Daily globe., 1878-02-24
CRUSHEDTO DEATH
TERRIBLE ACCIDENT LIST ErEx1yG
How Mat. Donohoe Came to an Untimely
End--The Inquest on the Body--What
was Found on His Person.

How Mat. Donohoe Came to an Untimelv
End--The Inquest on the Body---What
was Found on His Person.
Yesterday evening about 5 o'clock, terri
Die accident happened in the Sixth ward
which terminated fatally to one poor fellow
md was well nigh causing the death of half
! dozen Others. It appears that Mike
OBrien has contract for opening Ohio
street, and on Wednesday he set on gang
Of men cutting away the bluff at the back of
Yeorg's brewery. For three days an old,
gray and partially bald man had hung round,
trying to get job; yesterday he was set to
work wheeling. In the morning the men
fired a blast, and then proceeded to clear
away the debris. At about O'Clock, as some
half dozen of the men We're busily engaged
in the excavation they heard some one call,
''look out, the rock is falling" They rushed
from under the overhanging bluffs, but the
poor old man before referred to, glanced for
moment in bewilderment toward the fear
full avalanche that threatened to crush him.
That moment was fatal, for as he started to
run, a huge sand rock weighing some two
thousand pounds, struck him upon the leg,
hurled MIN to the ground, and rolling over
covered him. Following close upon the
rock, several tons of earth and sand fell in a
the men returned, half scared, to rescue their
comrade. With almost superhuman effort
they raised the ponderous rock, and drew
the victim from under. They sat
him up for moment, but he did not
speak. They then hurriedly conveyed him
to the brewery and laid him in
Mr.. Yeorg's parlor when the men say he in
few moments breathed his last. In a very
short time GLOBE reporter was on the spot.
He found deceased to be man of at least
sixty years, the little hair upon his head
being as white as snow. In examining him
above the ankle and the vertebra of the neck
dislocated: death must have been almost in
stantaneous.
The coroner was notified and at o'clock
he appeared upon the scene of the dreadful
catastrophy, and empaneling jury pro-
ceeded to hold an inquest. The first witness
i
know the name of deceased. 1 have only
known him day or two: he came for
work and to-day was put on: saw him alive
last at about five O'Clock, when he was at
work with me on Ohio street: l heard some
one call .slook out;'' the other men jumped
out and SO did deceased, but big rock
struck him on the knee and knocked him
down: the rock struck him again on the
neck; we got him from under the rock and
carried him to the brewery: he gave few
signs of life as we carried him.
Heinrich Dikamp said: l saw deceased
just whed he tried to run from under the
falling bank: saw lump of sand-rock fall
on him; he was working with a wheelbarrow;
In the morning we had blast and l think
some of the rock was loosened but did not fall
down. | do not think there was any neglect
| on the part of any one. Adam Fritz and
August Ott gave corroborative testimony,
| and Mike Conroy said, l know deceased five
years. His name is Matthias Donohoe. He
lives with Mike Feeney in a shanty between
Rosabell, Wacouta, Fifth and Sixth streets
/ was at the top of the bluff: heard some one
call out ''look out l looked over the edge
of the bluff and saw rock strike Donohoe
behind on the leg. He fell down and the
rock rolled over on him and covered him all
over. We took him from under the rock
and carried him to the brewery.
The coroner was about to search deceased
when Mr.. O'Brien stated that Mike Conroy
had searched him and found $167.62 on
him and handed it over to him, O'Brien:
whereupon the coroner swore Mike
O'Brien, who said l am the contractor
for opening Ohio street. | was not on the
spot when the accident happened but heard
the men call out. l rushed up and found
Donohoe crushed beneath heavy rock We
lifted up the rock and drew the man out It
did not appear as if his neck was broken,
| but his leg was broken. We carried him to
the brewery and sent a man for doctor and
clergyman, but before the man had got far
one of the men told him it was useless going
for the man was dead. Mike Conroy search
ed the pockets of deceased and found
$167.62 and gave it to me.
The money was handed over to the
coroner, who gave O'Brien receipt for the
amount. The jury after few moments de-
liberation brought in verdict of accidental
death.
The reporter made enquiries of several
persons who had known deceased for seven
or eight years, from which he
CLEANED that deceased worked generally
III Ine summer as SectlOn Ednu on
| the Lake Superior road: that he had no
family or relations in St. Paul. but made his
home with Mike Feeney, who came from the
same part of Ireland with deceased. In vis-
| iting the spot where the accident happened,
the reporter found cutting of some twenty
yards into the steep bluff. which at this point
is composed of white sand and a soft sand
rock, very dangerous, from the liability of
IF }oI-o
The rock which crushed poor Donohue was
a very soft sandstone about eighteen inches
thick and from nine to ten feet in diameter.
The body was taken over to Feeneys house.
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