Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1916-09-14
PASSENGER TRAIN
KILLS MADISON BOY

Stanley Baker, aged fourteen years,
was killed by Northwestern train at
the foot of Hamilton street, Madison,
on Saturday afternoon.
O. G. Baker, AS Doty street, waS
one of crowd who gathered on the
| Northwestern tracks at the foot ot
Hamilton street early that afternoon
| to learn the details Of the tragedy
that happened when an inbound pas
senger train hit anu killed young
boy. He heard two small boys talk
ing of the accident. They mentioned
name. Mr.. Baker rushed through
the crowd and knelt over the prostrat~
form.
my God! It's Stanley" he cried.
And it was Stanley Baker, his foar-
teen-year-old son.
The crowd moved away and left the
grief stricken father alone with his
dead
The boy had been fishing. He wa@
returning with the tiny string of pis-
catorial trophies, happy and thinking
of the triumph of the catch. He did
not hear the shrek of the onrushing
passenger train.
In an instant it was upon him and
he lay crushed and bleeding mass
his head and chess bruised and tb@
bones Of his legs snapped like pipe
stems.
The fireman, William Shellenberger,
saw the boy an instant before the ae-
cident occurred. He was walking to-
wards the train with his head down,
according to his story. Instantly tina
brakes were applied, but it was toe
late. The boy was tossed in the air
like feather in the breeze. The en-
gineer, Jacob Luder, Baraboo, and the
fireman, also of BaraboO, went to him
at once. Life was extinct
The witnesses who saw the accident
are Charles O'Neill, 315 S. Henry
street, and William Ferchland, 313 s.
Henry street. Their stories corrobo-
rate that of the fireman.
Fathers Grief Touching
The body was taken to the SchroS-
QS1 AO
o. G. Baker, is travelling salesmaa
and has lived in Madison for the past
two years, coming from Topeka, Kan,
/ The grief of the father was touching.
He could not believe that it was hia
son who had been killed.
tits my boy, my only boy I can't
believe it."
He repeated this sobbed sentence
time and again.
Later, when he had recovered some
what, Mr. Baker said that his son was
very fond of being around railroad
tracks and trains and that it was hts
boyish ambition sometime to be a rail
road man. He said he had often warn
ed him Of the danger, but that the caN-
ton had never dampened the boys
ardor. He was also a great fisherman
and spent much of mis- time at the
bridge near the scene of the accident,
fishing by the hour.
- Fond of His Dog
Mrs. Baker is Frustrated with griee
and could not be seen. The. neighbors,
however; told of the boy.
| He had graduated last June into the
eighth grade of the Doty school He
was a studious boy, much given to
reading He did not play with the
other boys very much, preferring his
own company, and that of his dog,
! Rover" 1t is said that it was a com
mon sight to see him walk along the
street reading a book and with one
arm around his dog. He was rather
sabsent-minded, which may explain his
failure to hear the whistle.
| Judging from the stories of rail
road men and the witnesses, the acoi-
dent was due to the boys failure to
hear the whistle and to see the on-com.
; ing train. No negligence on the part
of the trainmen is evident on the face
of the circumstances.-Mad jour
nal