Among goods recovered by Urania Chief of Police Ernest Keene are numerous whiskey barrels, boxes of paper towels and toilet tissue and bags of flour shown above. âÂÂWe are asking everyoneâÂÂs cooperation in this matter and are asking them to please bring back any items they may have taken from the wreckage,â Keene emphasized.
Ernest Keene, Chief of Police in Urania, stands among the rubble of toilet tissue, particleboard, whiskey barrels, paper towels, and other articles scattered from the freight cars when 28 rail cars ran off the tracks near Urania. (Re-printed from Dec. 20, 1978 issue of The Jena Times)
(Note: North LaSalle History Tidbit has a guest writer this week.)
It was a Saturday night in early December 1978 that my wife, Velda came home to inform me of the train derail in Urania. Velda was the manager at that time for the Urania Store or “Fox Paul Mall.” Shirley Harris had told Velda that they were giving away the damaged goods from the wreck but not to tell everyone. I will not tell where she got the information.
With very little encouraging I got some of my friends together to help gather the spoils. The friends were: Benny Connor, Bill Connor, David Connor, and Sue Connor Roberts. Velda stayed home to supervise the stacking of the goods.
We hauled supplies from about 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. the next morning. We started our hauls around the New Pond and would bring the loads of whiskey barrels, flour, toilet paper, and paper towels through the Urania Graveyard. From there we would take to my house in Urania. It was hard work but lots of fun. We started off picking up damaged freight on the ground but as the night went on began to empty the derailed freight cars. At one point either Bill or Benny threw down a case of paper towels and hit Sue in the head. At first we thought she was seriously hurt but Sue got up encouraging us not to quit.
I guess around 1:00 or 2:00 a.m., Sue went home and got cake and coffee for the railroad workers. They were enjoying our visits and joined in the fun of loading the wagons. My house was filled with whiskey barrels, flour, toilet tissue, and paper towels. The long front porch was stacked so high we were afraid it was going to break. You could hardly get in the drive for the whiskey barrels. We then filled the barn behind my house. Finally we started hauling to Sue’s house on the Rosefield Road in Olla. About 6:00 A M we were tired and needed to stop to get ready for Sunday Church. We decided to take the last load to my house in Urania. On the way we met Daniel Dickey. Daniel had got off the night shift at LP.
We told Daniel about the free stuff being given away. Daniel got a couple friends and made him a haul. He was stopped on the first load by Earnest Keene.
Earnest had been told to arrest anyone who tried to take any of the stuff from the train derailment.
Poor ole Daniel was shocked. He told Earnest that Mike Russell said it was ok to get the stuff from the train. Earnest told Daniel if he said anyone else he might believebut not Mike Russell. Earnest let Daniel take the stuff back and did not arrest him.
I had just laid down for a few minutes when I heard a knock on the door. It was Earnest Keene! The first thing Earnest said was, “Mike do you know anything about the train derail and anyone getting the goods from the wreck? I was proud of our work and told him how we hauled all night. I said, “Look Earnest my porch, my yard, and my shed are full. We even have it stored at Sue’s house in Olla.” His next words ended all my joy. “Mike, I have been told to arrest anyone that has taken goods from the wreck—-but if you will take it back I won’t.”
I asked, and Earnest gave, permission to go to church first. We all needed to repent for our thieving ways! After church Earnest told me the Railroad agreed for us to store the goods in the Urania Recreation Center. We started hauling everything back after church.
On the following Wednesday Earnest called to inform me the Railroad changed their minds and did not want any of the stuff from the wreck. According to Earnest, I had to come and remove all from the recreation center immediately.
By this time my punishment was more than I could bear! I asked another favor from Earnest. My request was to open up the Recreation Center and give away all of the stuff from the wreck to Urania Citizens. I told Earnest I never wanted to see anymore of that junk. I was tired of hauling! So the doors were opened and everything disappeared fast.
Many times Shirley, Velda, and all of us would laugh about how you could not sell paper towels or toilet paper for a long time in Urania.
There was coverage of this event in the The Jena Times with pictures of the goods stored in the Recreation Center. This half of the story was never told—-you know you are from Urania IF…..
