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mokenamessenger.com life & arts
the Mokena Messenger | January 31, 2019 | 23
Matt’s Old Mokena
191st Street crossing has long history of accidents
Matt Galik
Contributing Columnist
Mokena had its
fifteen minutes
of fame recently
when Village officer Peter
Stanglewicz and other
drivers had a hair-raising
narrow miss from collision
with an oncoming Metra
locomotive. The location of
this close escape, the 191st
Street railroad crossing, has
been the scene of countless
other mishaps and,
unfortunately, fatal wrecks
throughout the history of
our community.
Known to pre-World War
II Mokenians as Cappel’s
Crossing after the farming
family who lived nearby,
upon parting the fog of time
it becomes clear that 1927
was a busy time for accidents.
On the winter afternoon of
Feb. 7, 1927, a westbound
passenger train hit a truck
driven by a Mr. Goldstein
of Chicago. The locomotive
was rolling down the tracks
at about 40 miles per hour
when it clipped the back of
Goldstein’s vehicle, which
the village newspaper, the
News-Bulletin, described
as being loaded with “junk,
rags and old papers.” The
crash scattered these materials
all over the crossing, and
Goldstein himself was flung
about 50 feet after the cab
of his truck was torn off.
Miraculously, the traumatic
experience left him with
only a cut on his hand. His
glasses, which were hurled
off his face, would later be
found intact.
Barely three months
later, on the night of May
21, 1927, Mokena’s Frank
McPearson was nearly
killed at the same crossing.
It was McPearson’s misfortune
that the radius rod of
his Ford coupe broke the
second he was crossing the
tracks, stalling him there as
a westbound train bearing
passengers appeared on the
horizon. In reporting this
incident, the News-Bulletin
wrote that the Mokenian
“only had time enough
to leap from the car and
save himself.” While the
train’s locomotive suffered
a broken cylinder head
in the collision, McPearson’s
auto was completely
destroyed. Oddly enough,
when McPearson returned
to the scene of the accident
early the next day to see if
there might be any salvageable
parts left over from his
car, he was shocked to find
every piece of the smashed
coupe stripped from the
frame.
Another incident involving
a train occurred at
Cappel’s Crossing on Aug.
14, 1926. At almost 11
p.m. that Saturday, another
Ford coupe, this one
piloted by Mokena youth
Walter Yunker, plowed into
Frankforter Henry Rolfe’s
Hupmobile when Yunker
was racing an oncoming
locomotive to the crossing.
The impact reduced the
coupe to a “pile of junk.”
Yunker and his two buddies
in tow were all hurt,
but luckily, none of their
injuries turned out to be life
threatening.
At the end of summer
1929, the Rock Island railroad
advocated permanently
closing Cappel Crossing, in
conjunction with a proposed
rerouting of what is
today 191st Street. The idea
gained some traction, but
was ultimately shot down
that fall when Mokena shop
keepers loudly protested;
their main bone of contention
being that a closing of
the crossing would cut off
the village from outside
trade.
While all of the aforementioned
gentlemen were
lucky to escape, Cappel’s
Crossing also claimed lives.
One such incident occurred
in the fall of 1930, when
on the morning of Nov. 3,
18-year-old Walter Ebert of
Frankfort perished here. The
young man was behind the
wheel of a truck hauling a
load of crushed stone, and
Author Matt Galik signs a copy of his book “The 1926 Orland Park Murder Mystery” during
a presentation Jan. 23 at Mokena Community Public Library District. Galik is scheduled
to give another presentation at 1 p.m. on Feb. 2 at The Museums at Lisle Station Park, 921
School St. in Lisle. T.J. Kremer/22nd Century Media
was maneuvering his way
through fog so thick that the
News-Bulletin wrote “one
could hardly see objects ten
feet away.” In a simple but
tragic misfortune, the young
Ebert never saw the eastbound
train bearing down
on the crossing. His truck
nearly disintegrated from
the impact, with pieces of it
later being found hundreds
of feet away on the railroad
right of way. At the time of
the accident, a westbound
freight train arrived at the
scene, and its engineer had
to climb out of his locomotive
and help carry pieces
of Ebert’s truck off of the
tracks. Inside the train that
made the initial collision,
not only were passengers
thrown from their seats, but
its fireman suffered a nasty
head injury when broken
glass from the engine’s windows
hit him. In a particularly
descriptive account of
the event, the News-Bulletin
detailed how the crushed
stone from Ebert’s truck
“rattled on the car roofs like
hailstones” after the concussion.
Danger is nothing new to
this Mokena crossing. Let
us learn from events both
past and present, to always
be mindful and vigilant
around the awesome might
of railroads.
faith
From Page 20
ages can be found just outside
the sanctuary.
Grace Fellowship Church (11049 LaPorte
Road, Mokena)
Narcotics Anonymous
7-9 p.m. Mondays. All
those struggling or who have
struggled with a narcotics
addiction are welcome. All
meetings are confidential.
For more information, call
(708) 479-0300.
Spanish Church
12:30 p.m. Sundays.
Worship Service
10 a.m. Sundays. All are
welcome.
Women’s Bible Study
8:45-9:45 a.m. Sundays
and 2-3 p.m. Tuesdays.
Victory Baptist Church (13550 US Route
6, Mokena)
Sunday School
9:30 a.m. Sundays.
Morning Worship
10:45 a.m. Sundays.
Evening Worship
6 p.m. Sundays.
Weekday Worship
7 p.m. Wednesdays.
Have something for Faith
Briefs? Contact Assistant
Editor Megan Schuller at
m.schuller@22ndcm.com or
call (708) 326-9170 ext. 34.
Deadline is noon Thursday
one week prior to
publication.