The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-05-10
STREET CAR
KILLED AN
OLD SOLDIER
Alexander McCIaferty Struck
Yesterday Afternoon
DIED Is MINUTES LATER
For Five Years He Was In
mate of Masonic Home
MAN WITH A HISTORY
His Father Was Killed in War
of 1912
DIED Is MINUTES LATER
MAN With A HISTORY

Alexander McCIafferty, an old soldier
and an inmate of the Kansas Masonic
Home. was struck by an eastbound To-
peka avenue street car, in charge Of
Douglas and Lawrence avenues at 2:3l
O'Clock yesterday afternoon and died IF
teen minutes later in the emergency room
of the city building. Mr.. McCIanerty was
attempting to cross the track in front Of
the car. He was totally deaf and did not
see the car until it was too late to avoid
il He was standing on the southeast
corner of the street until the car was
near the middle of the block west, whcn
he started almost diagonally across
Douglas avenue toward the Smythe I'M
plement warehouse When almost to the
south rail of the south track he turned
and walked east a few feet and then
stepped across the rail directly in front of
the car. The crowd~was yelling and the
motorneer was ringing his gong which
finally seemed to attract the old mans
attention, and he turned his face slightly
TO the west with the car but two or three
feet away. He put out his hand as if to
ward off the blow, when the car struck
him, knocking him down and the protec-
tor in front of the car rolling him along
q few feet.
The car was moving slowly and under
control. One would suppose from the
actions of the old man that he was trying
TO catch the car and the motorneer was
- a.
stepped directly in front of the car, when
no human power could have stopped 1t
in time to avoid striking him.
The car was stopped within four feet
of the spot where it struck Mr.. McClaf-
ferty. showing that it was moving very
slowly. Seevral persons who witnessed
the accident Immediately rushed TO him
and pulled him from under the car He
was unconscious and gasping. Blood was
flowing from his ears and mouth and at
a glance one would think he was horribly
mangled. His trouser legs were torn and
the right leg cut and covered with blood,
which gave the appearance that the
wheels had passed over them. Several
doctors were on the scene within very
few minutes, but each was satisfied after
very short examination, that the in
jured man was beyond assistance and
they could 90 nothing for him.
1t It not known whether the impact OF
the car killed him or whether it was the
fall TO the hard pavement. Death was
the result of a conclusion of the brain
and a cerebral hemorrhage. His head
was not crushed or badly bruised. y
crowd soon gathered at the corner and
several hundred people viewed the body
as it lay on the pavement waiting for the
police ambulance. When this came the
almost dead man was put on stretcher
and placed in the ambulance and carried
to the city building, where Drs. Hoffman
and Clarke made a thorough examination
but as they were doing so Alexander Nc
Clafferty drew his last breath. He died
two minutes after reaching the city
building.
The physicians found that the bones in
both legs below the knees were broken.
Just above the left knee was a horribly