The semi-weekly messenger., 1901-05-24
HORRIBLY MANGLED
T. Z. Brewer, Colored, Fell or Shifting
Engine aud was Instantly Killed Last
Evening-He Met Death from His
Own Negligence.

A horrible accident occurred yester-
day evening about o'clock on the At
lantic Coast Line yards at Sixth street
bridge. F. E. Brewer. colored. fell OF
the bumper OF the tender of a shift
ing engine and was horribly mangied.
His head was completely severed from
his body ten feet east of the bridge
and his body was rolled along twenty
feet further under the wheels and left
between the tracks in an unrecognIz-
able mass opposite the Fore & Foster
door. sash and blind factory.
The engine had backed from the
freight yards and was running to the
Y" to put up the engine OF train No.
40 which had arrived from the north
a few minutes previously. The tender
was in front as the engine went out
not aware that any one was sitting on
the front Of the tender and neither did
his fireman, Dave Best, coIored, or
John Hayes, colored. who works at the
coal chute and was in the cab with
them. The first thing that attracted
their attention was the falling of some
have been a stick of wood and then
the fireman saw mans arm as he
was falling. When the tender almost
1nstantaneously, struck the objects
that fell, engineer Smith shut off steam
and reversed his engine. but it was too
late. The men jumped of the engine
to find the mangled remains OF Brewer
and a tow sack full OF the short blocks
sawed from the ends OF lumber. They
did not recognize the remains but in a
few minutes a hundred or more people
were there and some one identified
them as Brewer.
A Messenger representative was on
the scene few minutes after the ac-
cldent, and a white man. who was An
eyewitness of the horrible occurrence.
appeared to be the only one that knew
exactly how the accident happened. He
said he was standing on the opposite
embarkment when the engine backed
the tender along and that he saw a
colored man sitting on the end of the
tender holding on to a bag fuIl of
something (the blocks). He lost his
hold on the bag and in clutching at
1t he and the bag both fell off right I'm
front Of the tender. As the man fell
he cried out in alarm
DR.. c. ID. Bell. the coroner. was noti-
ned, and after reaching the remains.
ne summoned the following jury OF in
quest: Captain John Barry J. A. KeI-
ly. John Farmer. T. j. Herring. ]. A.
Strauss and E. II. Bowdowin. The en-
gineer, and the colored fireman and
chute hand were summoned to an in
quest to be held at the coroner's office
at p. m. When it became known.
however. that a witness had seen
Brewer fall of the tender. the fury
took recess till $50 O'Clock
this morning at the coroner's
office On North Third street
between Walnut and Red Cross streets
Brewer, the man who was killed. was
recently employed as a mortar mixer.
while the brick sewer was being laid
through the Coast Line yards. The
theory Is that he had picked I'D his bag
of blocks about the Coast Lines new
building and that when the shifting
engine was ready to back up the road.
he got on with his blocks to take them
to his home near the Robert Portner
ment.
Brewer appeared to be a man about
90 years OF age. He has a son Uying
at Manly. Moore county, and a brother
at southern Pines. He got on the end
OF the tender without permission and
his death was due to his own negII-
gence-