READING GIRL'S SHOCKING FATE
Hurled by Passenger Train Fifty Feet Onto Mass of Rocks
WAS ON A PLEASURE TRIP
Only a Few Hours Before She Arrived in Highspire for Visit With Relatives
Saturday afternoon a few hours after seventeen-year-old Katherine Burtolette, of Reading, arrived at the home of her uncle, A.C. Hocker, in Highspire, the family started across the river for an afternoon in the York county hills. The party landed near March Run station, on the Northern Central Railroad.
Miss Burtolette and Austin Heicher, of Highspire, went ahead and when they saw Mr. Hocker making his way across the river they decided to retrace their steps and meet him at the water's edge. But between them and the river was the railroad, and when they reached this their way was blocked by a freight train. As soon as this had passed the eager young woman stepped right across and into the front of a passenger train that was traveling in the direction opposite to that of the freight.
Heicher, who was a trifle slower in starting to cross saw the passenger train and made a cloth (sp.?) for the girl but he was too late. She seemed to him to be whirled out of his hands and an instant later he found her dead body lying among some boulders fifty feet from the spot where she was struck.
The body presented an awful sight. One side of the girl's face was crushed in, several of her ribs were broken and she was torn and lacerated in a shocking manner. Both of her shoes were torn from her feet and fragments of her clothing were scattered all about.
There was a delay of about three hours before the relatives of the unfortunate young woman could take her body to Highspire. It was necessary to send nine miles for the permit to remove the body from York county.
The Patriot
Harrisburg, PA)
Monday, September 10, 1906
Volume: 62 Issue: 188 Page: 1
Hurled by Passenger Train Fifty Feet Onto Mass of Rocks
WAS ON A PLEASURE TRIP
Only a Few Hours Before She Arrived in Highspire for Visit With Relatives
Saturday afternoon a few hours after seventeen-year-old Katherine Burtolette, of Reading, arrived at the home of her uncle, A.C. Hocker, in Highspire, the family started across the river for an afternoon in the York county hills. The party landed near March Run station, on the Northern Central Railroad.
Miss Burtolette and Austin Heicher, of Highspire, went ahead and when they saw Mr. Hocker making his way across the river they decided to retrace their steps and meet him at the water's edge. But between them and the river was the railroad, and when they reached this their way was blocked by a freight train. As soon as this had passed the eager young woman stepped right across and into the front of a passenger train that was traveling in the direction opposite to that of the freight.
Heicher, who was a trifle slower in starting to cross saw the passenger train and made a cloth (sp.?) for the girl but he was too late. She seemed to him to be whirled out of his hands and an instant later he found her dead body lying among some boulders fifty feet from the spot where she was struck.
The body presented an awful sight. One side of the girl's face was crushed in, several of her ribs were broken and she was torn and lacerated in a shocking manner. Both of her shoes were torn from her feet and fragments of her clothing were scattered all about.
There was a delay of about three hours before the relatives of the unfortunate young woman could take her body to Highspire. It was necessary to send nine miles for the permit to remove the body from York county.
The Patriot
Harrisburg, PA)
Monday, September 10, 1906
Volume: 62 Issue: 188 Page: 1
READING GIRL'S SHOCKING FATE
Hurled by Passenger Train Fifty Feet Onto Mass of Rocks
WAS ON A PLEASURE TRIP
Only a Few Hours Before She Arrived in Highspire for Visit With Relatives
Saturday afternoon a few hours after seventeen-year-old Katherine Burtolette, of Reading, arrived at the home of her uncle, A.C. Hocker, in Highspire, the family started across the river for an afternoon in the York county hills. The party landed near March Run station, on the Northern Central Railroad.
Miss Burtolette and Austin Heicher, of Highspire, went ahead and when they saw Mr. Hocker making his way across the river they decided to retrace their steps and meet him at the water's edge. But between them and the river was the railroad, and when they reached this their way was blocked by a freight train. As soon as this had passed the eager young woman stepped right across and into the front of a passenger train that was traveling in the direction opposite to that of the freight.
Heicher, who was a trifle slower in starting to cross saw the passenger train and made a cloth (sp.?) for the girl but he was too late. She seemed to him to be whirled out of his hands and an instant later he found her dead body lying among some boulders fifty feet from the spot where she was struck.
The body presented an awful sight. One side of the girl's face was crushed in, several of her ribs were broken and she was torn and lacerated in a shocking manner. Both of her shoes were torn from her feet and fragments of her clothing were scattered all about.
There was a delay of about three hours before the relatives of the unfortunate young woman could take her body to Highspire. It was necessary to send nine miles for the permit to remove the body from York county.
The Patriot
Harrisburg, PA)
Monday, September 10, 1906
Volume: 62 Issue: 188 Page: 1
Hurled by Passenger Train Fifty Feet Onto Mass of Rocks
WAS ON A PLEASURE TRIP
Only a Few Hours Before She Arrived in Highspire for Visit With Relatives
Saturday afternoon a few hours after seventeen-year-old Katherine Burtolette, of Reading, arrived at the home of her uncle, A.C. Hocker, in Highspire, the family started across the river for an afternoon in the York county hills. The party landed near March Run station, on the Northern Central Railroad.
Miss Burtolette and Austin Heicher, of Highspire, went ahead and when they saw Mr. Hocker making his way across the river they decided to retrace their steps and meet him at the water's edge. But between them and the river was the railroad, and when they reached this their way was blocked by a freight train. As soon as this had passed the eager young woman stepped right across and into the front of a passenger train that was traveling in the direction opposite to that of the freight.
Heicher, who was a trifle slower in starting to cross saw the passenger train and made a cloth (sp.?) for the girl but he was too late. She seemed to him to be whirled out of his hands and an instant later he found her dead body lying among some boulders fifty feet from the spot where she was struck.
The body presented an awful sight. One side of the girl's face was crushed in, several of her ribs were broken and she was torn and lacerated in a shocking manner. Both of her shoes were torn from her feet and fragments of her clothing were scattered all about.
There was a delay of about three hours before the relatives of the unfortunate young woman could take her body to Highspire. It was necessary to send nine miles for the permit to remove the body from York county.
The Patriot
Harrisburg, PA)
Monday, September 10, 1906
Volume: 62 Issue: 188 Page: 1
Gravesite Details
Please note the discrepancy of the birth date between the death certificate and the stone. The memorial reflects the date on the stone.
Family Members
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