, 1888-11-03
THE FIL-kMAN INQUEST.
The Jury Mildly Censures the Rail-
way Company.
The Old Germans Dying Statement
in Evidence.
He Died OVERWHELMINGLY, Blaming
No One.

Alter the interment of the remains of
Antoine Tillman Thursday a coroner's
Jury was e~mpannelled to make a legal in
vestigation of his death and place the
blame for the accident which caused his
demise.
Tillman's version of the affair, reduced
to writing, was offered as his dying state
meut. 1t follows:
Il was on my way home from work,
and when reaching Eddy street crossing
stood on the main track until a freight
train should pass.
while standing there a train coming
into the yards struck me before l was able
to get out of the way, knocking me down.
the wheels of the engine passing over
both feet
Il had a large bundle of building paper
in my arms which prevented my seeing
the approaching engine. The time of
the occurrence was about 1915 p. M, and
the condition of the weather clear"
The statement is signed by Tillman and
attested by three witnesses.
Chas. Wilseck, hospital steward, was
the first witness called. Tillman had told
him the story of the accident substan-
TALLY as given above. Deceased did not
attach blame to any one for the infection
of his injuries. Reaction from the shock
sustained By Tillman was delayed, and he
rap,o;no1 in n yooLapaJ condition ub;ob
made amputation unsafe. Deceased con-
ided to the steward hat he owned and
rented a homestead, but had no other
property of value.
County Physician Marston prescribed
for Tillman during the ~latter's stay at the
hospital. Amputation would, he said.
have resulted in the patient death dur
ing the performance of the operation.
Drs. Marston and Grimes consulted on
| the matter and were of the same opinion
as to amputation.
Conductor John G. Kelly, who was in
charge of the Cheyenne & Northern train,
was the next witness. He was standing
in the baggage car when the Eddy street
crossing was reached and noticed Till
mans body lying beside the track. He
caused the train to slow up and sent a
brakeman back to investigate. The mes
senger soon returned and informed him
that a man had been injured. Kelly re-.
ported the occurrence at the superintend-
ent's Office and sent for the company sur
geon. Witness could not say whether or
not his train struck Tillman.
Arthur Donahue was engineer of the
Cheyenne & Northern train. At the
depot he first learned that there had been
an accident and that TillEnan was the VIC
tim. He saw no one on the track, though
his engine might have struck deceased.
The electric light casts a heavy shadow
over the track near the crossing and
obscures the vision, MIR. Donahue made
a careful examination but could find no
blood either on the pilot or forward wheels
Of his locomotive. The train moved over
the crossing at the rate of four or five
miles per hour and the whistle had been
sounded to warn all off the track.
Henry Rich, Donahue's fireman, cor
roborated the testimony of his engineer.
John Dunn pulled the throttle on the
yard engine which was at first supposed
to have terminated Tillman's career. He
quickly established the innocence of his
charge.
After celebrating for some time the
jury returned the appended verdict:
We, the jury in the above entitled in
quest, do find that the deceased, Antoine
Tillman, came to his death from the eff
fects OF injuries received on Oct. %, 1888,
the consequence of his having been run
over by the cars of the Cheyenne &
Northern branch of the Union Pacific
Railway company, near the Eddy street
crossing in the city of Cheyenne, Wyo.,
and that the accident which caused said
injuries was due to some degree to the
neglect of said company to keep a flag
man at the said crossing, or to provide
some adequate facilities for the safe pas
sage of pedestrians across their tracks at
some suitable point near their depot in
the city of Cheyenne.
w. Richardson, Foreman.
Chas. Phillips,