KENTWOOD, Mich. (WOOD) — Dec. 26, 1903, was a cold and stormy night in Kentwood. Temperatures dipped below zero and the wind whipped. As night fell, so did the snow.
For drivers nowadays, it would be an intimidating trip, but not for the hearty trains on the Pere Marquette Railway. That night, however, was an unfortunate outlier.
Two trains met in a high-speed, head-on collision. The crash killed 21 people, injured another 38 and littered the tracks with baggage, bits of shrapnel and, unfortunately, body parts…