The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1906-09-14
MAN IS CRUSHED 70 DEATH
FRED GUTSHALL, RAILROAD
FENCEMAN ON M. & o.
FLYING HANDcAR KILLS HIM
A handcar, Struck by Train, is Hurled
Through the Air and Strikes Work
man in the Breast, Horribly MansI.
ing His Body.

man in the Breast, Horribly MansI.
ing His Body.
From Thursdays Dailyt
Fred Gutshall of Blair, a fenceman
for the Chicago, st. Paul, Minneapolis
& Omaha railroad company, was in
stantly killed between Norfolk and
Hoskins shortly before noon.
Mr.. Gutshall was crushed to death
by a handcar which had stood on the
track and, when hit by train, was
hurled off into space. Gutshall,
though running to got away from the
approaching dan yer. was struck by
the flying handcar and death was in.
Simultaneous. He was thrown twenty
feet forward before he fell to the
ground, face down His body was
badly crushed and mangled The re-
mains were brought to Norfolk on the
train that struck the handcar, passen.
ger train No. II, which was running
into Norfolk from Sioux City and was
due here at II o'clock.
Was Warned of DANGER.
Gutshall and several fellow work.
IlItll Ntlt pushing llc HdnutdI plltu
high with fence posts, at point three
miles this side of Hoskins Though
the track is on a long stretch of fiat
ground at this point, so that the work
men must have seen the train for fully
a mile before 1t reached them, they
were unable to get their handcar off
the rails. The car was so heavy that
1,
all but Gutshall-from the spot, fear
ing results of the collision in case the
engine should jam into the handcar.
Gutshall, however, was the last to
aban don the handcar and he was try
ing to lift it off the rails long after his
mates had reached safe ground. They
called to him repeatedly, warning him
of the danger and advising him to run,
but he was slow to respond and did
not leave the car until the train was
close upon him.
Ran In Wrong Direction.
When Gutshall realized that he
could not save the car, he started to
run away, but he ran in the wrong
direction for his safety. Instead of
running back, so that he would be
out of the path of the handcar when
it was struck and sent into space, he
ran forward, so that he would be at
all times ahead of the engine.
The engine struck the handcar and
the car was thrown up into the air and
over into the right-of-way. The huge
missile, lunging forward, shot straight
~ hn ,rf no
turned half way around to see what
was coming, struck him hard in the
breast, below his arms.
The force of the blow sent the
mans body flying for twenty feet
through the air and when he was pick
ed up he was dead. His body was
horribly mutilated.
The remains were brought to the
Norfolk station and were placed in the
baggage room to await an inquest by
the coroner.
In Which County Was It?
1t was not known which county the
accident had occurred in, as it is very
near the corner where Madison, Stan
ton and Wayne counties meet. Late
III Vic ilICl lloou IllC oLlSClo
were still trying to find out which of
the three county coroners to summon
for the inquest.
Gutshall was man of about thirty
five or forty years of age. His brother
is proprietor of the Commercial hotel
at Blair. 1t was not known at the de-
pot here whether or not he leaves a
family.
A man who rode in the engine cab
with Engineer Mat. Dooley, said: "We
could see the men for mile, but sup
posed they would get the car off the
track. When we approached so close
that the train could not be stopped in
time to prevent the bump, we heard
the fellow workmen calling to Gut
shall, and could not understand why
he failed to run"