The Johnstown, PA “Tribune” issue of 5 April 1890:
RESSLER -- At Baker’s Furnace, Indiana County, on Friday night, April 4, 1890, David
Ressler, aged about 50 years. Funeral to-morrow morning at 10 o’clock; interment at
Baker’s Furnace.
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The Johnstown, PA “Tribune” issue of 15 October 1892:
TWO SISTERS MEET DEATH
STRUCK BY A TRAIN AT CONEMAUGH FURNACE.
Before the Eyes of Their Mother and Brother and Many Other People They Are Run
Down by Western Express and Instantly Killed
One of those appalling accidents which stop men’s hearts for the moment and then set them wildly beating, happened at the railroad crossing at Conemaugh Furnace, about nine miles west of Johnstown, at half-past 8 o’clock this morning.
At that hour, Mrs. Sarah Resler, whose home is near Baker’s Furnace; her daughters
Sarah and Ida, aged nineteen and eight years respectively, and her grown-up son, Daniel, together with a number of other people, were waiting on the platform at the Conemaugh
Furnace Station for the Harrisburg Accommodation, all being bound for this city. It was a merry little throng of country people, and in the bright October morning, starting out for a day of shopping or pleasure, they were as happy as happy could be.
The train was fifteen minutes late, but the minutes passed swiftly, and by and by it came in sight. Then there was a hurrying among the crowd, a gathering of baskets and bundles, and all were ready.
The Resler girls and their mother had in their arms packaging containing rolls of rags, which they intended bringing to a factory in Johnstown to have woven into carpet for the floors of their thrifty little mountain home, and, thus weighted, the two girls were easy victims for the veritable “engine of death” which even then was rushing down upon them.
The Accommodation pulled up at the platform, on the track farthest away, and all of the waiting people made a rush for the train. Then it was that the Western Express, an hour and a half late and unexpected, swift as the wind and cruel as any juggernaut, dashed by on the track between the platform and the other train, and sooner than it can be told there were two mangled corpses lying by the roadside, and where but a moment before all was joy, there was now frantic sorrow and moaning.
Sarah Resler and her helpless little sister, happy, laughing girls, were struck by the ponderous engine and dragged under the lightning train even as eager, willing hands were stretched to catch their flying skirts and drag them to safety. A dozen lives for a moment trembled in the balance, and it is the belief of an eye-witness that but for the presence of

mind and bravery of a brake-man on the Accommodation many of the horror-stricken group would have followed the two young girls under the grinding wheels.
The bodies of both girls were thrown under the standing train, whence they were removed to the platform. It was found that one of Sarah’s legs had been torn off and that she was otherwise terribly cut and bruised, and that Ida’s skull was crushed and the brains were oozing from horrible wounds in either temple.
The Express train overcame its terrific speed and stopped within a distance of perhaps twice its own length and backed up to the scene of the double tragedy, and, after the conductor had taken note of the occurrence, it proceeded on its way.
At the tower one mile below Nineveh the train stopped again, and the conductor telegraphed the news of the accident to R. Pitcairn, Superintendent of the Western
Division, at Pittsburgh, and at 9:22 the following message was received by Mr. John
Henderson, undertaker, of this city:
A lady and little girl killed this morning at Conemaugh Furnace. Go down as soon as possible and prepare the remains for burial.
[Signed] R. Pitcairn.
Mr. Henderson accordingly went down on Pacific Express, at 9:33, to make arrangements for the proper disposition of the bodies, and returned on the 3:56 train this afternoon.
Two coffins of the proper size were to be sent down on the Way Passenger, and the bodies then removed from the station to the stricken home.
Mr. Joseph Cramer, of Cramer Post-office, Indiana County, in one of those houses at
Baker Post-office the Resler family live, was with his wife, among the party waiting at the Furnace Station for the Accommodation, and he describes the accident as most horrifying. He says that the brakeman before referred to gave him the warning which waved the lives of himself and wife by the breadth of a hair. There is a sharp curve just above the Furnace station. Mr. Cramer did not hear the train whistle, but says the hurry and excitement were so great that he might not have noticed it.
Mrs. Resler is the widow of David Resler, a veteran soldier, who died about one year ago.
She had three children; now she has but one -- the son already spoken of. She is in receipt of a pension, and, after her husband’s death, her youngest daughter was also placed on the Government rolls, and with the money thus obtained, the widow had bought a little home of her own, into which she expected to move within a few weeks, and it was to help furnish this that she and her eldest daughter sewed the rags for the carpet, for the making of which they took the fatal trip, so bright at the start, so terrible at the ending.
Mrs. Resler is a daughter of the late Daniel Stutzman, and is a sister of Mrs. John E.
Strayer, of Johnstown. In the overwhelming sorrow of this moment, which must stretch into all the days and years of her lonely life, she will have the sympathy, not only of her

