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The Volland Train Wreck and the McFarland Legend

by Alan Winkler

The legend became viable to me in 1979 when I was serving on the McFarland City Council. One of my duties was to keep the cemetery records for the town. One day a young Mexican girl came to my door seeking the grave site of her grandfather. I diligently searched the book for the name of her grandfather but was unsuccessful. At that point, I felt the need to share with her the McFarland Legend. I had the young woman accompany me to the cemetery to make the details easier to explain. The legend itself is not a long narration, but it has endured several generations and eight decades. It has several variations, but the following version was told to me.

It was a balmy winter evening on January 1, 1907. The night had periods of moonlight but then it would cloud over and a drizzling rain would dampen the hushed countryside. John Lyens had begun his work shift at 6 PM. On the morning of January 2, passenger train No. 29 was divided into two sections because of the large number of holiday travelers. The first train No. 29 passed through Volland with no problems. The second train No. 29 had orders to head into the side track at Volland and let eastbound No. 14 pass by and then meet No. 30 at Alta Vista. At this time there was only a single mainline track between McFarland and Herington.

When the Topeka dispatcher J.H. Shumate learned that 2nd No. 29 was running late, he decided to change the meeting place of No. 30 and 2nd No. 29 to be at Volland instead of Alta Vista. Before he changed the orders, Shumate called John Lyens at Volland to make sure 2nd No. 29 was still at the station. Lyens looked out the depot window and saw the train heading into the east switch and No. 14 coming from the west and reported this to the dispatcher. After No. 14 had passed through, 2nd No. 29 had backed onto the main line and was coming toward the depot. Lyens thought 2nd No. 29 was coming to the station to take orders and water since he felt certain the semaphore board was down and signaled danger. Noticing that the train was coming up the track quite fast, Lyens realized something was wrong. He grabbed a lantern and ran out the door to stop the train. He swung the lantern and hollered at the top of his voice, but after two swings his lantern went out. He then ran up the track to the water pump operator and grabbed his lantern but it also went out.

John Lyens returned to the depot and sent the following message on the telegraph, "No. 29 has gone and I have gone also". The dispatcher then asked Lyens to go outside and listen for the crash and report back before he left. Since No. 30 had received new orders to meet 2nd No. 29 at Volland instead of Alta Vista, it proceeded east. John Lyens standing alone in the darkness heard the crash two miles to the west shatter the silence of the early morning. He reported to the dispatcher and ran away to escape the harsh reality of the disaster and for fear of his life. A white faced dispatcher knowing a collision had occurred, stepped into the hall outside the telegraph room on the second floor of the depot building in Topeka, and told other officials on duty to send relief trains to the scene of the wreck.

It was about two miles west of Volland that Engineer Slater and Fireman Sweeney of 2nd No. 29 realized a collision was going to occur. They saw the headlight of No. 30 around a sharp curve. After Slater had reversed his engine and applied the air brakes, he and the fireman jumped from the locomotive. When Conductor Gaines on 2nd No. 29 felt the air go, he opened the window in the smoker car where he was sitting, saw the danger and jumped through the window head first. He sustained a broken collar bone and a cut on his hand but his action probably save his life. Just a few moments later Engineer McMahon and Fireman Brown of the eastbound No. 30 saw 2nd No. 29 approaching them and they leaped from their engine.

The collision occurred on a curve, in a deep cut, about 200 yards from the home of Gustav Bock at 4:50 AM on January 2, 1907. No. 30 was moving down the grade from Alta Vista, but 2nd No. 29 had almost come to a complete stop. However, it was 2nd No. 29 which sustained the worst damage and all loss of life except for a bum riding the tender of No. 30. When the locomotives came together, the baggage car of 2nd No. 29 was thrown back on top of the smoker car which partially telescoped the tender. The smoker car is where most of the deaths occurred and the majority of passengers were Mexican laborers going to El Paso, Texas to return home. A fire was started in the baggage car by a flame from the gas jet. There probably would not have been such a great loss of life had it not been for the fire. The fire was aided by a southwest wind and consumed the baggage car, the smoker, two chair cars and one tourist sleeper on 2nd No. 29. A combination mail and baggage car on No. 30 was badly damaged.

The horror stories of the accident are many as well as the stories of narrow escapes. By the light of the flaming wreckage, members of the train crew and passengers who were uninjured worked heroically to save those pinned in the mass of splintered timbers and twisted iron. The lack of tools to chop away the sides of the wrecked cars was a great hindrance for the rescuers. No water was available to stop the progress of the hungry flames. A number of cars which remained on the track were pushed back by the passengers to avoid being caught in the inferno. The fire devoured everything in its path and had to be let go to burn itself out. The passengers on 2nd No. 29 were trapped in the wreckage and unable to escape a terrible, fiery death. Many valiant attempts were made to rescue those held in the ruins. The Mexican laborers were screaming in their native language but those at the scene understood their pleas for help. Later some were begging to be killed as the flames closed in upon them.

