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60. Michigan City Evening Dispatch, 22 Nov. 1916; Michigan City Evening News, 22 Apr. 1916.

61. Michigan City Evening Dispatch, 22 Nov. 1916; Michigan City Evening News, 22 Apr. 1916; “Obituary,” 1180.

62. Michigan City Evening News, 23 Nov. 1916.

63. Michigan City News, 28 Feb. 1917.

64. Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway v. Edna Brown, a minor, by her next friend Frank Brown, 66 Ind. App. 126; Michigan City News, 5 Feb. 1917. The Indiana Railroad Commission responded to public outrage over deadly collisions on the South Shore in 1909 and on several Indiana and Illinois interurban lines in September and October 1910 by drawing attention to the Chicago and North Western Railroad’s worker safety initiative propelled by R. C. Richards in the commission’s 1911 report and by recommending that every steam and electric railroad in Indiana adopt safety committees in which officers and workers participated. The following year, the commission complained that “Responses to this circular have not been satisfactory.” Only the Indianapolis, Columbus and Southern had organized a safety committee of interurban railway workers and managers under the line’s general manager A. McShane, previously the chief inspector for the Indiana Railroad Commission. After an April 1912 circular pointed out managerial resistance and again urged all interurban and steam roads to form and sustain active worker safety committees, the South Shore’s managers joined the officials of eight other electric railways in reporting to the commission that they either had organized or were organizing a safety committee in spring 1912. No evidence has been uncovered that this promise to become proactive about worker safety actually was carried out and sustained, though. See Fourth Annual Report of the Railroad Commission of Indiana, 318, 376–391, and Fifth Annual Report of the Railroad Commission of Indiana, 333, 343–44, 598–600, 613.

65. CLS & SB Annual Reports, CYs 1916–1924, p. 403; Aldrich, Safety First, 284–85. Indiana state accident data, when it was reported at all, should be treated as underreported. It is not clear what constituted a reportable or unreportable injury under vague state directives for interurbans. As the reader shall see, the post–1925 railroad management team appeared to report every single injury, exceeding by far what the state government considered reportable accidents.

66. Middleton, South Shore, 31, 34; Electric Railway Journal 63 (12 Apr. 1924): 600; ibid. 64 (12 July 1924): 72; Michigan City News, 9 July 1924.

67 . Electric Railway Journal 64 (12 July 1924): 72; Michigan City News, 9 July 1924.

68. Michigan City News, 9 July 1924.

69. Robert Asher, “Failure and Fulfillment: Agitation for Employers’ Liability Legislation and the Origins of Workmen’s Compensation in New York State, 1876–1910,” Labor History 24 (spring 1983): 199–222, and “Industrial Safety and Labor Relations in the United States, 1865–1917,” in Charles Stephenson and Robert Asher, eds., Life and Labor: Dimensions of American Working-Class History (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1986): 115–30; Aldrich, Safety First, 104, 107–8; “Personal Mention: Mr. Charles B. Scott,” Electric Railway Journal 41 (15 Feb. 1913): 312; “Middle West Utilities Bureau of Safety,” ibid. (22 Feb. 1913): 368.

70. “Personal Mention: Mr. Charles B. Scott,” 312; “Middle West Utilities Bureau of Safety,” 368; “Safety Should Be First,” Electric Railway Journal 41 (12 Apr. 1913): (cover). An extremely informative study of certain Chicago-area utility companies, their consolidation under Samuel Insull’s control, and the equation of electricity with societal progress can be found in Harold Platt, The Electric City: Energy and the Growth of the Chicago Area, 1880–1930 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).

71. Middleton, South Shore, 37; “Safety on Illinois Railways,” Electric Railway Journal 44 (28 Nov. 1914): 1197.

72. “Chicago Elevated Railways Organize for Safety,” Electric Railway Journal 55 (14 Feb. 1920): 340.

73. Ibid., 340–41.

74. “Interurban Railway Safety Campaign,” Electric Railway Journal 48 (23 Dec. 1916): 1318; Aldrich, Safety First, 123.

