Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 127, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1915 — Railroad Tragedy at Chalmers Thought to Be Suicide. [ARTICLE]

Railroad Tragedy at Chalmers Thought to Be Suicide.

John Gruel ich, of Lafayette, met a tragic death at Chalmers Thursday night and the evidence of his death very strongly poits to suicide. His mangled body was found lying between the rails, about twenty feet south of the street crossing, after Monon passenger train No. 1, due at Chalmers at 8:30 o’clock had arrived and departed. An investigation by the county coroner showed that the car wheels had completely severed both of the victim’s legs at the hips. There was also a big bruise on his left side, and the left cheek was badly cut and bruised. After the coroner had viewed the remains he gave permission for the body to be removed to the Stephens undertaking establishment, where it was prepared for burial and was shipped to Lafayette. Afterward the coroner examined a number of witnesses and from all that he could learn arrived at. the conclusion that in all probability Gruelich committed suicide by throwing himself under the train. He had been visiting in Chalmers about three weeks. He was about sixty years old and had recently lost his job at Lafayette and is said to have brooded over this a great deal.