Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Eaves, Earl 1905 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net January 30, 2019, 6:12 am Belding Banner, 16 Feb 1905, page 1 The Deadly Trestle Claims Victim Number One – Who’ll Be the Next? Earl Eaves, a Popular Belding Young Man Crushed to Death on the Bridge Saturday – The City Shocked. Last Saturday afternoon about one o’clock the city was thrown into deepest gloom by the news that Earl Eaves, one of Belding’s popular young men had been run down by the cars while crossing the trestle bridge over flat river which is used by the Pere Marquette railroad in their traffic in and out of the city and had lost a leg by means of the accident. The particulars as near as we can learn of the accident are as follows: Earl, who has been keeping house in rooms over the Bridge street market had been home to his dinner and was returning to his work in the Ballou Basket Works when he heard the factory whistle blow and realizing that he was a little late, he started to run across the bridge and get to his work as quickly as possible. With his head down watching his feet so as to avoid falling between the ties he was running across the bridge as fast as possible when he ran into and was struck by two shunted freight cars. John Day, who was fishing on the river not far from the bridge, was an eye witness to the tragedy, which he says occurred so quickly that no person could have averted it. When he ran into the cars which were coming toward him he was knocked backwards and with such force that he received a bad fracture of the skull and a broken back as a result of the accident. As he fell, his right leg fell across the track and was cut off at the ankle and badly crushed about four inches below the hip. Although but three or four persons witnessed the accident a number of persons were near at hand and all seemed to know that an accident and a bad one had occurred. A sad feature of the accident is seen in the fact that Mert Eaves, a brother of the deceased, was one of the first to reach the injured man’s side, and assist in carrying him to the office of Doctor Morris. Obe Holmes, who just prior to the accident had seen Earl running to his work, asked Mert if he knew who it was and the body was so badly crushed and bruised that his own brother did not know him. They picked him up and started with him to the doctor’s office and when they reached the Bridge street crossing Earl became conscious to a certain extent and looking up recognized his brother and asked him what had happened, little realizing that he had received injuries that would result in his death. Nearly all of the physicians of the city were with him in a few moments after the accident occurred and did all that lay in their power to save his life but seemingly to no avail. He lingered until four thirty in the afternoon when death claimed him as its victim. Strange to say he retained consciousness up to about five minutes before his death, and told how he happened to start across the track and was able to transact business that was important to the young wife who survives him. Earl was but 19 years and 11 months old at the time of his death, and leaves behind to mourn his untimely end, a bride of less than two months, he having been married to Miss Maude Tompkins, of Tawas City, on December 21. Two sisters and two brothers also survive him, all of whom are crushed by the awful blow that has fallen upon them. The funeral was held at the Baptist church in this city on Tuesday morning at 10 o’clock and at Palo at 2 o’clock and his remains were interred in the family lot at that place. Both services were largely attended, the Ballou Basket Works shutting down at 9 o’clock to allow their employes to attend the funeral of their dead companion. The Maccabee lodge, of which he was a beloved member, attended in a body and many beautiful floral tributes bore silent testimony to the love and esteem in which he was held in the community. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/e/eaves9008gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mifiles/ File size: 4.4 Kb