One of the many gruesome accounts to be told from the scene of the wreck involved Albert Link, who was the porter on 2nd No. 29. His rescue was worse than death. His foot was caught in the wreckage and as the flames closed in on him, two seized his body and twisted it until his leg was torn off at the knee. They staggered away with his mangled body just in time to escape the horrible fire themselves. Link, who lived in Topeka and had worked for the Rock Island for 20 years, died that afternoon at Stormont Hospital in Topeka.

Another man was caught by his arm and held tightly in the ruins. He begged his would be rescuers to either release him or kill him. He could feel the fire cooking the flesh on his body and the efforts to release him were in vain. Just at the point when they thought his arm could be freed, he cried, "Oh God, this is unbearable", and then leaped backwards into the flames. Not another sound was heard from as he disappeared into the burning inferno. He was later identified as J.H. Osgood of Mitchellville, Iowa.

The injured passengers who were saved from the fire were laid upon the cold ground near the site of the ruins. Later, they were moved back into a field where a hay stack stood and were aided by some of the local people who had come to the scene. Rain began falling soon after daylight, just enough to make more uncomfortable the injured and dying, and at the same time not enough to halt the fire.

An hour and a half after the collision, a relief train which had been made up at McFarland with three freight cars, a passenger coach, engine and tender, backed up to the grisly scene from the east, bringing surgeons and helpers. Into their view came the worst disaster to happen in Wabaunsee County to this day in terms of human lives lost. After daylight, two more relief trains arrived from Topeka and Herington as well as an additional wrecker from Herington and a wrecking crew from Fairbury, Nebraska.

One of the first officials to be called to the scene of the wreck was Dr. George W. B. Beverly, a physician, surgeon, and the Wabaunsee County Coroner. His report of the accident is still on file today at the District Court Office in Alma and gives the account of the events after the wreck. He reported, "that 27 were wounded in the wreck and the total deaths were 32 and of this number 27 were Mexican laborers who had been working for the Rock Island and were given a pass to go to El Paso, Texas. The total number of bodies, or parts thereof, was only 29(?) leaving a balance of 3 (Mexican?) bodies unaccounted for which were probably cremated at the scene. One American, Julius Burmeister of Davenport, Iowa, was also unaccounted for. The bodies of the other four Americans; William Miller, J. H. Osgood, Al Link, and J. H. Sayre were claimed, and the bodies of twenty four, presumed to be Mexicans were buried."

Fifteen of the Mexicans were buried in the Alma Catholic Cemetery by Father E. A. Kamp on the northwest corner of the church cemetery on January 6, 1907. The bodies of nine Mexicans ended up in Topeka because they were either pulled from the wreck before the fire had progressed or died en route to the hospital or in the hospital. There was conflict over the remains of the nine bodies. Wabaunsee County officials insisted that they be returned to Alma to be buried with the others. Shawnee County Coroner, H. H. Keith refused by saying, "There is nothing to be gained by returning these bodies to Wabaunsee County. It is simply a graft and it seems to me that it is inhuman to haul these bodies back and forth across the country. I served notice on the law department of the Rock Island that the bodies must remain in Shawnee County."

Wabaunsee County finally won the squabble over the bodies except for one. On January 12th, eight bodies were returned to Alma and buried. The Alma Catholic Church records show the following on the second burial, "Eight Mexicans died on January 2, 1907 and were buried January 12, 1907". No names or reason of deaths were noted.

The ninth Mexican body had already been buried at a Topeka cemetery. It was ordered that this body be exhumed and sent with the others. However as the Alma Catholic Church records indicate, this was not done. This ninth Mexican whose name was Julio Glavero, had died at Stormont Hospital and was given his last rites by Father Frances Hayden of Assumption Catholic Church in Topeka. The Assumption Church records say that Glavero was 23 years old and was killed in a Rock Island train wreck on January 2, 1907. He was buried by Father Hayden on January 3, 1907 at Mounty Calvary Cemetery in Topeka. Records show his internment but the exact place in the section is unknown. It is certain that Julio Glavero was not exhumed and sent to Alma.

