Deaths in the History of North Springfield, Greene County, Missouri >From "History of Greene County, Missouri," St. Louis: Western Historical Company, 1883. ********************************************************************** North Springfield has had its full share of railroad accidents. About the middle of March, 1876, Mr. I. N. Mellinger, a foreman of the A. & P., while coupling cars in the yard here was caught between two cars and instantly killed. August 6, 1877 - Yardmaster James Osborne lost his life while engaged in coupling cars in the yard. Accidentally he caught the heel of his boot in the frog of a switch, and was thrown upon the track, the car wheels passing over his legs and almost severing them from his body. He died about 10 o'clock the same night. The murder of a man known as Capt. Johnson, a few years since, was a mysterious as well as a dreadful affair. The captain had kept a hotel or eating house at Verona and also at Vinita. He came up to North Springfield and was here some days. One morning he was found, with a bullet in his brain and stone dead, lying in a bed in John's lumber office. Some thought it a case of suicide, but circumstances disproved this theory, although the murderer was never suspected. His wife came on and saw the body and cared for it. Addressing the corpse she said: "Ah! you are dead, my darling-dead-dead! But you never, never killed yourself? Did you? I know that too well." ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Miller Penny Harrell ====================================================================