--------- Forwarded message ---------- NAME: Judy Germann EMAIL: wgermann@flinthills.com DATE: Apr 14 2001 QRYTEXT: Maries County (MO)Gazette, 3 September 1964 RITES WEDNESDAY FOR BELLE WOMAN KILLED BY TRAIN Mrs. Ella Mitchell Bacon, 51, of Belle, was critically injured Saturday morning when she was hit by a train near the main street crossing at Belle. Witnesses who watched helplessly said Mrs. Bacon was carrying a package, apparently had dropped something blowing away, and was walking bent over to retrieve the lost item, the top part of her body extended over one rail of the track. Mrs. Bacon, who was hard of hearing, wore a hearing aid but the batteries were dead, although she was carrying new ones, a brother said. Bill Jones and Elmer Cordsmeyer Jr., working nearby, saw the woman walking in the path of the approaching train with its whistle blowing and bell ringing, and tried to warn her. Chester Vernon of Eldon, the Rock Island engineer, said the woman gave no indication she was aware of the approaching train. The woman was struck on the head and thrown from the path of the train at a point about 100 feet west of the crossing. Identification was made from papers carried in her billfold, due to the profusion of blood. Mrs. Bacon was taken to Phelps County Memorial Hospital at Rolla where she died at 6 p.m. She was born Dec. 24, 1912 at Belle, a daughter of Joseph and Amanda Scarlett Mitchell. Mrs. Bacon was twice married, both marriages ending by divorce; first to Ben Schwegler, now of Pilot Knob, by whom two daughters were born, and to Alfred S. Bacon, now of Rolla. Surviving are the daughters, Mrs. Alma Moman of Belle and Mrs. Oletha Keith of Topeka, Kans.; eight grandchildren; the mother, Mrs. Amanda Mitchell of Belle; two brothers, Henry and Willis Mitchell of Belle; and three sisters, Mrs. Clara Jarvis, Belle; Mrs. Minnie Dingley Steelville; Mrs. Amelia Miller, Truth or Consequences, N.M. Funeral services were from the High Gate Baptist Church Wednesday afternoon with the Rev. Richard H. Terrill officiating. Burial was at Francis cemetery, north of Belle. . ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.