The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-05-27
UNKNOWN MAN KILLED in
NORTHERN PACIFIC WRECK
Ne WAS STEALING A RIDE
Found Lying Beside Track Near De-
rallied cars-Apparently Came
From Basin.

y
From Mondays Daily Gazette.
At Smiths undertaking rooms lies
the dead body of an unknown man
who was killed Saturday afternoon in
q wreck on the Northern Pacific
about a half mile west Of Laurel.
The body was brought to the city on
the Bridger train, which reached the
main line shortly after the accident
and an inquest was held yesterday
Nothing could be learned concerning
the dead mar and none of the train
crew knew where he got on board,
as he was not see by any of them I'M
til after the wreck, when he was
found lying by the side Of the track,
still alive, but in a dying condition.
While the of the accident
was not fully brought out at the in
quest, it. is generally believed by rail
road men that it was due to the sud
den application Of the air, which set
the brakes SO tightly that the wheels
of one or more of the cars were stop
ped, causing the trucks to be pulled
under them and throwing the cars
off the track.
F. M. Landon, the conductor in
charge Of the train, testified that he
was in the caboose at the time Of the
accident. The train stopped sudden
ly and he felt a jar. He went for
ward to see what had happened and
found four of the cars derailed. He
also saw a man lying on the ground
near the south rail. The rear brake
man, Moyse, was standing near the
man and Landon asked him if it vas
Harry, meaning the front brakeman.
Moyse said it was not, but that it was
an unknown. man. Landon examined
him and decided he was dying, having
a hole knocked in his skull and con
siderably bruised otherwise. Landon
left the man lying where he was and
went to the station and asked for in
structions as to the disposition of the
injured man. He was ordered to take
him to Billings.
H. D. Mudgett, the head brakeman,
said he saw the man first after the
cars had left the track and described
the position in which he found him,
which was as Landon saw him. He
said four cars had left the rails, three
hopper cars and a coal car, and sup
posed the man had been riding. in
one of them, although he had not
seen him while the train was in mo-
ton. The man appeared unconscious
and did mot speak. Mudgett assisted
in putting the man on board OF the
Bridger train, which was at 3:25
o'clock. He declared positively that
he had seer no one board the train,
except some passengers, who had
tickets and got on at some of the sta
items.
John Furlong, the engineer, said the
train was running not to exceed ten
miles an hour when the wreck occur
red. The brakes we're on at the time.
He, too, did not see anybody get onto
the train.
]. w. Drake, the conductor of the
Bridger train, said he brought the
man to the city; that the man was
still alive when placed on the train,
but died about five minutes afterward.
Fred Morse, a travelling sheep shear
err, identified the remains as those of
a man whom he saw last Friday in
the Montana saloon and to whom he
having asked him If he was
a shearer. He did not know the mans
name and had no further conversation
with him. except that the man told
him he had been in Idaho and named
some of the places he had visited.
Morse said he had looked at the
body because he thought it might be
hat of a shearer, saying that they
always travelled that way" meaning
without the knowledge of the train
men.
DIR. Rinehart, who examined the
body, said he had found a fracture in
he right side of the skull four inches
ong and another fracture at the low
sr end of the spine. In his opinion the
nan had died from injuries sustained
~ being crushed between heavy
Absolutely nothing was found on
he body that would lead to its identi
ication. It was dressed roughly, af-
the manner of a workingman. In
of tue pockets was a withdrawal
ard from the Western Federation of
issued by the Basin, Mont,
lnion. The name CT the holder had
carefully erased. as were also
H. -~-.l&-chS - e on~l l