The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1925-11-26
NO BLAME FOR
STLUKA DEATH
Soroner's Jury Finds Boys
Death at Crossing
Was Accident.
BRING EARLY VERDICT
Hear Several Hours of Testi-
mony and Bring Verdict
in Five Minutes.

After spending an entire afternoon
hearing testimony, it took less than
Eve minutes for coroner's jury to
bring in a verdict declaring the death
pf Joseph Stulka, Is, killed at the
Prairie avenue crossing of the North
Shore railroad on Wednesday eve
ming, was an accident. The jury re-
fused to place any blame for the acei-
lent, declaring that Testimony intro
luced at the inquest showed that
here was no negligence on the part
IF the railroad.
The most important testimony was
presented to the jury by oliver Vardy,
the youth who was in the car with
Stulka when it was struck by the
train. He repeated the same story he
gave to officials Immediately after the
accident.
Saw His Pal Thrown To Death.
Vardy told Of leaving the home at
ZIG Norman avenue where ne and
Stluka when twas struck by the
They drove down Norman avenue to
Prairie avenue and on that avenue
they stopped to allow Vardy to drop
a letter in a mail box. The car then
drove on to the approach of the North
Shore crossing. The first that either
of the two youths knew that anything
was wrong, Vardy told the coroner's
jury, was when they felt the gate at
tn crossing crash against the wind
shield of the car. Vardy declared
that he family remembered seeing
two red lights on either side of the
road, and that after they had pushed
on to the tracks they both saw the
headlight of the North Shore train
bearing down on them from the north.
Vardy spoke to his companion.
"Better watch it kid" he told Stluka.
He declared that he knew that Stluka
must have realized the danger both
were in because he attempted to shift
the car into revers and the car was
just about to respond when the crash
came.
Thrown From the Door.
Vardy said he remembered feeling
his companion disappear from his
side, thrown out of the door Of the
car against the stub of the broken
gate post. He himself was thrown to
the floor of the car and carried sever
al 1SGb AL LHS Cs.Lg Uub ne SSCdpeu uH"
injured. The first he saw of his pal
was when he noticed the unconscious
figure lying at the side Of the road.
He rushed over to the boy to feel his
heart, and finding no movement
thought the boy was dead.
Richard Michel, the gateman at the
crossing, testified that the warning
lights We're all clearly visible and the
gates were down at the time OF the
crash. He said that in his belief the
car had crashed through the gates.
Motorman Saw Car On Tracks.
J. ID. Hughes, motorman of the train
due in Kenosha at 6:4S o'clock We'd
nesday evening, told of first seeing
the car as it poked it's nose through
the gate with the front wheels stopped
squarely in the middle of the track on
which he was riding. His first inkling
of danger came when the train was
about 100 feet from the crossing, he
said. He applied the emergency brake
Immediately and stopped his car with
in four hundred feet, he said.
In the opinion of the motorman and
the conductor, 7. ]. Spellman, every
thing that the train crew could have
done was done in an effort to avoid
the accident, but it was beyond their
control, they said.
Never Knew What Struck Him.
In the testimony of DR.. A. ].
Randall, called to the hospital to at
tend the injured youth after he had
been brought there by the police, he
advanced the opinion that in his be-
lief the boy never knew what struck
him. Death was caused through i'm
ternal hemorrhages, brought on by a
fractured skull, broken neck, and
fractured jaws.
Police Sergeant Max Kramer, who
responded with other officers to the
call on the night of the crash, told of
finding the wreckage and of taking the
bo- to the hospital. When the ambu-
lance arrived there was still spark
Of life left, the sergeant said. The
boy died at the hospital fifteen min
utes after the accident.
Other witnesses to the accident
were called and these offered their.
testimony for the jury's consideration
when the accidental verdict was
reached.