75. Louis Resnick, “Remarkable Results on the North Shore’s Safety Campaign,” Electric Traction (July 1921): 460; Aldrich, Safety First, 123, 127; Henry Cordell, “Paper to Be Presented before the National Safety Council, Electric Railway Section, New York City, October 1–5, 1928,” in John D. Horachek, ed., “One Hundred Per Cent Safety! The Shop Employee’s Contribution to a Safe Railway,” First and Fastest 16, no. 2 (summer 2000): 8–11.

76. “Interurban Railway Safety Campaign,” 1318; Aldrich, Safety First, 123, 127; Cordell, “Paper to Be Presented before the National Safety Council,” 8, 11; “Girls’ First Aid Team Attracts Wide Attention,” Electric Traction (Aug. 1924): 354; Charles B. Scott, “Co-operation Makes Safety Work Successful,” Electric Railway Journal 53 (22 Feb. 1919): 359; Louis Resnick, “Remarkable Results on the North Shore’s Safety Campaign,” Electric Traction (July 1921): 460; “Safety Council Graduates Receive Diplomas,” Electric Railway Journal 62 (7 July 1923): 32; “1925 Annual Inter-Company Safety Conference, Edison Building, January 8–9, 1925,” unpublished attachment in Charles B. Scott, letter to B. W. Arnold, 27 Dec. 1924, in “Safety” file, records of the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad, legal custody of John D. Horachek. The proceedings were published about six weeks after the conference.

77. Scott, “Co-operation Makes Safety Work Successful,” 359–60; Cordell, “Paper to Be Presented before the National Safety Council,” 8–10; Aldrich, Safety First, 123, 127; Resnick, “Remarkable Results on the North Shore’s Safety Campaign,” 460.

78. Scott, “Co-operation Makes Safety Work Successful,” 360; Resnick, “Remarkable Results of the North Shore’s Safety Campaign,” 459; “Employees Receive First Aid Awards at Chicago Dinner,” The Pantagraph 1, no. 1 (Apr. 1927): 3; Bert W. Arnold, “Accident Prevention from the Executive’s Viewpoint,” Electric Railway Journal 68 (21 Aug. 1926): 314.

79. Middleton, South Shore, 34–35, 37–70; Norman Carlson, ed., Chicago, South Shore & South Bend Railroad: How the Medal Was Won, Central Electric Railfans’ Association Bulletin 124 (Chicago: Central Electric Railfans’ Association, 1985).

80. Middleton, South Shore, 37–39, 42, 46; Carlson, ed., How the Medal Was Won, 63, 82, 122, 132; “First and Fastest,” promotional booklet, in the author’s possession, 3.

81. Middleton, South Shore, 46, 64–65, 68, 69; “First and Fastest,” 3.

82. Carlson, ed., How the Medal Was Won, 63, 136; File 1259, “Report of the Director of the Bureau of Safety In Re Investigation of an Accident Which Occurred on the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad Near Gary, Ind. on April 10, 1926,” Interstate Commerce Commission Accident Investigation Reports, 1911–1966, Special Collections, U.S. Department of Transportation Library, Internet URL www.specialcollections.tasc.dot.gov/scripts/rsi.dll?button&uc=361ZF694&button=9, 4 August 2001

83. “Geo. Jafros, Car Placer, Dead in Yard Accident,” The Pantagraph 1, no. 6 (Nov. 1927): 8.

84. CSS & SB Annual Reports, CYs 1925–1938, pp. 403, 404; Annual Report of the Public Service Commission of Indiana for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 1927 (Indianapolis: William B. Burford for the Legislative Reference Bureau, 1928), 37; Aldrich, Safety First, 285.

85. Carlson, ed., How the Medal Was Won, 139; Middleton, South Shore, 46; George V. Campbell, Days of the North Shore Line (Delavan, Wisc.: National Bus Trader, 1985), 109, 111.

86. Carlson, ed., How the Medal Was Won, 140; The Pantagraph 1, no. 6 (Nov. 1927): 6; ibid., no. 2–3 (May–June 1927): 8; Middleton, South Shore, 58; “Additional Authority for Dr. H. E. Fisher,” Electric Railway Journal 69 (18 June 1927): 1112.