friends and neighbors, but of all who read this sketch -- of thousands who do not know her.
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The Johnstown, PA “Tribune” issue of 12 September 1929:
MRS. RESSLER, 81, CALLED BY DEATH
Mother of Johnstown Man Succumbs at Kimmelton; Burial Saturday at Cramer
Special to The Tribune.
KIMMELTON, Sept. 12. -- Mrs. Sarah (Miller) Ressler, aged 81 years, died yestserday of a complication of diseases at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Annie Bowers. She had been bedfast for the past two weeks.
Mrs. Ressler’s husband passed away 36 years ago. She is survived by the following children: Mrs. Annie Bowers, mentioned above; Mrs. Mollie Gochnour, of Mineral Point, and John Ressler, of Beatrice avenue, Johnstown. Three children, George, Ellen and Elda, preceded Mrs. Ressler to the grave. She also leaves a brother, Samuel Miller, of Strayer street, Johnstown; 24 grand-children and 45 great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clock Saturday afternoon at Cramer, Indiana County.
Burial will be in the church cemetery.
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The Johnstown, PA “Tribune” issue of 27 June 1938:
Mrs. Jemima Ressler.
SEWARD, June 27 -- Mrs. Jemima (Detweiler) Ressler, 84, one of the oldest and bestknown residents of East Wheatfield Township, Indiana County, died at her home in
Cramer at 11 o’clock Saturday night. Funeral services will be held at the Ressler home tomorrow afternoon at 2 o’clock. Interment will be in Armagh Cemetery, directed by
H.C. Clarke, Seward mortician.
Mrs. Ressler had been ill only a few days of bronchial pneumonia. Born in Indiana
County on March 23, 1854, she was a resident of the Cramer vicinity all her married life.
Her husband, Henry Ressler, died many years ago. Surviving are these children: Mrs. Eva
Nagle, William and Lowry Ressler, all of Cramer, and Mrs. Irene Decker of D Street,
Morrellville. Mrs. Ressler was a sister of Weston Detwiler of Strongstown and Elmer
Detweiler of Cramer. She leaves 52 grandchildren; 57 great-grandchildren and two greatgreat-grandchildren.
[Note: Mrs. Ressler’s maiden name was spelled both “Detweiler” and “Detwiler” in the obituary-ed.]
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The Johnstown, PA “Tribune” issue of 16 September 1946:

Mrs. Margaret Ressler
VINTONDALE -- Mrs. Margaret (Smith) Ressler, 78, of Vintondale R.D. died at 5 a.m. today at Memorial Hospital, Johnstown. She was born Jan. 22, 1868, in Johnstown, a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Bowser) Smith.
The following children survive: Mrs. Daisy Mae Rager, Starford; Mrs. Sara Louise Brett,
Johnstown; Lawrence Ressler, Dixonville; Earl Ressler, Vintondale R.D.; William
Ressler, 210 Horner St., Johnstown; James Ressler, Conemaugh R.D.; Harry Ressler,
Vintondale R.D., and Frank Ressler, 29 Spruce St., Conemaugh. Also surviving are the following brothers and sisters: John Smith, Johnstown; Martin Smith, Mineral Point
R.D.; Mrs. Mary Noll, Glenshaw, and Mrs. Jesse Stager, Hillsdale.
Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clock Wednesday afternoon at the Clarke Funeral
Home, Seward. Burial will be in the Armagh Cemetery.
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The Johnstown, PA “Tribune” issue of 21 January 1938:
CRAMER RESIDENT CLAIMED BY DEATH
Mrs. Jennie Ressler, 79, Was Mother of Local Contractor
SEWARD, Jan. 21 -- Mrs. Jennie Ressler, 79, died at the home of her son, Martin
Ressler, in Cramer about 6 o’clock this morning. She was the widow of Elias Ressler, sr., who has been dead many years.
Surviving Mrs. Ressler are the following children: Mrs. George Plowman and Mrs.
Joseph Plowman, both of Vintondale R.D.; Mrs. Mont Ling also of Vintondale R.D.;
Charles Ressler, well-known Johnstown contractor, 280 Fairfield Avenue; Ed Ressler,
301 Fairfield Avenue, Johnstown; Harry Ressler, Seward, and Martin Ressler, Cramer.
Mrs. Ressler was a sister of Elmer Detweiler and Weston Detweiler, both of Strongstown, and of Mrs. Jemima Ressler of Cramer. Twenty-three grandchildren survive.
H.C. Clarke, Seward mortician, prepared the body for burial. Funeral arrangements are incomplete. The Ressler families were early settlers in East Wheatfield Township,
Indiana County.