Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1912 — Unknown Section Hand Commits Suicide. [ARTICLE]

Unknown Section Hand Commits Suicide.

j Train- No. 6, -the Louisville to Chicago train, which passes Rensselaer at 3:37 p. m..- struck an unknown section hand- about % mije east of McCoysburg Tuesday afternoon while running at a high rate ,of speed and broke almost every bone in his body, killing him instantly, but the body - was not mangled. The train was* stopped iand the body picked up from the weeds beside the track where it had been hurled, and placed in the , baggage car and brought to Rensselaer, where undertaker Wright took charge and Wednesday morning held an inquest over the remain- / * Apparently the man committed I suicide, as he stood on the track and paid no attetnion to the warning shouts of his comrade. In fact ‘ he is said to have turned and faced ( the engine and waited for it to strike him. His comrads had to | warn him to get out of the way of ( otiher trains before this one, and ,they think he deliberately chose this method of ending his life. I All that is known of tne man ds that he was sent down with three others July 24 by a Chicago j labor agency to work on the secjtion. He gave his name as “J. ! Murphy . The other three men .quit the job and left. “Murphy” said he did not know any of the i other men. This man staid and worked, but he apparently had never ( done mjich manual labor. He bunked by himself in a bunk car on the side track, but he brought no I belongings with him and no papers orl anything was found on his body by which he could be identified. , He was perhaps 3(L or 35 years iof age, about 5 ft. 8 inches in height and weighed 150 or 160 pounds; wore no beard but had a head of thick, very dark hair. He , had a tailor-made coat of dark material, and on the inside of one of the pockets was the name of the I makers, “George Fritschner & Co. , Louisville, Ky.,” and the name of the customer, “J. A. Werne, 11-2-,06.’’ I Coroner Wright wrote to the tailors Wednesday to know if they could give any information. But it is likely the coat had been given the man or he had perhaps gotten! it at a second-hand -store. The name Murphy was no dZubt an assumed one, and it is . probable the unfortunate man was a human derelict on the ocean of life, and possibly some fond old mother, somewhere, may still be keeping the candle burning in the window for her wayward boy, who will never return to her in this life. The remains were buried yesterday in Weston cemetery, at 10:30 a. m., in Potter’s field, no more having been learned of his identify than is given above. Later—Coroner Wright received a telegram from Louisville Thursday, saying that Werne was in Pittsburg, care Southern Railroad, and that his letter to the tailoring firm had been forwarded there.