DUFFINA MARY RICE COUNTY JOURNAL 30/JUN-07/JUL-11/AUG/1909 A FATAL ACCIDENT OCCURRED HERE YESTERDAY, JUNE 29, AFTERNOON WHEN THE NORTH BOUND ROCK ISLAND PASSENGER STRUCK A BUGGY CONTAINING TWO WOMEN, MRS. MERRILL DUFFINA AND DAUGHTER, MARY, AND TWO SONS OF NAPOLEON CARON, OLIVER AND ERNEST, KILLING MRS. DUFFINA INSTANTLY AND FATALLY INJURED HER DAUGHTER, MARY, WHO DIED AT 8 O'CLOCK LAST EVENING. THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED ON THE CROSSING ON EAST DIVISION STREET. AT THE APPROACH OF THE TRAIN THE FLAGMAN, STRONSKE, STATES THAT HE WARNED THE APPROACHING CARRIAGE OF THE TRAIN AND ORDERED THEM TO STOP. THINKING TO CROSS THE ROAD BEFORE THE TRAIN REACHED THE CROSSING THEY WHIPPED UP THE TEAM, WHICH WAS A PAIR OF COLTS AND ATTEMPTED TO GET OVER A HEAD OF THE TRAIN. THE DISASTROUS ACCIDENT IS THE RESULT. THE TRAIN STRUCK THE CARRIAGE CUTTING THE TEAM LOSE AND HURLING THE CARRIAGE AND ITS OCCUPANTS WITH TERRIBLE FORCE AGAINST THE FENCE ON THE APPROACH TO THE BRIDGE AND OVER THE STEEP EMBANKMENT OF THE EAST SIDE OF THE TRACK. THE TWO CHILDREN SUFFERED FROM FRIGHT MORE THAN INJURIES AND ONLY SLIGHT BRUISES AND SCRATCHES RESULTED, MRS. DUFFINA WAS KILLED ALMOST INSTANTLY WHILE THE DAUGHTER, MARY, WAS PICKED UP UNCONSCIOUS AND TAKEN AT ONCE TO ST. LUCAS HOSPITAL WHERE EVERY POSSIBLE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE WAS GIVEN, BUT TO NO AVAIL. DR. BOLLENBACH, COUNTY CORONER WAS CALLED AND ON ARRIVING ON THE SCENE----------------------------------.07/JUL/1909---THE FUNERAL OF MRS. MERRILL DUFFINA, AGED 53 YEARS, AND DAUGHTER, MARY, AGED 19, WHO WERE KILLED AS A RESULT OF AN ACCIDENT ON TUESDAY LAST, TOOK PLACE ON FRIDAY AT NINE O'CLOCK AT THE CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART, FATHER MONGE OFFICIATING AND THE INTERMENT WAS IN ST. LAWRENCE CEMETERY. CORDELIA DURAND WAS A NATIVE OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC, CANADA, AND HERE SHE GREW TO WOMANHOOD. SHE CAME WITH HER HUSBAND TO RICE COUNTY IN 1877, AND THEIR HOME HAS SINCE BEEN IN RICE COUNTY. SHE IS SURVIVED BY HER HUSBAND, TWO DAUGHTERS, MRS. NAPOLEON CARON, OF THE CITY AND MRS. FRED SANBORN OF CANNON CITY, AND FOUR SONS, TWO OF WHOM RESIDE AT HOME AND TWO IN ST. PAUL. HER FATHER AND THREE BROTHERS, EUGENE, CYRIL AND MEDRIC, ALL OF THIS CITY ALSO SURVIVE. THE DAUGHTER, MISS MARY, WAS BORN IN THE TOWN OF CANNON CITY AND WAS 19 YEARS. OLD. 11/AUG/1909--A WEEK AGO SATURDAY THE DUFFINA CASE WAS SETTLED WHEN E. H. EARHART OF DES MOINES, IOWA, CLAIM AGENT OF THE ROCK ISLAND, L. P. GIBSON, DISTRICT CLAIM AGENT AND A. D. KEYES, LOCAL ATTORNEY, MET WITH MERRILL DUFFINA AND OTHER RELATIVES OF MRS. CORNELIA AND MISS MARY DUFFINA, WHO WERE KILLED A SHORT TIME AGO BY THE CARS, AND SETTLEMENT WAS DETERMINED UPON. THE ROAD PAYS ALL FUNERAL AND HOSPITAL EXPENSES AND A CASH PAYMENT OF $1,200.