LEADWOOD WOMAN SURVIVOR OF 
1922 TRAIN WRECK AT SULPHUR SPRINGS
~Accident Left 34 Dead, 150 Injured~

Ruth Eichenberger Kite

Article by K. Carbery/Jefferson County Journal
Saturday, Feb.17, 2007

It was Aug. 5, 1922, and Ruth Kite, nee Eichenberger, then 3, was traveling by train with her father from their home in Hopewell, Mo., to St. Louis.

Ruth and about 190 other passengers were aboard Missouri Pacific Local No. 32, making its regular trip north from Hoxie, Ark.

The steam engine stopped to take on water at Sulphur Springs.

The next thing Ruth knew, another train, the MoPac No. 4 from Texas, slammed into the rear of the No. 32, killing 34 passengers, including her father, and injuring 150 in one of the worst train wrecks in Missouri history.

"I was with my dad, Rudolph Eichenberger," said Ruth, 88, who now lives in Leadwood. "We were going to meet my mom, Annie, in St. Louis. She was coming from New Jersey, where she'd been visiting my dad's sisters.

"I had been sitting behind (my father). He was killed. I survived, but was pretty banged up. I had a broken nose, broken back - was just beat up all over."

According to news accounts of the accident, the engineer of the No. 4 failed to see block signals set against his train. By the time he saw the No. 32 stopped on the main track it was too late.

The ensuing collision was so horrific it could be heard three miles away. The rear of the No. 32 was sitting on a bridge spanning Glaize Creek when the accident occurred and train cars were hurled into the creek bed, where many of the dead were later found.

Fate may have saved Ruth Eichenberger's life.

"We feel I survived because I wasn't in my seat," she said.

"A neighbor, Mary Oberting, who was with us on the train, was getting me a cookie. She was badly injured, too, but survived."

Ruth's brothers, Rudy and Tom, were working at the Herculaneum lead smelter at the time of the train wreck.

"They heard about the train wreck and knew that my mom and my grandpa were on the train," said Melba Kite, Ruth's daughter. "They went to look for whatever - mom and grandpa. They found their dad. They had laid the dead people out on a hillside."

Rudy and Tom then went on a frantic search to locate their little sister.

"They couldn't find me there, so they started searching hospitals for me," Ruth said. "Tom found me the next day, at St. John's Hospital in St. Louis."

Ruth was prompted to recount her incredible story of survival by a recent letter to the editor in another newspaper in which the daughter of another survivor questioned whether there was a memorial or marker of some kind at the accident site.

That led Ruth and her own daughter to the Journal office in Festus last week.

"We saw a letter to the editor from a lady in Texas in another paper whose mother had been on that train," Melba said. "She asked why Jefferson County, Sulphur Springs or someone hadn't put up a historical marker there of some sort.

"My question is, are there any more survivors? I'd like to meet them to hear their stories."

Ruth is hoping that if any other survivors of the wreck are still alive, they will contact the Journal and tell their story.

Meanwhile, Melba, who also lives in Leadwood, has been to the site of the train wreck.

"The trestle was rebuilt after the accident," she said. "In the concrete face is the date 1923."

Survivors of the Sulphur Springs train wreck who want to tell their story are invited to call Journal Reporter Kevin Carbery at 636-931-6636, Ext. 221, or by e-mail at MAILTO:KCARBERY@YOURJOURNAL.COM" .

LAWMAKERS SEEK TO COMMEMORATE 
1922 TRAIN WRECK

Some area state legislators want people to know they are making efforts to keep the 1922 Sulphur Springs train wreck from fading from history.

State Rep. Jeff Roorda, D-Barnhart, Rep. Tim Meadows, D-Imperial, and state Sen. Ryan McKenna, D-Crystal City, are attempting to rename a section of Route 61/67 after the tragedy, Roorda reported.

Roorda contacted the Journal in response to a Feb. 18 article about Ruth Eichenberger Kite, an 88-year-old Leadwood, Mo., woman who survived the crash when she was 3 years old. Her father, Rudolph Eichenberger, was killed in the wreck that took 34 lives and injured another 150 or more.

"I filed a bill on it Jan. 22," Roorda said. "I had seen local newspaper reports about the disaster. We're trying to figure out if we need to rename the section of the highway legislatively or through the highway department."

Roorda said McKenna has filed a companion bill on the matter in the Senate.

Roorda explained why he felt the need to pursue the legislation that would rename the section of Route 61/67 from Wolf Hollow Road to Route M. It would be called "The 1922 Sulphur Springs Rail Disaster Memorial Highway."

"Obviously, to my knowledge, it was the greatest loss of life ever in a single disaster in Jefferson County history," Roorda said. "I feel we should take pains to remember that tragedy."

According to news accounts of the accident, on Aug. 5, 1922, about 190 passengers were on board Missouri Pacific Local 32 making its regular trip north from Hoxie, Ark. The steam engine stopped to take on water at Sulphur Springs.

It was while making this stop that the MoPac No. 4 from Texas slammed into the rear of No. 32, causing one of the worst train wrecks in Missouri history. The noise from the collision could be heard three miles away, according to reports.

Roorda said that, by chance, the No. 32 was sitting on a bridge spanning Glaize Creek, which is more or less the dividing line between Meadows' legislative district and his, which is why both representatives are working on the effort.

Ruth Kite and her father were riding the train from their home in Hopewell, Mo., to St. Louis, to meet with her mother, who had been visiting relatives in New Jersey.

Kite and her daughter, Melba, say they are interested in seeing if any other survivors of the train wreck are still alive. Survivors of the Sulphur Springs train wreck who want to tell their stories are invited to call reporter Kevin Carbery at 636-931-6636, Ext. 221 .

The Kites said they contacted the Journal after seeing a letter to the editor in another newspaper in which the daughter of another survivor asked why there was no marker at the site commemorating the tragedy.