Timeline From The Past: Train Crash, Three Mennonites Sentenced
From the Files of the Kosciusko County Historical Society
This is a retrospective column that will run a few times a month on InkFreeNews.
Jan. 25, 1957 — The engines of two Pennsylvania freight trains crashed head-on in East Warsaw at 7:45 a.m., Jan. 25. 1957. The collision sent six railroad crewmen to the hospital, piling up four diesel engines and 15 cars.
It was the second train wreck in Warsaw within five months and the fourth in Kosciusko County in less than a year, according to historical records. None of the six men were hurt seriously, and all were dismissed from the Murphy Medical Center shortly before 11 a.m.
Jan. 27, 1954 — Three young Mennonites from northern Indiana, one of Milford, received two-year prison sentences for refusing to be inducted into the armed forces. The sentences were imposed in Indianapolis by Federal Judge William E. Steckler. Local draft boards had denied petitions by the three for classification as conscientious objectors.