Two Boys Killed By Train While Walking Trestle
The Portsmouth Times, January 9, 1975, pp. 1 & 10
Two young Rigrish Addition boys were killed late Wednesday afternoon when they were struck by a Chessie System freight train on the trestle between Rigrish Addition and Highland Bend.
Dead are Andrew Stephen Howard, 14, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Howard, and James Randell Hemphill, 14, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Lon Hemphill.
A third youth, Patrick Brown, 14, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Brown of Rigrish Addition, narrowly escaped death when he jumped onto the opposite track.
The tragedy occurred about 5 p.m. on the trestle about a half-mile east of Route 335.
The eastbound train, with Lloyd Lauter of Flatwoods, Kentucky as engineer and Lewis Webb of Russell, Kentucky as firemen came around a curve just as the boys were about halfway across the trestle.
The trainmen said the boys were walking between the two tracks, Lauter said he sounded the whistle and applied the emergency brake.
He said the boys started running toward the east end of the trestle. They apparently panicked and the two victims jumped onto the track in front of the engine.
Ironically, the two were just a few feet from the safety of the other track but apparently froze or became confused and thought the train was on the opposite track.
Portsmouth firemen assisted in removing the bodies down about a 100-foot embankment. The accident was investigated by Sheriff John P. Knauff and Deputy Archie Kirker.
It is believed the three had gone to a store in Highland Bend and used the trestly as a short cut.
The Howard boy was a son of Clarence and Phyllis Howard of Rigrish Addition and was a Minford High School freshman.
He was a member of Mt. Hope Freewill Baptist Church and had participated in Minford are Little League baseball.
Besides his parents, he is survived by three sisters; Becky, Brenda and Jamie Lynne Howard, all at home; and his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Veach of Bonser Run and Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Howard of Rigrish Addition.
Funeral services are to be conducted at 11 a.m. Friday at Davis, Davis and Gill Funeral Home on Harding Avenue in Sciotoville.
Rev. Fred Mann is to officiate at services. Interment is to be in South Webster cemetery.
Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 tonight.
Hemphill, a son of Lon and Beatrice Hemphill was an eighth grade student at Minford Middle School.
In addition to his parents, he is survived by three brothers; Brian, Lon, Jr., and Barry all at home, the paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. John Hemphill of Minford, and the maternal grandfather, Samuel Wright of Stockdale.
Services are to be Friday at 1 p.m. at Pennington Funeral Home in New Boston, with Rev. Ralph Frazie officiating. Burial is to be in Memorial Burial Park.
Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 tonight.