Received the following via email.
Kinsman, OH: Children Try To Wreck Train, Dec. 1901
Tried to Wreck a Train.
Two Children Placed An Obstruction On The Track Near Ashtabula, Ohio
They "Wanted to See a Wreck"
Special to the New York Times.
Ashtabula, Ohio, Dec. 13.- Two children, a boy and a girl, placed an obstruction on the tracks of the Jamestown and Franklin Branch of the Lake Shore Road at 10 o’clock this morning near Kinsman, about thirty miles south of here. A northbound engine and caboose, running at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour, struck it just after turning a curve. The engineer, on seeing the tie ahead, applied the emergency brake and reversed his engine, but was too near to stop in time. The tie was carried several car lengths before it cleared the track.
An examination proved that the tie had been securely braced on the south side with an iron switch staff, and, had the train been going in the opposite direction, the results would probably have been serious.
The train crew looked about for the perpetrators of the outrage, and found the children hidden nearby. It is said that they gave their names as RUBY PROBST, aged fifteen, and HUGH PROBST, aged thirteen. They could give no reason for the deed save that they wanted to see a wreck. They said that their home was at Greenville, Penn., and that they had been visiting at Jamestown.
The New York Times, New York, NY 14 Dec 1901