Obit: Waters, Albert (1883 - 1926)
Contact:  Stan

Surnames: WATERS KNOOP ZIMMERMAN HILPER SCHROEDER STEIR

----Sources: HUMBIRD ENTERPRISE (Humbird, Clark County, Wis.) 05/01/1926

Waters, Albert (8 FEB 1883 - 25 APR 1926)

Our community (Humbird, Clark Co., Wis.) was shocked a few minutes after 1:00 o’clock last Friday afternoon when word was passed that Albert Waters’ Chevrolet sedan had been struck by a fast freight on the Main Street railroad crossing (commonly called the cannery crossing), and that he had died immediately following the accident.

Mr. Waters was driving north on the street, coming to town from his farm on business. A heavily loaded eastbound extra freight running about forty miles an hour, was approaching the station, and Mr. Waters was seen by two parties driving rapidly towards the crossing, his car being about the same distance from the crossing as the locomotive when seen by the parties. Whether Mr. Waters was speeding in an endeavor to cross ahead of the train, or whether he drove onto the tracks without thought of danger, will never be known. He was alone in the car.

The car was thrown fifty feet down the track and is a complete wreck. Mr. Waters lay a few feet beyond and entirely free of the wrecked car. First comers say he was breathing when they reached his side, but he died before the train stopped. The body was removed to M. Kretschmer’s undertaking rooms, and relatives immediately notified.

A few facts from investigations following the accident have cleared several complications and rumors of the first reports. The engineer saw the car before it was struck. The warning whistle was sounded for the three crossings in the village. The locomotive passed the caboose of a westbound freight a mile west of town. A train on the tracks west of town is visible to one approaching the crossing from the south, excepting a short distance where the cannery obstructs the view.

This sad accident was a most lamentable one. No blame can be place on the railroad company, nor on the man, himself, but it should bring to all drivers a sense of their responsibility and considerable more caution than has been displayed by some at these crossings.

Albert Waters was born in Jackson County on Feb. 8, 1883, and with the exception of four years spent on a ranch near Ardmore, S.D., he lived in this vicinity. On March 4, 1908, he was married to Miss Hattie Knoop, and to this union four children were born: Milford, Roger, Julia and Dorothy. Mrs. Waters passed away June 1, 1925.

On Nov. 13, last, Mr. Waters was united in marriage with Miss Julia Zimmerman, who, with his four children, mourns his tragic and untimely death. Deceased is also survived by his mother, who resides at Hortonville, three sisters, Mrs. Oscar Hilper of New London, Mrs. Frank Schroeder of Seymour, and Mrs. Henry Steir of Burlington; two brothers, John, West Hope, N.D., and Frank, Dutton, Mont., all of whom were present at the burial services. Mr. Waters father died about ten years ago. Deceased was 43 years, 2 months and 15 days of age at the time of his death.

The funeral was held from the Methodist Church on Tuesday afternoon, Rev. L.L. Litchfield officiating. There was a large congregation of neighbors and friends present to express sympathy to the sorrowing and offer tribute to the memory of him who had been so suddenly called into Eternity. Burial was in the Houghtonburg Cemetery.