87. The Pantagraph 1, no. 1 (Apr. 1927): 3.

88. Carlson, ed., How the Medal Was Won, 138, 140; The Pantagraph 1, no. 6 (Nov. 1927): 6; ibid. 2, no. 9 (Sept. 1928): 8; ibid., no. 1 (Jan. 1928): 3.

89. Aldrich, Safety First, 140–41; Carlson, ed., How the Medal Was Won, 139; The Pantagraph 2, no. 1 (Jan. 1928): 3; ibid., no. 5 (May 1928): 3.

90. The Pantagraph 2, no. 1 (Jan. 1928): 3; ibid., no. 9 (Sept. 1928): 8.

91. Ibid.1, no. 1 (Apr. 1927): 1; ibid. 3, no. 5 (May 1929): 4; ibid. 2, no. 6 (June 1928): 2, 4; ibid. 2, no. 9 (Sept. 1928): 8; ibid. 2, no. 11 (Nov. 1928): 3.

92. Ibid. 2, no. 1 (Jan. 1928): 8; ibid., no. 2 (Feb. 1928): 8; Michigan City Evening Dispatch, 13 Feb. 1928; The Pantagraph 3, no. 9 (Sept.1929): 2; ibid., no. 12 (Dec. 1929): 2; ibid. 1, no. 6 (Nov. 1927): 8.

93. Carlson, ed., How the Medal Was Won, 134–35, 142.

94. Ibid., 132, 134; Norman Carlson and Arthur Peterson, eds., Remember When—Trolley Wires Spanned the Country, Central Electric Railfans’ Association Bulletin 119 (Chicago: Central Electric Railfans’ Association, 1980), 35; Roster of Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad Equipment, p. I-22.

95. Hedstrom, “Six Decades Service on the South Shore Line,” 123.

96. Ibid.

97. Ibid., 120.

98. Ibid., 121.

99. Carlson, ed., How the Medal Was Won, 140; “Safety Notes,” The Pantagraph 2, no. 1 (Jan. 1928): 3; “Safety Pays,” The Pantagraph 2, no. 9 (Sept. 1928): 4; “Clemmons Review 1929 Safety Record,” ibid. 4, no. 2 (Feb. 1930): 1; Middleton, South Shore, 58. The estimated numbers of lost work hours were calculated from 430 days in 1929 amounting to a reported 23 percent decrease from 1928 days lost, which would imply 558 days in 1928. The 1928 estimate was used in conjunction with a reported one-third reduction in lost days from the 1927 number, which would imply roughly 833 days of lost work time in 1927. The estimates are supported by actual data for the first six months of 1927 and 1928: 533 days of lost time for January to June 1927, reduced by 28.5 percent to 381 days of lost time during January through June 1928. “Safety Pays,” 4.

100. See Table 2 and note 85 for injury and fatality numbers and rates. See also Kathy Keeney, “Four Letters Feared Most by Short Lines, Regionals,” Modern Railroads 44, no. 24 (Dec. 1989): 14–15.

101. “High Safety Record is Made in October on South Shore Line,” The Pantagraph 3, no. 11 (Nov. 1929): 1; “They Make Riding Smoother,” ibid., no. 12 (Dec. 1929): 3; “Employees Are Urged to Heed Safety Rules,” ibid. 4, no. 1 (Jan. 1930): 7; Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad—Accident and Fire Prevention Rules, December 1, 1929, pp. 13–26, printed booklet in the author’s possession.

102. Aldrich, Safety First, 284–85. A 1939 amendment to the Federal Employers’ Liability Act finally overturned the antiquated notion of assumption of risk. Pub. L. No 76-382, 53 Stat. 1404 (1939), as reported by Daniel Saphire in “FELA and Rail Safety: A Response to Babcock and Oldfather, ‘The Role of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act in Railroad Safety’,” Transportation Law Journal 19 (1991): 403.

