This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Martin, Morgan Classification: Death Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Vm.2ADE/1301.11 Message Board Post: Killed By The Cars Mrs. Pauline Martin, an Old Lady Meets Instant Death Struck by Santa Fe Train No. Six at 1:30 While Walking on the Tracks. Wheels Crushed Her Head And Life Was Gone When Trainmen Reached the Body Could Not Hear the Train, Her Head being Wrapped to Protect from cold. Mrs. Pauline Martin, an old lady living in the east part of the city, was run over and instantly killed by Santa Fe train No. 6 at about 11:30 o’clock today. She walking on the track in the vicinity of the Standard Oil tanks, in the east part of the city, and probably did not hear the approach of the train in time to get out of the way. Train No. 6 had left the station but a few moments late and was making ____?___ usual time in the east end of the ____________?__________ woman walking along the tracks and is believed that she was on the outside of the rail a good share of the time before the train reached her. The Engineer pulled the whistle a number of times and the bell was rung to call the woman’s attention to the train but she did not seem to hear the noise until the engine was almost to her, when she made some sort of an attempt to cross over the track instead of stepping away from it. The cow catcher struck her legs and she was thrown partly under the wheels her head being mashed all out of shape and making it impossible to recognize her. She was dead when the train stopped which was as soon as it could be done. The trainmen put the remains on a stretcher and backed up to the station, where the body was taken into the baggage room ! and Coroner Taylor and Undertaker Johnson were notified. The train stayed but a moment and it was impossible to get very much information out of the train crew as No. 6 was behind time and pulled out at once. The remains were taken to Johnson’s undertaking parlors under the orders of Coroner Taylor, who had just arrived. There the pockets were examined and some papers identifying her were in the pockets, and a small bag which she was carrying at the time of her death. The trainmen are in no way to blame for the accident as they had no reason to suspect that the lady would not leave the track before they reached her. There are hundreds of cases every day where people walking on the track refuse to leave it until the train is almost to them. If a train were to stop every time that a person was seen walking on the rails there would be few trains which would make more than ten miles an hour, as the stops would have to be almost continual in the vicinity of the larger towns. It was thought by the trainmen that the lady was hard of hearing but Officer Cross who knew her says this is not the case and that she could hear all right. Mrs. Martin had her head wrapped up on account of the cold weather and this would interfere some what with the hearing, while the wind was making a noise in the telegraph wires overhead. Mrs. Martin was a widow who lived alone in a little house near the home of Mr. Sthrowl in Fourth avenue east. Mrs. Martin’s house was built on lots at the rear of the Sthrowl home and she lived alone there. She had S. F. Hutton to look after a small piece of property which she owned and Mr. Hutton was collecting the rent for her and depositing it in the First National bank. She had a deposit certificate in her pocket, shich was found by the coroner, showing that she had $380 on deposit there. She took care of herself a good share of the time although some of the neighbors looked after her a good bit. Mrs. Martin and her husband came to ___________ __ __________ and lived here for several years, going later to Barber county, where they lined on a ranch. Five years ago they moved back here and about three years ago Mr. martin committed suicide by taking poison. He was mentally irresponsible at the time. Mrs. Martin had lived alone a good share of the _______ since then and was often seen by the neighbors walking to town and back along the tracks of the Santa Fe road. Many people in the eastern part of the city knew her well and she had a good many acquaintances over the city. She was of French parentage and talked that language some times. The little house where she lived was just south of the Stevens lake and may of the visitors at that place had often seen the old lady in the evenings as they had gone out there to bathe. It is thought that Mr. Martin had no relatives in this county excepting a step-daughter, a Mrs. Morgan, who lives in the southeast part of the city. She and the step-daughter had not visited with each other for a long time and did not seem to get along very well together. Coroner Taylor and County Attorney Brown decided that an inquest should be held and the Santa Fe railroad agent, C. A. Walker, thought that it should be done to prove that the company were in no way to blame. It was decided to have the inquest on Thursday afternoon aetasbrdlauinuu Thursday morning at 10 o’clock. The railroad men, who had charge of the train, will have to be brought here at this time and as some of them live in Kansas City, this is the soonest that they can all be gotten together. Hutchinson Daily News