Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-12-02
WILLARD B. BABCOCK
Young Man Killed Early Thanksgiving
Morning, Thursday, Nov. 9th,
1919

Last Thursday forenoon, Nov. 9th,
| 1919, our community was intensely
shocked at the dispatch, which came
| to Wausau, that the body of Willard
i Babcock, son of Mr.. and Mrs. E. w.
Babcock of this city, had been found
on the tracks of the c. & N. w. Ry. Co.
near Manitowish. The young man had
been killed, it is supposed, by being
run over by freight train. His par
ents and d. McNaughton of this city,
were notified of the terrible accident
and the latter at once went to Manito-
wish to take charge of the remains
and bring them to Wausau, which he
did, arriving here on Friday morning
Just the true circumstances of Will
lard Babcocks death will never be
known. On Sunday night, he and his
father went to Ashland on business
and to visit relatives. On Tuesday
night, Willard was left at Powell,
where he had been engaged in work
for the Northwestern Ry. Company
for some time 1t was his intention to
have a few days of deer hunting, and
arrive in Wausau for Thanksgiving,
reminding his parents that in as much
as on the two previous Thanksgiv-
ings he was in the United States
service and could not be with them.
H.,
| this year.
He left the hunting camp early
Wednesday morning, after eating a
| hearty breakfast, and told his COM
| panions that they need not look for
him to return until about four o'clock
/ in the afternoon.
Ironwood, Mich, is about 25 miles
north from the scene of the accident.
| 1t was the home of Mr.. and Mrs. B.
w. Babcock and family for a number
of years, and no doubt deceased was
thoroughly acquainted with the whole
country whereabouts. The following
| is from the
IrOnwOOd Times:
Willard Babcock was accidentally
| killed between Mercer and Mantle
| wish sometime Wednesday night or
| early Thursday morning.
When passenger train No. Ill, from
| Chicago, due here at 6:3S, arrived at
| Mercer Thursday morning (about nine
o'clock, the train being over three
hours late) the engineer, IN going over
| his engine, noticed That there were
pieces of clothing in the machinery and
| on further investigation, blood was
| found on the pilot. Inquiries made
among the trainmen, and the men from
/ the freight, No. 289, which was also
| at Mercer, developed that the engineer
of this freight train had seen some
thing lying beside the track several
miles east of Mercer.
A crew of section men was sent
back to investigate and short dis
| lance west of Manitowish they found
| the body of a man lying beside the
track. The man had evidently been
| struck by passing train and the
body was so badly mangled that iden-
LITIGATION was impossible. The section
men took the body into the station,
and search of the clothing was made,
papers and letters being found which
| identified the man as Willard Babcock.
The young man had been employed
| as time keeper for an extra gang of
| section men at Powell and had evil
| Gently been taking a walk along the
| track when he was struck and killed.
| There is one story to the effect that
he was out hunting, but this cannot
| be verified. The body was taken to
the home of his parents at Wausau
Thursday evening"
From Hurley Miner:
willard Babcock, age % years,
| whose home is at Wausau, was struck
and killed by a Northwestern north
| bound freight train between Mercer
and Manitowish early Thursday morn
ing. 1t is not known just how the &C
| cident occurred Babcock had been
employed as a timekeeper for steel
| gang working near Powell and was in
| Manitowish Tuesday evening. He was
attired in hunting clothes and carried
a gun and it is thought he lost his way
in the woods while hunting and while
| partly in an unconscious condition
from the cold and exposure accidental
| ly stumbled onto the track and laid
there. His body was also hit by the
northbound passenger train, as blood
marks were on one of the sleepers
i
| ing. Coroner Charbonneau went to
| Mercer Thursday and took charge of
the body and it was shipped to Wau-
sau this morning. The young man
was a son of B. W. Babcock, a we'll
known railroad man and conductor
who formerly resided at Ironwood."
Willard Babcock was nearly, if not
fully, six feet tall, strongly built
L N with
usual powers of endurance. It is
hardly possible for such young man
to,become so exhausted within twenty
| four hours, that he would become
unconscious. There might have been
an accidental discharge of his gun,
which wounded and disabled him.
| There has been talk of foul play,
| which is not seriously considered, as
the money which he had on his person,
and his watch though it had been cut
partly to pieces by the wheels of the
train, were still on the body. The
gun which he carried has not been
found up to this date. He might have
tried to get aboard of the moving
train and on account of his tired con-
Gition, fell beneath the wheels. 1t was
a very sad ending to most worthy
| anu hi5Hiy eSteclheu youHS HAL ne
had spent his young manhood in Wau-
sau, attending and graduating from
our public schools, class of 1915. He
was very popular especially with the
young people and favorite with all
who knew him. He was born in Iron
wood, Mich, on the 18th day of June,
1897, and came to Wausau with his
parents to live ten years ago.
He enlisted as an electrician in the
U. S. army in April. 1917, and was
very active abroad and was in the
submarine service for twenty-five
months. He was a member of the
| First PRESBYTERIAN church of this city: