Train Hits Hand Car; Man Killed Ben Kunkel Died in Hospital; 4 Other Section Hands Uninjured Waterloo Republican, February 29, 1956 Ben M. Kunkel, 52, a lifelong railroad worker in Fults, was fatally injured yesterday morning when the hand car on which he was riding was struck by a passenger train. The accident happened just north of Fults. Other section workers jumped from the car, but it was reported the train struck before Kunkel cleared himself. He was taken to Valmeyer on the train and then to the Missouri Pacific Hospital in St. Louis. He died shortly after his arrival at the hospital. The uninjured men were Foreman Granville Byers, Emil and LeRoy Hergenroeder, and William Dieckan. Kunkel reportedly seemed to “freeze” and didn’t jump. Both the Cottonbell passenger train and the handcar were northbound. The accident happened about a mile north of Fults. The body will lie in state at the Dashner Funeral Home in Dupo Thursday night and at the Dashner Funeral Home in Renault Friday night. There will be Requiem Mass Saturday morning in Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Renault, the Rev. Leonard Goewert officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Mr. Kunkel was born Oct. 6, 1903, a son of the late Bernhard “Barney” Kunkel and Anna Braun Kunkel, and lived in the Fults vicinity all his life, working with the section crew for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Mr. Kunkel is survived by three sisters, Mrs. Katie Tolentino of Chicago, Mrs. Christine Fauerbaugh of Dupo, and Mrs. Marie Gordon of St. Louis, and nieces and nephews. He was never married. Transcribed by Jean Jung