Victims of Their Own Terror – A Shocking Scene in Chicago

Two victims of their own terror met a fearful death in full view of the hundreds of promenaders in the Lake Front Park, Chicago.  Otto and Herman BERT, aged twelve and fifteen, were the two unfortunates.  They had left the park and were crossing the network of the railway tracks skirting the edge of Lake Michigan when an in-bound passenger train coming at high speed attracted, suddenly, the attention of the lads. Both boys hesitated as to whether they should turn back or continue on their way.  The longer they waited the more undecided, apparently they became.  The engineer, recognizing the boys’ peril, blew his whistle a terrific blast.  This, instead of warning the two brothers, seemed to only add to their fright, and each stood, to all appearances, literally unable to move.  The train struck and killed them instantly.  Herman’s body, smashed to a pulp, ascended high in the air, while Otto’s was ground under the wheels, the head rolling aside as though from a guillotine.  It was some moments before the throng of pleasure-seekers, equally spellbound with the little victims, recovered sufficiently to aid in gathering the remains.

Source: Roanoke Beacon Newspaper (Plymouth, NC), 27 June 1890, pg 1. Available online at digitalnc.org.