Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 200, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1915 — GENTLEMAN TRAMP CRUSHED BY TRAIN [ARTICLE]

GENTLEMAN TRAMP CRUSHED BY TRAIN

James Costello Almost Killed in Rensselaer When Aprons of Passenger Train Close.

James Costello, a young man whose home ■ is in Cincinnati and who thought it would be cheaper to steal a ride from Chicago *o his home rather than to buy a ticket, was almost killed in Rensselaer when south bound passenger train No. 35, due here at I:3d at night, pulled into the station. Costello was riding between the mail and express cars and the “aprons” at the end of each coach are opened out when the train is beihg pulled but close up when the train stops. The appearance of the car ends Js much like an accordion. No one saw Costello when the train stopped, but Frank Leek, who was one of the mail clerks on the train, heard an agonized cry just after the train pulled up in front of the station. Investigation resulted in the finding of the man’s prostrate body lying between the main and switch tracks. He was unabel to get up and members of the train crew carried him into the baggage room and Dr. Washburn, the railroad surgeon at this place, was called. He found that the right ilium or upper part of the hip bone was broken and that he had suffered internal injuries. He dressed the injuries, the passenger train being held until he had finished, and then the young man was taken on to Indianapolis to be placed in a, hospital He was hardly in condition for a three hours’ ride on a train and had there been a hospital here it would have been quite proper to have taken him to it.' • The young man was neatly dressed and clean in every way, haying on dean underwear of good quality. He was suffering great pain but was conscious and stated that his parents lived in Cincinnati and asked that they be notified of his injury. (Several other accidents much the same as this one have occurred here, many who are stealing rides getting in between the cars when they are opened and not realizing their danger. Usually the injuries prove fatal.