The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-15
SACRIFICED HIS LIFE,
Artist Hovenden Killed
in Trying to Save a
Child.
STRUCK BY AN ENGINE.
The Little Girl He Attempts to
STRUCK BY AN ENGINE.
The Little Girl He Attempts to
Rescue Also Meets
Death.
JUMPS A SECOND TOO LATE.
Sad End of a Famous Painter When
at the Zenith Of His
Fame.

NORRISTOWN, Pa. Aug. 14.-Thomas
Hovenden, the famous artist, was instantly
killed by railroad train near here this
evening, and it was in attempting to save
the life of little girl that he lost his own.
The sacrifice of Mr.. Hoyenden's life was
useless, because the child that he at
tempted to save also met her death be-
meath the wheels of the same engine.
The accident occurred at a grade cross
ing on what is known as the Trenton cut
off of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The
Chestnut Hill Trolley Company's tracks
run up to the tracks of the railroad COM
pany at the point where the accident oc-
Cured, but do not cross them. Passengers
of the trolley company are compelled to
leave the car at the railroad tracks and
cross the latter on foot to take car on the
opposite side. Mr.. Hovenden has a sum-
mer residence in Plymouth Township,
this county, and he was returning home
this evening on a trolley-car. When the
car reached its stopping point on the far
side of the railroad track the passengers
alighted as usual and prepared to cross to
the car on the other side.
Besides Mr.. Hovenden among the pas
sengers on the car were Mrs. Clara Peiffer
and her 1o-year-old daughter Bessie. A
fast-freight train was approaching the
crossing as the passengers from the trolley
car alighted. The little girl did not
notice the train, and she ran ahead of her
mother to cross the tracks. The train
bore rapidly down and the engineer blew
his whistle freely when he saw the little
figure standing between the rails. The
child seemed to become confused and
awaited her coming death without attempt
ing - avoid 1t.
NJ. Hovenden rushed forward and
snatched the child up in his arms. Be
fore he could make the leap that would
have saved them both the engine struck
him and hurled him across the track with
terrible force. The engineer stopped his
train and he and the fireman ran to where
Mr.. Hovenden and the little girl were
lying. The man was dead and the child
died as soon as she was raised from the
ground.
Thomas Hovenden was one of the lead
ing artists of America. He was still in the
comparative prime of his intellectual vigor
and artistic skill, being but 54 years of age.
His best known painting, Breaking
Home Ties" has been engraved probably
more than the work of any American
artist and is familiar object on the walls
of thousands OF homes in the United
States. The painting was one of the most
notable of American groups at the World S
Fair. He was born in Dunmanway
County Cork, Ireland, December %,
1910. He received his early art education
in the Cork School of Design; came to
New York in 1863 and studied in the Ma
tional Academy. In 1874 he went to Paris,
where he studied. in the Ecole des .Beaux
Arts under Cabanel and returned to the
United States in 1880. He was elected an
associate of the National Academician in
1882, member of the Society of American
Artists and member of the American
Water-color Society in 1882, member OF
the Philadelphia Society of Artists in 1888
and member of the New York Etching
Club in 1885. His works include "The Two
Lillies," 1874; "a Brittany Woman Spin.
ning'' and pleasant News" 1876; "The
Image Seller" Paris Salon, 1876; Think
ing of Somebody" and "News From the
Conscript, 1877; pride of the Old Folks
and "Loyalist Peasant Soldier of la Ven
dee 1793." 1878; "In Hoe Signo Vinces, +"
1880 published by Goupil & Co., Paris)
"Dat Possum." 1880; Elaine" 1882, and
'Last Moments of John Brown" 1884.