably be covered in an even 60 seconds. There were six men on the rear platform, all of whom were watching the speed and commenting upon it. . . . 

[The bridge was declared sound and not the cause of the derailment.] . . . 

While the cause of this derailment could not be ascertained with certainty, it is believed to have been due to the excessively high rate of speed at which the train was being operated while rounding the curve. The curvature was 3°, while the superelevation of the outside rail at the point of derailment was only 3 1/2 inches. This was no sufficient for the speed at which this train was running or to provide an adequate margin of safety for trains operated at the maximum speed of 50 miles per hour allowed by rule. On account of the high speed and the insufficient superelevation of this curve, it is probable that the wheels on the left side of the tender were lifted from the rails, due to the high center of gravity of the tender and the surging of the water to one side of the cistern, and that when the tender rocked back the flanges of the wheels on the left side came down on the ball of the rail, running along in that position a short distance before dropping off on the outside.  

Enlisted 10/12/1914, Ft. Crockett, Texas, Sergt, 4, conv. cens, discharged 3/20/1919, Camp Custer, Mich., honorable

Enlisted 10/12/1914, Ft. Crockett, Tex, Sgt. 4th Conv. Center, discharged 3/20/1919 Camp Custer, Mich., honorable discharge

1920 - Jan. 17 - Census - Detroit, MI - Fred was a lodger, aged 42 living with Philippina Adams with his brother Joe aged 27. They were both listed as laborers in motor car manufacturing. 

1927 - Born Carmi, IL, age 50, height 5'8", complexion fair, brown eyes, brown hair, can read and write, protestant, auto trade, lived in Chicago after discharge, single, sister Mrs. Sophie Jordan, Carmi, IL

Born IL, age 50, 5'8" fair complexion, brown eyes, brown hair, can read and write, protestant, auto rep. lived in IL subsequent to discharge, single, sister Mrs. Sophia Jordan, Carmi, IL, Annie Wheeler (sis) Mill Shoals, IL

Rate of pension $2500

Adm. Danville Br. 3/27/1928, discharge 7/13/1929, discharge O.R. 

Danville Br. = Danville Branch, Danville, IL

Pension $30, date of admission, re-admission, transfer, 3-27, 1928, conditions of re-admission - Adm. Dan Br., date of discharge/transfer - 7/13/1929, cause of discharge OR

Readm. NW Branch 7/30/1929, discharge 10/11/1929, discharge O.R.

NW Branch = Milwaukee, WI

Date of admission/re-admission/transfer 7/30/1929, Read. NW. Br., discharge/transfer 10/11/1929, cause of discharge OR

Readm. West Br. 10/21/1929 discharge 2/12/1930 dis. O.R.

Date of admission/readmission/transfer 10/21/1929, conditions of readmission Read. 

Wes. Br. = Leavenworth, KS

Readm. West Br. 4/22/1930, discharge 5/19/1930, dropt

Readm. Danville Br. 8/20/1930, discharged 1/10/1931, dis. O.R.

Readm. Danville Br. 2/23/1933, discharged 6/7/1933, dis. O.R.

Readm. Danville Br. 11/9/1933

Admission Paper 1
Army Discharge 4
Pension Certificate 1265303

1934 - Illinois, Danville - Fred was rooming at 455 E. VanBuren

1940 - April 21 - Illinois, Danville - Veterans Administration Hospital - Fred Erkman, patient, male, white, 62, single, born IL, lived same place in 1935, did not work