Dr. Beverly made an error in his report when he stated that 24 were buried in Alma. Another discrepancy is when he states that 32 were killed and 29 accounted for, and then later states that the bodies of 24 Mexicans and 4 Americans were found which adds up to only 28. I can only assume that in his report when he states "three bodies were unaccounted for", that his intent was to say three "Mexican bodies" were unaccounted for; because he does later in the report also indicate that one American was also unaccounted for.

The wreckage was cleared and a temporary track was laid so that traffic was resumed over the line by 7:30 PM of the day of the accident. Neither of the locomotive boilers were seriously damaged and the smokestacks were both repairable. The locomotives were pulled apart and taken to a side track at Volland and later moved to the shops. The wreck at Volland was a bad omen for 2nd No. 29's engine number 1334. It was also involved in a head end collision at Willard, Ks on January 5, 1904, where 18 people were killed. Meanwhile, 12 days after the Volland wreck, No. 30 was involved in a wreck at Barney, New Mexico, 190 miles northeast of El Paso, Texas. It had dashed through an open switch at a high rate of speed and turned over killing five persons including the engineer and fireman. Its no wonder the local people started calling the railway the "Wreck Island Railroad."

The Rock Island Railroad held an investigation starting the day after the collision. They requested that John Lyens be present but Wabaunsee County authorities refused to release him. Lyens was held in the county jail until the Corners's Inquest held at the courthouse in Alma on January 14, 1907.

The inquest was held with six jurors; Geo. Sutherland, Karl Lang, Otto Zwanziger, C.B. Thompson, W.H. Collier and C.J. Buckingham. County Attorney Oscar Schmitz questioned the witnesses which were John Lyens, Chief Dispatcher J.H. Shumate, the flagman of 2nd 29 E.B. Whitty, and the conductor, Wm. Gaines. It was concluded by the jury that both John Lyens and J.H. Shumate were responsible for the accident. The jury felt that Shumate showed bad judgment in changing the meeting point of the two trains from Alta Vista to Volland at the time he did. Lyens was blamed for not displaying his semaphore signal and failing to hold 2nd No. 29 at his station. The Rock Island Railroad did not prosecute either of the men.

The Alma Enterprise reported on January 18, 1907 that "John Lyens, the operator was released Monday afternoon. He went to Topeka on No. 12 and the Rock Island gave him a pass to Los Angeles, California where his parents live. They told him to stick to the wire and that he would make a good operator. His punishment has certainly been severe enough and the ends of justice could not be furthered in any way by his prosecution. His act was purely a mistake and putting him in jail for 20 years would not make him feel worse than he now does".

No doubt the ordeal of the wreck was difficult for Dr. Beverly. The Enterprise had the following report on January 18th under Courthouse News; "Coroner Beverly had $120.65 of money from the wreck at Volland that he had hard work getting rid of Monday when he 'gave up' his office. No one wanted to take it but the treasurer finally consented".

Undoubtedly there will be some who disagree with me in labeling the episode of the Mexican burial in McFarland Cemetery a legend. A legend is a "story" coming down from the past which many people have believed. It will be difficult to convince those who lived in McFarland for many years and have the tale embedded deep within their memory, that the burial at McFarland is just a "story" and not a fact. The truth is, the Mexicans who died in the train wreck at Volland were not buried at McFarland.

My intention from the beginning was to find the facts and I feel that three objectives have been accomplished. The first objective was discovering where the Mexicans were buried. In May of 1990, objective number two was accomplished. After many years of discussion but with no action, the City of McFarland removed the old south fence of the cemetery and built a new fence on a line twenty feet further to the south where past surveys had shown the correct boundary to be. The past attitude had been, "why move the fence if the additional land could not be used for burial since the exact location of the Mexicans grave was unknown." The third objective was reached several years later when the Alma Catholic Church placed a memorial stone showing when and where the 23 Mexicans killed in the Volland train wreck were buried.

The McFarland Legend has been replaced with the truth. It will probably die with future generations who will not hear it. How it began will remain unknown, but it was quite likely carried down through the years by Rock Island Railroad men working or passing through the town. Jack Slater, who was the engineer on 2nd No. 29 lived in McFarland for a number of years. Some McFarland old timers remember him as a big man who was known as a good pitcher on McFarland's baseball team with a heck of a fast ball during the 1920's. Although I'm not pointing to Jack as the source of the legend, I often wonder what his account of the Mexican burial would be. He was on the road a great deal and it could have caused some missed facts.

It is time to put the McFarland Legend to rest. However, a troublesome thought surfaces as I move to bury the legend. What if the city should sell lots in their gained ground to the south and some remains are uncovered. Would the old legend once again come alive or would a new one begin to explain who was buried on the south side of the McFarland Cemetery?