Tuesday, February 9, 1904 page – 5 column – 4 (blank areas with lines & ?’s: unable to read or make out what it says in the obit) ---------------------------------------- A Strange Case Eye Witness of Mrs. Martin’s Death Tells of the Accident One of the neighbors adjacent to the place where Mrs. Martin was killed by a Santa Fe train yesterday, says that the lady was walking across lots towards the track when he first saw her. He was attracted by the train’s whistle and saw the train approaching. The woman seemed to get closer to the track all the time and, when the train was almost to her, she stepped on the rails, acting as though she was trying to cross over. The engine struck her on the right side and she was knocked high in the air. The engine struck her head and the wheels did not run over her body as was though yesterday. It seems strange that Mrs. Martin did not see the train as she was going towards it, in an angling way, while it was some distance away. She kept going in this oblique direction until she was struck. It may be that she did not see the train until it was almost to her and she was so frightened that she didn’t know which way she was going. She was killed instantly without a doubt. The inquest will be held in the morning. The jury is already selected and are as follows. E. S. Handy, J. H. Glascock, L. B. Young, A. J. Graves, Gregg Lewis, J. M. Stewart. They were notified today by the sheriff and will be on hand when the case is called. Conductor Barse of Kansas City and a trainman who was with him, have been notified and will be here. engineer Jack Snyder of Newton and his fireman will also be here and several other witnesses have also been notified that their presence will be necessary. Hutchinson Daily News Thursday, February 10, 1904 page – 4 column - 4 ------------------------------------------- Company Not To Blame. Result of the inquest in the Mrs. Martin Case. The jury empanneled by Coroner Taylor this morning, after hearing the evidence in the case, decided that the railroad company and the men in the employ of the Santa Fe road, were in no way to blame for the accident which caused the death of Mrs. Pauline Martin on Tuesday. the evidence showed that the railroad men used all the care possible and that the lady must have caused her own death either through carelessness or because she was wrapped up in her heavy clothing so much that she was not able to see and hear the train. Conductor George H. Barse of Kansas City said that the warning whistle and the immediate application of air was the first that he knew that anything was wrong. The train stopped suddenly and he helped to pick up the body and place it in the baggage car and bring it to the station. Engineer John Snyder of Newton, who has been on this run for fifteen years and an engineer for twenty-five years, told of seeing the lady coming across the tracks and that she was from thirty to fifty feet away when he first saw her. He said he blew the warning whistles and applied the air when he saw her still coming on. He stopped his train within its length or nearly so, but says it was impossible to have stopped in time to have saved the woman form death. She was on the opposite side of the engine from him and he did not see her struck, but he was trying to bring the train to a stop at the time. She was six feet away from the track when he saw her last. Fireman Turner of Newton saw the woman coming when she was thirty or forty feet away from the track and the train was about 200 feet away form her. She was walking fast and, in the last few feet, seemed to run towards the train. He turned his head away just before the train struck her as he did not want to look at such a horrible thing. He says that the last he saw of her was that she seemed to jump to the middle of the track in front of the train. He turned his head at this time. James ____?______ lives along the road near this place and, hearing the engine whistle for the crossing, he looked up from his work and saw its approach. He saw the women across the track at the same time and heard the alarm whistle. She seemed to keep coming on and hurried a little all the time. She was coming in an oblique direction and bent over as she went up the slight incline necessary to get on the tracks. He saw the engine strike her and throw her in the air, the body alighting twelve feet away from the track. the train stopped at one and, backing up, took the body on board. He thought that the trainmen used all the precaution that was possible to save the woman’s life but could find no reason for Mrs. Martin trying to get across the track ahead of the engine. A few other witnesses testified that they had heard the warning whistle and the bell ring and how quick the train was brought to a full stop. Engineer Snyder said he applied the emergency air and the train, which was running at fifteen or twenty miles an hour, made a remarkably quick stop. S. F. Hutton, who has had charge of Mrs. Martin’s business for some time, told about her life her and many other tings of interest to the jury. he said that she was not feeble and that she had fairly good sight and could hear well. Others said that her hearing was all right. Hutchinson Daily News Thursday, February 11, 1904 page – 4 column - 4