My name is Matthew. My maternal great-grandfather was Thomas Leo Murtaugh (Feb 7, 1891 - Jun 18, 1958) who lived in Orrville, Ohio. He was the engineer of the fatal Doodlebug collision. For obvious reasons, my family seldom discusses the tragedy. However, what I have been told from my grandma Ruth (his eldest daughter) was that it affected him throughout the remainder of his life. He did not deliberately ignore the order to pull off onto the siding at Silver Road, in fact it is standard procedure that freight trains have the track right of way. He had complained to the railroad of gas fumes on several occasions prior to that fatal evening. What we are unsure of is if he temporarily lost consciousness or had just become disoriented. The single track line branches off from the main line at Hudson and runs to Akron 15 miles away. In order to continue on the main line from Hudson towards Akron, permission was required from the block operator at Hudson to make this further movement - it was not obtained and No. 4648 continued on another quarter of a mile. By the time he spotted the locomotive coming around the bend and applied the brakes he knew a collision was imminent. He fractured his skull jumping from the coach and this 49 year old redhead's hair turned snow white overnight. Mr. Shafer, the conductor, was not as fortunate since he had to have his right hand and right foot amputated at the hospital.

Anyway, I thought you might like to have a (1916) photograph of grandpa Tom for your blog.

Sincerely,

Matthew