The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-11-15
Young Man Evidently Was Run
Over While Walking Across
Trestle Last Night

Late this afternoon it was estab-
lished beyond doubt that the remains
OF the man killed last night or this
morning on the Omaha tracks were
those of Benjamin j. Lien, young
man of this city employed formerly
by the Sanitary Dairy company. AS
nearly as can be learned Mr.. Lien
had been to the home of his parents,
Mr.. and Mrs. John Lien who live in
South Bend. His parents have been
Ill for the past week with influenza
and Ben Lien had been walking out
each evening to do the chores on the
small farm where they reside.
1t is presumed that when he was
returning to Mankato, either late
last night or early this morning Lien
was struck by the train. He was identi
fled by the fact that several tickets
from the Sanitary Dairy were found
in his trouser pocket. Ben J. Lien
was a single man and is survived by
his parents and by four sisters, Mrs.
e. B. Nelson, Mrs. c.. Benson and
Mrs. A. Smith of this city and by a
sister, Mrs. Charles Miner of st. Paul.
Funeral arrangements have not yet
been made.
Mangled, cut and mutilated beyond
all possible recognition the body of
dead stranger was found on the
Omaha tracks this morning in LIE
Hitler near the brickyards. So
lady was the body cut and mangled
that it was utterly impossible to tell
anything whatever about the man.
The largest pieces of the body that
were found was a section of the leg
from the knee down and part of the
body and chest. For fully two blocks
the remains were scattered along the
right way.
Chris. Selinske. who lives near the
brickyards was the first man to dis
cover the tragedy. Mr.. Selinske came
up on the tracks from his home and
was on the way to a neighbors to
husk corn when he noticed an object
lying beside the track. At first he
was of the opinion that a COW had
been struck by the train and that
this was portion of the animals leg.
Upon closer investigation he found to
his horror that the object was a por-
ton of human leg and walking
down the track he found other parts
of the body scattered along.
Mr.. Selinske at once hurried to
Hallman's store in West Mankato and
phoned the police department, ex-
planning the tragedy to them. Off
Ger Olaf Lundberg received the call
and he at once notified Coroner G.. A.
Dahl of the circumstances. DR.. Dahl
in company with Officer Lundberg
drove out to the scene shortly before
eight o'clock this morning. The body
was discovered about seven o'clock.
Mr.. Selinske stated that when he
reached the track another man whom
he did not know had just found other
portions of the body. BY the time
DR.. Dahl and Officer Lundberg ar
rived on the scene the Omaha section
crew and number of people resid-
ing in LIE Hitler were on the scene.
E. p Kelly of the Kelly and Gose-
witch undertaking firm drove out to
the scene shortly Afterwards and
under instructions of Dr. Dahl the re-
mains of the unknown man were
gathered up in rough box and re-
moved to the Kelly and Gosewich
undertaking parlors. Mr. Kelly stated
that he had never seen a corpse as
badly cut and mangled as in this
instance.
To all appearances the man was
struck just as he was crossing the
small trestle which goes over the
road leading to the brickyards. 1t is
thought that Omaha train No. 2, ar
irving in Mankato at GAS a. m. struck
the man. Inquiries at the Omaha
depot failed to disclose any light on
the tragedy. The Free Press was
told that no members of the train
crew made any mention of having