Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 231, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1915 — GROUND TO DEATH BY FREIGHT CARS [ARTICLE]

GROUND TO DEATH BY FREIGHT CARS

Crawfordsville Woman la Mangled By Monon Train In Charge of • Lafayette Men. Crawfordsville, Ind., Sept. 28. With her half-brother as one of three witnesses Mrs. May Conrad Sturman, 39 years old, was crushed to death by a cut of Monon freight cars north of the station at 2:45 o’clock yesterday afternoon. As she was almost totally deaf she was not aware of the approaching cars, nor could those who saw her danger ? give her warning. Both of her legs were severed just below the knees and her right arm was crushed off. The hip bones in her right side were mashed. The accident occurred, while extra switch train No. 265 was assembling. Engineer Fred Modge, and Conductor Matthew L. Rae, both of Lafayette, when called before coroner’s inquest held immediately after the body had been removed, testified that they did not see the woman on the track untU she was run down. They also testified that the three cars in the cut stopped within two and one-half car engths after hitting Mrs. Sturman. Two of the cars passed over the body and the cut came to a stop as the front wheels of the third car were upon her. The coroner’s verdict held that the accident was unavoidable.