The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1916-03-21
Still Shrouded in Mystery

VI Stfll SHTOuuCu III NyStCiys
r How William w. Gaskill, the col
lie ductor on the Pennsylvania railroa
Of came to his death, is still mystery an
lie will probably remain so. On the 12t
4 of this month Gaskill was found dea
lie on the railroad at Fieldsboro station
1t Coroner Samuel K. Gaskill took chars
It of the body and had jury empanele
is to investigate the case. The followin
composed the jury: George Anderson
l. Thomas J. Barrett, Edward ]. Downs
g John Miller, William H. Hartman
a Harry Earring.
Y The inquest was held in the Border
a town city hall on Friday. 1t opene
s with DIR. Robert E. Sievers as the frs
: witness. He told of being notified G
: the death. He is physician in the EN-
ploy of the railroad company. and in &C
cordance with his duty he viewed tn
t body. He did not make postmorten
examination but made his view super
, ficially. He found cut on the breast
which extended downward to the lef
side, and was such q wound as nigh
have been made with sharp or blunt
instrument. After the body had beer
stripped of its clothing the doctor found
a bruise extending from the fifth rib or
the right side, diagonally down to the
left side. The ribs on the right side were
crushed, and the floating ribs on the left
- IL he
backbone was broken. The doctor said
he expected there would be an inquest
and a postmortem examination of the
body, SO he did not go as thoroughly in
to the matter as he might have done.
In his opinion the injuries were extern
al, aud he would say that death was
caused by heavy objects crushing the
body. The clothing worn by the dead
man was shown the witness, and he was
unable to fiad any cuts that would cor
respond with the apparent cuts on the
body.
Blue prints of the scene of the occur
renee and the position of the body were
identified by the engineers who drew
them.
J. Linderman, operator at the tower
at Fieldsboro, told Of the train stopping
at (. that station. Soon after it
passed the tower Linderman received a
message from Bordentown saying that
conductor Gaslzill was not with his train
asking the tower man TO look and see if
he was anywhere around. Linderman
went down the track towards the station
and saw the body lying on the track.
The head was on the outside Of the rail,
a portion of the body and legs were in
side the rails. The witness stopped only
long enough to get the idea that the
man was dead. This he did by calling
and receiving no response and then he
listened for groans. Not hearing any
he ran back to the tower house and sent
word to Bordentown what he had dis
covered and that brought relief party
to the scene and the body was taken in
charge by the undertaken.
Walter Reynolds, the engineer, said
he YVES signaled to stop at White Hill.
According to his custom when stopping
at station, he looked back but he did
not see anybody on the station platform
nor did he see any passenger get on or
of the train. Reynolds was asked if he
had not said that he believed Gaskill
was murdered, and the witness owned
that he had said he thought the affair
very mysterious and he still held to
that opinion.
DR.. James s. Gilbert testified that he
viewed the body at the request Of the
coroner. As he was not asked to make
a postmortem that was omitted. From
what the doctor saw externally he re-
ported to the coroner that there did not
appear to be anything indicating foul
play. The body had the appearance of
being crushed between two heavy objects
and railroad men had said it was not un-
usual for body to be run over by
slowly moving train and not be severed.
M. Ernest Ireland, brakeman on the
train said that the doors and traps on all
the cars were closed on the river side of
the train after it left Burlington. The
conductor had told him that there were
passengers to get off at Florence and
Fieldsboro and the brakeman gave the
signal to stop at those stations. These
were the signals the engineer said he
answered. After the stop at Fieldsboro
the brakeman saw hand from the rear
platform of the last car signal to go
ahead. The hand was seen through the
glass in the rear door. Ireland could not
ductor as it was cars length from him.
In making up the report OF the conduc-
tor there were not any tickets for Florence
or Fieldsboro and this added to the
mystery and the inquiry why the con-
ductor told the brakeman there we're
passengers for those stations and ordered
him to stop the train at those places.
The baggage master on the train was
a man named Wood. He saw the body
and said the coat was torn open, the
trousers were partially down and Sec
ton of the shirt open. These conditions
might have allowed a stab to have been
made without cutting the garments and
thus explain the absence of marks on
the pieces mentioned.
A passenger by the name Of Shinn
testified that he was in the rear car of
the train with conductor Gaskill. The
latter sat right opposite to Shinn and
was arranging his tickets. As the train
neared White Hill the conductor went
out of the rear door, closing it behind
him. Shinn felt jar soon after the
train started as if some object had been
run over.
After hearing the testimony the. jury
rendered a verdict that the deceased
came to his death on the railroad under
circumstances unknown to them.
Immediately after the death of Gas
kill was made known there were many
rumors that set the community to talk
ing. 1t was well known that the de-
ceased conductor had displayed much
zeal in expressing his views on certain
religious matters and his activity and
attitude on this subject had made him
some enemies and at once stories of foul
play were started, the basis for them
being the attitude mentioned, together
with incidents connected with finding
of the body. If suicide was the cause OF
death the mysterious part of that theory
is that Gaskill should have given tn,
signal to start the train and then Jump