The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-11-12
THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

TIE RAIL VAT ACCIDENT
e In pursuance to adjournment, The coro
: ner's inquest in the case of Gottleib Kohl
2 convened on Friday last and completed thei
/ work The testimony and proceedings a
e the adjournment were as follows:
n JAMES MELTON, sworn: I live in Bright
on, this county. l did not know deceased
At the time of the accident was west of The
: crossing Is or 80 rods. | had wagon, q
load, and span Of horses. | was driving
c the horses. / did not take any notice of de-
+ ceased before the accident. | was looking
l ahead at tn etime the engine struck the
: team. My team was afraid Of the cars.
! heard the whistle of the train, and pulled
, my team up. Deceased seemed to be moving
right along. did not hear the bell ring. /
did not know deceased Can't state which
side of the load DECEASED was on. He was
on load of baled hay. didn't take notice
of the size of the bales. When heard the
whistle | held my team up to walk. |
can tell where deceased was when | heard
the whistle of the cars | was then % or so
rods west of the crossing. | can't tell how
fast the train was running when it passed
the crossing. tt may have been running
pretty fast. It was not running at full
speed. Deceased's team was walking, | be-
lieYe, on the track. | saw no effort on the
part of deceased 20 save himself or his team.
The engine had reached the street before
saw the train at all.
B. f. De DrEMAR, sworn At the time of
this accident was right north of the match
factory on the west side of the railroad. /
| di1p,t Ilo - Of fha linn ~ Yoaahpn
the crossing. I saw it when it came by the
match factory, about half q mile south OF the
depot. The train stopped on Park street,
three blocks north of where the accident oc-
Cured. heard the whistle of the engine
before. 1t was a long whistle, about quar-
ter of a minute. 1t was near the brick
yard. | went up to where the engine stop
ped. I saw wagon lying in the ditch on
the west side of the railroad and hay scat
tered along ON the same side. didn't hear
the bell ring at all. The train was running
fast when I first saw it, / think near thirty |
miles an hour. After it passed me it slack
ed up very quick. I was waiting for the |
train to pass at the crossing, so | could cross |
the track at Wisconsin street. 1t is one |
block from there to Park street. some Is /
rods. The engine was opposite Park street
when it stopped. have been on the rail-
road. There were FIVE cars on this train, l
think, and engine and tender. The wind
was IN the northeast that day, blowing quite
breeze.
D. HARFF, sworn was working on Bain's
building on Prairie avenue at the time of this
accident did not see the accident occur.
Hill said to me that that train was running
like the deuce: did not see the train that
day at all.
Nv. KNIGHT, sworn: At the time of the
accident was working ON Bain's house on
Prairie avenue. can't tell If heard the
train whistle | never saw the train at all.
s. BALDWIN, sworn I reside in the first
house west of O. Fosters, on Pomeroy street,
and the first house south of Prairie avenue.
saw the train come in that day-the IL AZ
train. 1t was nearly opposite my house
then. / thought it was running unusually
fast heard the train whistle at the post
south Of me. did not hear the bell ring. Il
did not see the accident. I went up to the
scene of the accident after it occurred. Il
saw the bales of hay on the west side of the
railroad and north of Prairie avenue. | am
somewhat deaf, and was inside of my house,
and the windows were shut, and the door,
think, was Open looked through the win
dow when saw the train.
FRED. KoHN, sworn helped load the
bales of hay on the wagon. There were 80
bales on the load, and even on top, and two |
tiers of bales. They weighed about l25 lbs.
EACH The deceased was not deaf. Mr..
Smith and my brother helped load the hay. Q
did not see the train at all. Deceased had
driven team four years for Durkee and had
driven over that crossing q good many times.
My father was 65 years old August 18th,
last He never was sick here. He was in
the old country His eye-sight was good,
too. He drove mules for Durkee before he
got this team. One of the horses was high
strung horse. Deceased had drove this team
two or three days before the accident, De-
ceased had lived here for long time, and
knew what time this train came in. De-
ceased was used to driving team in the old
country. He had on a cap that day. Dur
kee told us not to load this team as heavy as
the other. The bales of hay were about IA
inches thick. saw some of the bales, four
or five, about four rods west of the track in
Reeds lot. The fence there is about four
feet high. Some of these bales were, four
rods inside of the lot. The fence is two feet
higher than the railroad track.
W. Z. REED, sworn: know the place of
this accident. | was there half an hour af.
ter il occurred. There was three bales in
the lot west of the track-one so feet from
the fence and one Is feet, and the other $50
feet The fence is FIVE or FIVE and half feet
high there, and is higher than the railroad
track. I didn't go north of the place of ac-
cident at that time. think this lot is 800
feet east and west.
GEO KING, sworn !: / live here and drive
team for Mr.. Kehlor. / saw this train COM
ing, and saw deceased and team and wagon
about three lengths west of trsck. lie was
sitting on the first tier, up against the second
tier, facing north, with one limb up and the
other leg hanging over the edge of the bales.
He was on the north side Of the load. As
his horses got on the track they commenced
to dance and he settled back on them and
they shocked on the track. saw the en-
CINE strike the wagon. Deceased throwed |
himself back on the load | saw the horses |
dancing half length of the wagon from the
track. went with my team after doctor.
was driving south along the railroad track |
when first saw deceased and his team. |
was three blocks north when deceased was
| SIFuCk. uiu uOb uCdA oAO OHAA UAAobAO'
saw the train about II blocks south of Prai-
RE avenue. I think deceased had rein in
each hand when he was struck. He was sit
ting on the lower tier of bales, and think
the tier he leaned against was three or four
inches above his head. did not 60 to the
place of accident. I turned around and
went 10 the depot after Gibbons and took
him to where the cars stopped.
The jury returned the following verdict:
That on the 9th day of October, AID. 1880,
in the city and county of Kenosha, and State
of Wisconsin, the said Gottleib Kohn, while
crossing the track Of the Chicago and North
western Railway Company, upon the street
known as Prairie Avenue, at the hour of
about eleven clock and thirty.fve minutes
A. NJ, with a team and wagon loaded with
hay, he, the said Gottleib Kohn, being then
and there driving said team, was struck by
engine No. IS of said railway company, at
tached to The train No. of said railway
company, said engine and train being then
in motion, and was then and there MORALLY
injured, and that on the 26th day of October,
A. D. 1880, he, the said Gottleib Kohn. died
at said city, county and State, of the afore-
said injury, then and there as aforesaid re-
ceived from the blow of said engine. And SO
the jurors aforesaid. upon their oaths, do say
49, AZ al Ho4t1a;b Kobp IN ho