The Oskaloosa herald., 1901-01-24
CORONER'S INQUEST
Wiebe Brouwer's Death Charge
able to His Own Conduct.

The coroner's jury empaneled to in
quire into the manner and means .of
the death of Wiebe Brouwer, the young
man of Pella, who was killed on the
Rock leland railroad in front of the
Rock Island passenger station in this
city Saturday afternoon at 12;40.o'-
clock, held an inquest Tuesday after
noon att o'clock in the Farmers club
room. There were twelve witnesses
examined quite thoroughly and some
facts were deducted that have not
been generally known concerning the.
death of the unfortunate young man.
The investigation was quite thorough
and in the opinion of the jury made
up of Dan Trimpy, j. A. Brown and
Roy Robinson, the death of the young
man was chargeable to his own con-
duct and carelessness.
The witnesses examined were j, j.
Roach, engineer who had charge of
the engine No. 724 that was doing the
switching in the yard at the time the
deceased was run over, j. w. Ayleard
fireman upon the same engine, M. ID.
Burket, of Oskaloosa, J.F.Quinn and
j. w. Harris brakemen on the train,
O. e. Brown conductor, George M.
Snowman and Walter Harkins, of
Fremont, Clarence Vermillion ex-
press messenger of Oskaloosa, Will
McCabe, of this city, baggageman at
the Rock Island station, Oscar Liv-
ingston and ]. Watkins, of this city.
From the evidence of Snowman
and Harkins who were walking east
on the Rock Island right-of-way, it
appears that the deceased climbed on
to the south side of the train as 1t
was switching in the west end of the
yards. The young men were walking
east to the Rock Island station and
az the bell of the engine was ringing
they looked behind them to make
sure of the direction of the engine
and its string of cars. They crossed
to the south side of the main line and
saw man run across the track and
climb upon the side Of one of the
cars and remain there while the train
was in motion. The train remained
in the west end of the yard switching
for few minutes and they had time
to reach the station house before it
backed up east past the depot. They
saw the man that was killed lying at
the side of the track and recognized
the dead man as the man they had
seen board the car at the crossing
block west of the station, or the
Market street crossing.
]. w. Harris, brakeman, testified
that he was on the head car of the
train backing east hangingi on the
north side of the car and giving di-
rections by signal to the engineer and
protecting the end of the train as re-
quired by rules of the road ffNone of
the trainmen knew that a man had
been run over until Will McCabe came
running after the engine as it was GO
ing east and told them that they had
run over man. Harris didScnpt see
any one on his train, but no could not
see the south side OF the string Of
cars. He stated, that he was on the
train while It was backing east. j..
Watkins also testified that the same
fellow run to the south side of Mark
ct street and climbed upon the side
of the car, and he also identified the
dead man as the one he had seen
climb on the car.
Oscar Livingston stated that he had
come east from the Market street
crossing and was on the platform of
the depot little west of the station
building. He saw the manEdrop to
the ground from some place with one
leg inside the rail and the trucks
passed over the limb and cut it of.
The man tried to get up two or three
times and put his handinside the rail
as if to push himself away and the
next wheels caught this hand and
then he seemed to be drawn farther
and farther under the wheels. He
seemed to fall as if from the bumpers
between the cars. 3iLivingston was
shocked and startled and could not
tell what to do. He looked toward
the engine thinking to signal the en-
gineer, but he could not see the cab
on account of the great cloud OF
smoke aud the steam that surrounded
it. He next thought that he should
run around the engine andIpull the
fellow off, but he could not DO this as
the distance was too great. He saw
that he was unable to givei any as
sistance, and not being able to bear
the sight of the man being ground
beneath the wheels turned away from
the sickening and distressing picture.
The examination of the witnesses
lasted until almost O'Clock, and the
verdict of the jury was in accordance
with the above facts.