Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-01-23
SUDDEN And TERRIBLE FATE.
William Trinwith Meets Death in an
Unexpected Manner.
RESULT OF THE INQUEST.

r Point were shocked by the announce
ment that William Trinwith, a young
l man employed at the zinc works. ant
a life long resident of the city. ha(
thrown himself in front of the incom
: ing freight train about three quarter.
) of mile below the depot, and was
struck by the engine and killed. The
. body was taken to the east room OF
the city hall building, and in the after.
noon an inquest was held before justice
Horn, which elected the full particu-
lars of the terrible affair. Eight wit
nesses were examined and gave testi-
mony as follows:
DIR. TALLMAN:-WaS notified this
morning of an accident near the depot.
Went down there and found body of
William Trinwith at the depot. On
examination 1 found a broken skull
and broken neck. Several fingers
and one toe cut off. In my opinion the
cause of his death was the breaking of
his neck, making death instantaneous.
GEO. SYMONDS:-BuSinesS, engineer
on the c. NJ. and st. p. Ry. Was ac-
quainted with VIM. Trinwith. Did
not see him until the fireman told me
that l had run over a man; it was
about 1885 o'clock Il. m. 1t happened
about three-quarters of a mile below
the depot. 1t was outside the depot
grounds. There was no bell rung at
the time. AS soon as l knew we had
run over a man, stopped and backed
up to see what was the matter. l
recognized him as soon as | saw him,
but could not speak his name. l
| found him on the outside of the track;
he was dead; he appeared hurt on his
head, foot and hand; could see him
quite distance ahead; he was walk
| ing towards the train. [ run a freight
train into Mineral FONT daily; blew
no whistle when l saw him ahead of
the train; he got off on the left hand
side of the track and stood off about
five feet clear of the engine, and if he
had stayed there the engine would
have missed him: when he stepped off
from the track the engine was about
80 yards from him; he was looking at
the engine; could not say if his eye
sight and hearing were good.
JOHN Fireman on the
engine that Mr.. Symonds is engineer;
was on the engine this morning that
came to Mineral Point on the freight
train. | first saw HIM about 30 yards
in front of the engine, in the center of
the track; he walked a little way and
then stepped off on the left hand side
of the track coming to Mineral Point;
he stepped of the track about five or
six feet when the engine got within
eight feet of him; he then threw him
self down flat in front of the engine.
think the pilot first struck him. We
were running about eight or ten miles
an hour at the time; it happened about
1870 o'clock; there was no stopping
the engine between the time he threw
himself in front of the engine and be-
fore the engine struck him; went back
as soon as We could; did not know
the man; he was dead when l got to
him; did not do anything to him but
came to the depot; there was no out
siders that l know of who saw it.
FRANK FRANFELDER: - Conductor
on the freight train that came to Min
eral Point this morning. The first l
knew of it was when the brakeman
made rush for the top Of the train,
and | made rush for the rear Of the
train and set the hind brake; saw
something lying in the center of the
track; we backed up just as quick as
we could stop; we had passed about
fifty yards; on getting back | found a
hat in the center of the track; we
backed little further and found the
body of a man; did not know him; he
was dead when we got to him; the
body was on the left side of the track,
coming into Mineral Point. 1t was
about seven feet from the track; it was
a fill of about feet sloping off; could
have got further way if he wanted to.
CHARLES CORsON: - Brakeman on
said train; was riding in the cupola at
the time we struck the man; did not
see the man until we had struck him
and backed up; saw him lying about
seven feet from the track; did not
know him; when the engineer whistled
for brakes, the other brakeman and
myself were beth in the cupOla; he
go: on top of the car and l set the
caboose brakes; we were running
about eight or ten miles an hour at the
time; the man was dead when | got
to him; he was laying on the left side
of the track coming towards Mineral
Point; the ground is a fill Of about two
feet sloping of gradually.
W. 4. WOOD:-Brakeman on freight
train that came to Mineral Point this
morning; did not see the man before
the engine struck him; was sitting on
the left hand side of the cupola; the
other brakeman on the right hand side.
JOS ENGLEs:-Have known Trim
with for about ten years; think his
hearing and eyesight were good; last
saw him about four or five days ago,
and he seemed to be in his right mind
at that time.