The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1924-07-31
Coroner's Jury Finds That
Death of Harold Grow
Was Accidental.
FUNERAL ON SATURDAY
Seventeen Year Old Boy Killed
When Heavily Loaded Truck
Passes Over His Back.

The inquest into the death Of Har-
old Grow, 17-year-old lad who was kill
ed on Thursday morning When the
right rear wheel of truck which ne
was attempting to board passed over
his back and crushed out his lie, re-
suited in a verdict which absolved the
driver. Paul Fink, from all blame IN
the tragic accident. The inquest was
held Thursday afternoon but a lew
hours after the last spark of life had
beea extinguished in tho breast of the
~, thu son Of Harry Crow, 7oo
Grand avenue.
Testimony of several witnesses was
presented before the coroner's jury IN
vestgating the circumstances under
which the boy met his death, and ali
of these served to bear out the state
.nent made by Fink at the. time of the
accident that he did not see the boy
nor did he learn that he had run over
the boy until after the incident.
Driver Tells His Story.
Paul Fink, whose home is in Sons
ers, related to the coroner's jury the
incidents that Immediately preceded
the fatal accident. He had just COM
pletcd loading 5000 pounds of con-
crete, stone and sand on two and q
half ton Nash truck, and the truck
had gone about 80 feet, he said, when
Chester Madsen, aged 16, who was sit
ting in the cab of the truck with Fink
exclaimed "We're run over something"
The truck was Immediately stopped
and the two turned back to see the
crushed body, of Harold Grow, the son
of the man in whose employee Fink was
working.
'We turned the body over to see how
badly he had been hurt" Fink said,
"and we noticed blood coming out of his
mouth. I thought l still felt his heart
beating. Someone had called the police
ambulance and in another minute they
were lifting him on to a stretcher."
Drove to Police Station.
Fink declared that as soon as the boy
was being rushed to the hospital he
road down to the police station in the
truck to report the incident and to
offer himself to the authorities If there
was any reason for his being held
Fink insisted that he never saw the
boy until after the accident when ques-
toned by District Attorney Morris
Barnett.
Chester Madsen was called to the
stand, and he told the jury how he
thought that the truck, just as it had
started, had run over something. He
declared that he did not see the boy
at any time before the accident, and
that only slight jolt of the truck on
the side on which he was riding at
tracted his attention to what had hap
pened. He believed he heard yell of
some kind at the same time as the jolt
but he wasn't positive, he said.
Eyewitness Describes Accident.
Walter White, a building inspector
employed by the city, was the first eye
witness to be called. He told how he
had seen the boy running along the
street after the truck which had al
ready started forward. He saw him at
tempt to jump on the running board
of the truck while clutching part of the
walls Of the cab. He missed his footing
and hung for q second on the cab and
then fell to the ground just in front
of the rear wheel of the truck which
passed over his back, White said.
DR.. o. W. McCluskey, the physician
who was called to examine the body of
Harold Grow, told of the injuries which
the boy had suffered when the truck
and its load passed over his back. His
entire chest was crushed with his
fifth, sixth and seventh ribs, and the
bones of the thigh fractured, the doc
tor said, The pressure of the broken
ribs on the lungs, be believed, had
punctured them and this in itself would
result in instant death, he said.
Truck Weighed Almost Six Tons.
Harry Hossfress, 902 Pomeroy street,
and Robert Bert, Maplewood avenue,
both employees of the Allen A COM
paay, whose benches look out but
short distance from the scene of the
accident, described to the jury sub
stantialy the same testimony as Wal
ter White.
The full weight of the truck and its
cargo was 900 pounds, the jury was
told, and a fraction of that weight
would have been sufficient to snuff out
the life of a 17-year-old boy, it was
said.
Following the hearing of the evil
dence, the coroner's jury drew up the
following verdict:
Harold Grow came. to his death on
July "a, 1924, from the crushing of his
chest and rupture of both lungs when
loaded auto truck passed over his
body fracturing the spine, four ribs
and other bones and organs Said
truck was driven by one, Paul Fink,
and we find no evidence of neglect or
carelessness on the part of said Fink"
The funeral services of Harold Grow
will be held at the Hansen funeral
home, 418 Park avenue, at four o'clock
Saturday afternoon with interment
following in the family plot in the
Green Ridge cemetery.
"A IL A IN