This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ZY.2ADI/363 Message Board Post: Hi! I need an obituary look up from 1907. I hope someone can help me. The following is the obituary from Fred Smith's hometown in Iowa... it does not give an exact date. I got the year of death from his headstone in Brooks Cemetery, Keokuk County, Iowa. He was my great great uncle. I'm not sure which area paper you would search, but maybe the location of the accident will help. Thanks so much for your consideration! Sincerely, Sue R. HE MEETS HIS DEATH IN COLORADO. HEDRICK MAN KILLED. FRED SMITH, A FORMER RESIDENT OF HEDRICK IS KILLED IN A WRECK IN COLORADO, HE WAS A LOCOMOTIVE FIREMAN. Fred Smith, son of Mrs. Alzetta Smith, of Hedrick, was killed in a wreck on the C. B. & Q. railway near Merino, Colorado, last Tuesday. The remains were brought to Hedrick Saturday, in charge of L. B. Jones, of Sterling, Colorado, representing the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and the funeral was held Sunday afternoon at two o’clock, at the Smith home, on East Second St., conducted by Rev. Orr Campbell, pastor of the local Baptist church. The remains were interred in the Brooks cemetery. Mr. Jones gives the particulars of the accident as follows: Mr. Smith was a passenger on a north bound freight on the Burlington, going from Brush to Sterling, Colorado, and Tuesday morning at 5:05 the air hose broke, when the engineer endeavored to stop the train near Merino. The train was brought to a standstill, an! d the rear brakeman, whose duty it was to protect the rear of the train by flag or lantern did not do so... The Union Pacific... same track at this point, and a freight belonging to the latter was following the train that stopped. Without warning the freight crashed into the Burlington... while running at the speed of 45 miles an hour. Mr. Smith and the conductor were the only persons in the way-car, which was demolished. The conductor was bruised and cut, but not seriously injured, but Mr. Smith was thrown 150 feet, his skull fractured, both jaws broken and other injuries inflicted. He was taken to Sterling and cared for, and lived until 11:30 Thursday morning. He was conscious when picked up and... consciousness for... Mr. Smith had... on the Burlington, between? Northport and Guernsey, Wyoming, but had been laying off, and was on his way to resume work when he was killed. The way-car, six cars of the Union Pacific engine, six Buxton cars and the caboose were dem! olished. A curve prevented the engineer from seeing the caboose until it was too late to stop. He and the fireman jumped and escaped serious injury. Mr. Smith was aged 28 years August 15, 1906. He left Hedrick in 1903, and had been in the west ever since. His mother is in Woodville, Missouri. He leaves two sisters, Mrs. S. C. LaChapelle and Mrs. A. C. Scott, and... brothers, K. M., Ward and Moses residing here... (very hard to read due to age and condition).