St. Paul daily globe., 1895-06-02
JOHN SOpp KILLED.
AN INTERURBAN CAR DRAGGED
HIM A BLOCK ON UNIVER-
SITY AVENUE.
MAY HAVE BEEN SUICIDE.
STORIES DIFFER AS TO HOW THE
MAN GOT MIXED UP WITH
THE CAR.
FRACTURE AT BASE OF skull
story Told by Jack Pickett ana
Charley Irwin, Two Eye
Witnesses.

John Sopp lies dead at the city hos
pital He was so badly injured by an
interurban car between and
o'clock last night that he died at 9:25
at the hospital, where he had been
conveyed in the Rondo street patrol
wagon.
Accounts differ as to just how the ac-
cident occurred. Some who witnessed
it say that Sopp deliberately got in
the way of the car, or at least failed
to make any effort to get out OF dam
ger Rondo station officers incline to
the opinion that it was an accident.
One story is that Sopp was dragged
block = from harrington avenue to
Gaultier street-before any one noticed
him.
The motoneer had his attention call
ed to the man by some people on the
sidewalk, but when the car was stop
ped Sopp was fearfully cut and
bruised.
Sopp was a laborer, thirty-five years
of age, and unmarried. He lived with
his mother, who is a widow, at 528
Kent street, and has lately been en-
ployed by the city
DR.. Ancker said last night that a
fracture at the base of the skull was
the immediate cause of death. There
were numerous other injuries, but they
would not necessarily have caused
death.
STORY BY EYE WITNESSES.
Second Baseman John Pickett and
Shortstop Charlie Irwin, of the st.
Paul base ball team, were in the car
at the time and witnessed the acci-
dent, which they describe as horrible in
the extreme. Pickett's account of it
was very graphic, as given to the
Glob e, and he was evidently fully
impressed with the horror of the oc
currence.
1.-The man was walking along with
his hands behind his back and his
head bent forward when | first saw
him." said Pickett, land apparently he
was thinking and not regarding the
approach of the car. The motorman
rang the bell wildly, but the man
paid no heed. We all jumped to our
feet and my wife threw her hands
over her face to shut out the sight.
The man had just put his right foot
on the rail, his head bent over the
track, when the car struck him. In
an instant he was caught and dragged.
His body bounded up and down as If
made of rubber. and we could dis
tinctly feel the bobbing motion of the
car. The motorman was overcome
with the horror of the occurrence, and
as the car Stacked up he threw his
hands before his face and trembled
like a leaf 1 should judge the man.
1,oo I'm haI
block before the car could be stopped.
The car was going at good rate of
speed, which, however, was not un-
usual l do not attach any blame
to the motorman. He did everything
he could. He gave the man ample
warning, and unless the man was deaf
he could have easily avoided the ac-
cident. His two companions were on
the other side of the track and they
shouted and called to him, but ap-
parently he did not hear them, for he
kept steadily on towards the track,
and was struck as | have already re-
lated. I never felt SO sorry for any
one as 1 did for the motorman. He
was scared and Mortified in the ex-
treme. 1 was so overcome that / took
my wife and hurriedly left the car"
Mr.. Irwins story was substantially
the same as Pickett's. He thought
the man must have been hard of hear
ing and occupied with his thoughts.
Capt. NJ. c. wilkinson, u. s. A.
The Clio is to be congratulated.
The absorption cannot result otherwise
than in adding subscribers and in
fuence TO a paper that has already
established itself in the frcGt rank.