103. Middleton, South Shore, 70–72; see Table 2 and note 85 for injury and fatality sources; “Employee Establish New Safety Record,” The Pantagraph 5, no. 12 (Dec. 1931): 2.

104. Petition to Settle Claim for Personal Injuries to Employee, filed 23 May 1934, Bankruptcy Case 972, In the Matter of the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad, Bankruptcy Case Files, 1925–1946, Bankruptcy Records, 1925–1976, USDC/NDI–South Bend Division, RG 21, NARA–GLR.

105. Petition to Settle Claim for Personal Injuries of Employee, filed 8 December 1934, Bankruptcy Case 972, In re: CSS & SB RR, USDC/NDI–South Bend, RG 21, NARA–GLR; Rule 58, Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad—Accident and Fire Prevention Rules, 12; Rule 713, Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad—Rules for the Government of the Operating Department, June 1, 1930, p. 78, printed book in the author’s possession.

106. Petition to Settle Claim for Personal Injuries to Employee.

107. Complaint, filed 26 March 1934, Law Case 655, George R. Burgwald v. Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad, Law Cases, 1912–1938, Law Records, 1912–1938, USDC/NDI–Hammond, RG 21, NARA–GLR; Aldrich, Safety First, 196; Petition to Settle Claim for Personal Injuries of Employee, filed 8 December 1934.

108. Motion to Make Complaint More Definite and Certain, filed 23 April, 1934, and Docket Sheets for Law Case 655, Burgwald v. CSS & SB RR, Law Dockets, 1912–1938, Law Records, 1912–1938, USDC/NDI–Hammond, RG 21, NARA-GLR; Petition to Settle Claim for Personal Injuries of Employee, filed 8 December 1934, and Order, filed 8 December 1934, Bankruptcy Case 972, In re: CSS & SB RR, USDC/NDI–South Bend, RG 21, NARA–GLR; Aldrich, Safety First, 189–90.

109. Petitions and Orders to Settle Claims for Personal Injuries and/or Property Damage, various dates, In re: CSS & SB RR.

110. Ibid.

111. Hedstrom, “Six Decades Service on the South Shore Line,” 48–49.

112. Ibid., 320–21; “Trainmen Celebrate Lodge Anniversary,” The Patagraph, 4, no. 4 (Apr. 1930): 2; Award No. 502, Docket No. CL-489, and Award No. 504, Docket No. CL-491, Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employes and Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railway company, Awards of the Third Division, National Railroad Adjustment Board (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1938), 9, 15.

113. Shannahan v. U.S., 303 U.S. 596.

114. Hedstrom, “Six Decades of Service on the South Shore Line,” 118, 120; Middleton, South Shore, 115.

115. Board Action 5325, In the Matter of the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad, Records of the Raialroad Retirement Board, RG 184, NARA–GLR; Railway Labor Docket No. 8, In the Matter of the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad, 214 I.C.C. 167.

116. In March 1992 the Railroad Retirment Board (RRB) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), in accordance with a legally approved records disposition schedule, destroyed hundreds of bound volumes and boxes of payroll and personnel records that the RRB had collected from abandoned railroads for employment data about railroaders prior to the passage of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937. NARA appraised the records as lacking sufficient historical value to merit preservation and RRB officials approved the judgment. The long list of abandoned railroads that had employee records from the period between 1910 and 1930 in NARA accession 67A638 and 73A187, destroyed in March 1992, includes the names of most of the electric interurban railroads of the United States. Personnel records about the following major midwestern interurban lines were destroyed at that time: Ohio Electric Railway (1917–1923); Indianapolis, Columbus and Eastern Traction Company (1923–1929); Lake Shore Electric Railway (1920–1936); Cincinnati and Lake Erie ( 1922–1936); Chicago, South Bend and Northern Indiana Railway an Southern Michigan Railway (1917–1934); Interstate Public Service (1916–1932); Union Traction Company of Indiana (1917–1931); Indianapolis and Louisville Traction (1917–1922); Louisville and Northern Railway and Lighting Company (1919–1921); Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company (1917–1931); Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railroad (1922–1936); and Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad (1917–1936).