Los Angeles County CA Obituary Project Obituaries.....McWilliams, Edward L. June 1890
**********************************************************
Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/obits/obitsca/obitsca.htm
**********************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Paula Hinkel phinkel@pacbell.net July 6, 2004, 1:56 am

Los Angeles Times June 23, 1890
Los Angeles Times
June 23, 1890
Page 8

Desperate Deed

A cable-car gripman throws himself under a train and is killed.

One of the most deliberate suicides on record in this city is that of Edward L. 
McWilliams, who was crushed ... at 10 o'clock through having thrown himself 
under the wheels of a fast-moving train.

The fatality happened in East Los Angeles at the corner of Hamilton street, on 
the Cross road.  It appears that McWiliams was standing near the track when the 
Pasadena train approached.  Suddenly he threw himself on the rail and the 
revolving wheel of the locomotive struck his head just above the eyes...

The deceased was a resident of East Los Angeles, living at the corner of 
Hawkins and Hellman streets.  He was about thirty years of age, married and the 
father of one four-month-old child.  He had been in the employ of the Pacific 
Cable Railway Company as gripman for the past year and was taking a few days' 
vacation on account of his health.  He had been acting rather strangely for 
several days, though his wife did not infer that there was anything seriously 
the matter with him.  Yesterday morning he asked her to attend church with him, 
but as she did not feel well, she declined.  He then left home and that was the 
last she saw of him alive.  McWilliams had been talking with a man named C. M. 
Rider about taking out a $3,000 life policy, but stated that his wife objected 
to his doing so.  Whether this was in anticipation of his last desperate action 
is not known.  Coroner Meredith held an inquest upon the mangled remains at Orr 
& Sutch's undertaking parlors at 7 o'clock last evening, and the jury, after 
hearing the evidence, returned a verdict of suicide.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/losangeles/obits/gob543mcwillia.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/caobfiles/

File size: 2.4 Kb