N&W in 1911--More trespassers

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
April 11, 1911

TWO KILLED BY TRAIN IN USUAL WAY
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David Lambert and B. F. Allen Victims of Double Track Accident
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MARRIAGE LICENSE IS BESPATTERED WITH BLOOD
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Allen Had Gone to Welch to Get Permit for Stepdaughter to Wed W. M. Ratliffe and Document Was in Pocket When He Was Killed
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LAMBERT UNCLE OF CLERK IN BLUEFIELD POSTOFFICE
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    David Lambert and B. F. Allen, of Crumpler, were ground to death yesterday morning, about 11:30 o'clock, under the wheels of an extra east bound freight which approached the two men unseen just as they stepped from the west bound track to escape an oncoming west bound train.  The accident occurred near the Welch Ice and Cold Storage plant, and on account of a large crowd being gathered at Welch considerable excitement followed the double killing.
    The commotions of the accident made people start and think, as both were prominent in the section where they lived.  Mr. Lambert two years ago was a candidate for sheriff on the Prohibition ticket and for many years had been prominent in the Norfolk region.  He was the father of Charles Lambert, of Crumpler, postmaster at that place, who is also a general merchant.  His brother, George Lambert, of Roanoke, at one time was considered the wealthiest man in McDowell county, owning enormous tracts of coal land on Northfork and surrounding country, and for years his wealth was estimated at close to a million dollars, much of which was in coal land.  He lost the greater part of it in litigation as a result of titles which were disputed.
    Mr. Lambert had gone to Welch to attend the term of the grand jury, having been called as a witness.  It is said that his testimony was not needed and he was just walking around with his old friend, Mr. Allen.
    Allen went to Welch to secure a marriage license for his step daughter, Miss Delta White, and  W. M. Ratliffe, of Crumpler, who were to have been married shortly after the old man returned home.  The wedding  bells will not ring out this time, for the marriage license was found in the pocket of the dead man bespattered with blood, showing that he had faithfully kept his promise to his seventeen-year-old stepdaughter.
    Mr. Allen leaves a wife and ten children, the youngest of whom is seventeen years old.  Three of the children were by his first wife, while the other ten [sic] are the children of his wife, who was a widow when Mr. Allen married her.  They make their home at Northfork.
    The body of Lambert was cut in two across the middle, while Mr. Allen's remains were badly mutilated, one limb being entirely severed from the trunk.
    The remains were taken in charge of by the railroad and later turned over to Undertaker Luther.  After being prepared for burial they were sent to Northfork from which point they will be taken to Crumpler where the double funeral will be held.  Relatives of the dead man were notified of the double accident and they went to Welch to take charge of the bodies.  David Lambert was an uncle of O. K. Lambert, a clerk in the Bluefield postoffice.
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Gordon Hamilton
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