Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-07-09
FALLS 10 nISDEATH.
mnAxEMAv TCMBLEs FROM Ca
noosE on rErEpssuRc BRIDGE.
DISTANCE OF SEVENTY odd FEET
He Lodges Betweca Two Great Do"'-
dcrs, IL Horribly Mrngied' an"
soon. Brcathcs His L"st--rfeSi"""
bridge Accidents.

xru,.., pennies. n colored brakeman
n, the Richmond and Petersburg i'
,o.a ,os, his balance while riding Oh
freight train over the PetersDurs O'
ves,erday afternoon. and was p'e0'p',
ta,ed 20 the rocks below, o's'"''N
f,,,,v 10 feet. His body was ho'.''s
,oanr,ed. many bones were crusneu
etraws. and with few gasps nc 49,
~. Last ana his sufferings were
ended. - ,rc,eht
,ra,n which leaves Richmond "oou.
o,c,ock In the afternoon. ana at ~
49, ~ his fatal accident was s'ahus"e
-, ,,o roar platform of the caooose' i"'
- hoa nearly crossed the bridge III
fact. the engine and several OF '"e ~.r
,rere on the land, WREN suuue"
q Tho motion made aim lose ms ioV.
,mn o,s ere he was aware what ms
,, GOO must be he had passed
tnyond the light OF life among '"e
dows Of the hereafter IA second
ne fell between the nrst hn ..,ro from
,iliars of the great iron slru0 w., ,rater
she Manchester side ana as VI" Sro,,ght
,n the river is very low Io', VI" Mack.
80. co,,ch Of death was bald anu "'"0"
ened rocks. .,,,,rps
FELL, BETWEEN TWO BoCLpEhs.
The spot where Peoples fen Is o's .'',',ch
two huge boulders. and MS DVus' tho
law there untouched. but paa" a.tod IN
80. L.. 81 hundreds Of people. was it'eu -
Ea1e =. as II he had sought II as
~ 90 safetv. The rocks about tn,s
49,, bowever. were spriDkled WIN n'S
blood. saw what
IA hannened The freight was Drousn,
IN q standstiu. and as many as , 49,,
,save hurried TO the horrible scene NV
.ver the body could not be remover ~
I'm aa PEOPLES was already deah' anu
the hody had to be viewed where ~ i"y
nv the Coroner of Manchester; tneS
could do nothing but regret "na' ~
happened. which they did' ana so' wi" IL
+ro,,hled elances at the terrible speclaclc
,,,son the rocks. his friends hurried away,
md their train moved on. There was
soroa DELAY in the arrival Of the Coroner
.r5 for hours the body lay where u zen,
omen 10 the gaze of many hnhuieus Vi
peopIe. who at that time OF the evening
mass over Free bridge 10 ana lroth hiOn-
,nond Even from the time OF the acci-
den, which was witnessed by seVerai Vi
the shopmen of the Southern IaliWay
round-house many people Vsl'eo '"'
spot.
AN INQUEST NOT NECESSARY.
About G O'Clock the undertakers Wagon
Of ]. IL. Cunningham (colored) OF Man
chester. appeared as far on the rocks a.
possple. and tn remains were foioea Il
q great oil-cloth. placed upon a s'retcnel
horne by four stalwart colored men, am
taken TO the vehicle II was then drive
quickly to the undertakers es'apHsh
ment. al Hull and Fifteenth streets u
await Coroners jury and preparation
for burial Here DIR. John Brodnax view
cd the body and pronounced an inques
unnecessary. as ii was apparent tina
death had resulted from accidental fail
ing The negros head was crushed, on
of the legs broken in many places, whii
Tho truntt was crushed to shapelessness
The ARRANGEMENTS had not been mao
last night but IL Is understood that IN
remains will be taken to Jarraus, III
former home, near Petersburg, for purla
William was about n years of age, an
while his birthplace was at Jarratts an
his relatives live there. his close applica
f,on 10 his work made him frequently sa
that his home was the caboose from TN
platform of which he fell. He had bee
in the employ of the railroad compan
several years.
FORMER BRIDGE ACCIDENTS.
This is not the only fatality in the his
tory OF this bridge. Some twenty year
ago a Manchester man employed as
pudtier az the Tredegar Works wa
knocked from the bridge by an engin
and died the same day from his injuries
There were no underwriters plentiil
then, and so Mr.. Richard Perry Smitl
now. as then, of the police force of Mar
chester secured "a wagon from a groce
and carried the dying man home.
Then, with leap of more than az
cade came to another man OF Manche'
ter a thrilling experience, which II
stoutly questioned whether he would liB
10 reawaken This man was Mr.. Richar
Williams, who can be seen to-day an
who can tell Of falling from this bride
10 the water below and coming out witt
out serious injury Luckily he fell
water as deep nearly as he is tall, an
the muddy fluid was cushion whic
gathered itself under him and let ~
down easy.
At another and later time Mr. Lowr
a brave fireman OF passenger train, r
manned at his post during collision {
the bridge. and was so injured In his ca
that he died from the injuries. IA
fidelity. which robbed him and his fam
of his life, saved the lives of many Peep
OH his train. A monument has bee
erected to his memory In lakewood Gem
terry because he gave his life to SAY
others.