Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-04-04
STRUCK DOWN BY TANK CAR
AT THIRD AVENUE CROSSING
Terribly Manned and Expires Soon At
ter Reaching ospital-BIowins Off
of II at by Wind Probably Responsible
For Accident-Had Just Parted From
Sister at Depot-Enroute to School.


= the public schools, was fatally injured
at about s o'clock this morning when
i she was run down and crushed under
an Iowa Central car while il was being
shunied over the Third avenue eros
sing near the old Central general Of
I fee building.
Miss Ashbrook was hurried in an
! ambulance 10 ST. Thomas hospital,
Where she died at As. She was par
tally conscious both Immediately after
4 the accident and after she reached the
| hospital. How the woman ever lived
an instant after being injured is a
i mystery TO the surgeons who were hur-
ried to take charge Of the case al the
hospital Miss Ashorook's scalp was
! literally torn of, her right leg was
i fearfully crushed from the hip to
point midway between the knee and the
ankle, and both arms We're crushed
! from the elbows to the wrists.
Run Down While Getting Hat
4 The direct cause of the accident TO
! Miss Ashbrook was due to the fact
4 that the wonan's hat had blown off in
= front Of the moving car. and she at
tempted to get ii. Ii may be that
1 partial blindness in one eye, defect
in vision that dates from infancy, made
it Impossible for the woman TO see her
danger in time, and yet &C. c. Wood
i mansee, one OF the eye witnesses 10 me
. accident, is of the opinion that Miss
i As,brook saw the car and had aband-
| oned her effort TO get the hat when she
was struck
4 Miss Ashbrook was on her way TO
her school, and had crossed both the
Northwestern and Iowa Central tracks
q on the east side of the street. After
she had got a few yards past the Cen
d trail track farthesl south the wind
n blew off her hat and il alighted on the
track she had just crossed. She turned
to get it. and, while in the act OF stoop-
ing TO pick it up. the freight car struck
her.
81 Dragged Across the Street.
The car under which the woman's
q body was crushed was loaded Oil
p tank 1t was moving slowly, and the
- woman was rolled and crushed under
= the forward trucks and dragged to
- short distance beyond the opposite side
l. of the street, where the car passed
Il completely over her. The car stopped
= just a few yards west Of where her
body lay.
Central switch engine No. Z, which
had switched the car was not attached
10 the car at the time it struck Miss
u Ashbroow. When she was crossing the
tracks it was pushing ahead OF IL the
oil car and a cinder car. Just as Miss
Ashbrook crossed the track on which
she was killed the Oil car was cut loose
Fl from The car behind it and kicked"
west UP the track, where 1t was desired
to set the car on the track just north
of the yard office. Once the oil car
was started, and altho it was going
| Sln
engineer. Emil Scheduling, or the
sWitchmen Of the crew, TO stop it.
Was Conscious For instant.
Attic terribly crushed and mangled
Miss Ashbrook was conscious when
the first persons reached her where she
T. lay on the ground. She asked for aid
and said someone help me up" Be-
fore her name could be secured and
Fl her address learned she had lapsed into
Il unconsciousness. Later, at st. Thomas
hospital, she partly regained conscious
q ness and requested that her head be
raised, that she might breathe easier.
q Said Gates Were Up.
II 1t is said that when Miss Ashbrook
went over the Northwestern tracks, and
before she came TO the Iowa Central
tracks. that the gates, which guard the
crossing, We're up. BY the time she
reached the point just south of the
tracks, where the wind whisked her hat
off, the gates had either been lowered
n or were being lowered. AS she turned
back 70 get her hat she either went
around the end of the gate or stepped
under it as il was slowly coming down.
r. kindersartner Here Eighteen Years.
Miss Ashbrook was the Oldest kim
, dergartner in the city, and had taught
= in the Arson school continuously for
OH Sba -
petent Kindergarten. and had wide
acquaintance turnout the state in pub
r lie school circles. Miss Ashbrook had
l many friends, and was a woman of
high character. She had been prom
inently identified with the Methodist
church and Sunday school for many
years, ana had charge of the kinder
garten of the primary department.
Minnie Dell Ashbrook was born near
Jamestown, Licking county, Ohio, and
was 40 years old. She came to this
county from Pataskala, o., in 1885, in
company with her mother, Mrs. Sarah
A. Ashbrook, and went to live with
Mrs. Helen A Clark on the Clark farm,
southwest of the city, near Haynes
grove.
Miss Asflbrook began teaching in the
country schools shortly after she came
to the county, and after a few years
spent in this work became teacher in
the State Center schools, where she
taught during the years 1890 and 1891
She became Kindergarten in the Arson
school in the fall of 1892, and has been
assigned to that building ever since.
Miss Asfbrook was the youngest OF
a family of seven children, all of whom
= are dead with the exception of the sis
= ter, Mrs. Clark, who resides at 20.
} West Church, and Q. D. Ashbrook, 9
) brother, who lives with his sister. Mrs
Z Ashbrook died in this city in 1893. Mrs
Clark, who is teaching rural schoo
y near Gilman, was notified Of her sis.
! tiers death by telephone, and reached
J the city this afternoon.
Will Hold inquest.
Coroner E. w. Jay, after talking with
witnesses to the accident, decided thai
an inquest should be held with view
- Of determining. if possible. whether OF