CLARK NV Archives Obituaries.....[BLEDSOE, Paul L. - 12/14/1923]
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Gerry Perry missgerry@cox.net [12/26/2005]

 LAS VEGAS AGE
12/15/1923

CRUSHED BY WHEELS, BLEDSOE LOSES LIFE

Young Switchman Dies in Los Angeles Hospital 36  hours after Being 
injured Here.

Paul L. Bledsoe, employed as a switchman on the Union Pacific, fell beneath 
the wheels and was terribly injured while at work in the yard here at 2:12 o'clock
Thursday morning.  His cries were heard by other members of the crew with 
whom he was working and the engine quickly brought to a stop.  The youth was 
taken from beneath the car and given emergency treatment.  His left leg was terribly 
mangled and he was otherwise injured.

He was placed aboard Number 7 leaving here at 3:30 a.m. and taken to Los Angeles.  
Friday forenoon, some 32 hours after he was injured, his leg was amputated and his 
death occurred at noon.

The deeased was the son of T. F. Bledsoe, division car foreman, and brother of H. A. 
Bledsoe, wrecking foreman, of this city.  He was 22 years of age and had been employed 
as a switchman only about two weeks.

There is much feeling among railroad employees and the public generally about the system 
in vogue at taking all seriously injured persons to Los Angeles before giving them proper 
attention.  The long ride of nearly 12 hours on a jolting train brings immeasurable suffering
to those who are injured or are seriously ill.  The delays at both ends of the journey bring the 
time to twenty-four hours, approximately, before the patients get the hospital service and 
surgical and medical attendance to which they are entitled, and for which they pay in hospital dues.

It is contended that many lives have been sacrificed during past years by the neglect of the 
railroad company to provide a modern hospital, adequately equipped in this city.  Many instances 
are recounted where patients have died, whom, it is reasonable to believe, would have survived 
had proper attention been provided here.

From the standpoint of the employees, from whose pay checks the money is taken to support the 
hospital service of the road, the situation is almost unbearable.  They feel that they are not getting 
that for which they have paid.

There is no criticism of the service given after a patient is once in the ward of the Union Pacific 
Company in the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.  The fault is found with the suffering 
caused by the long journey, and the fact that such delay lowers the vitality and resisting powers 
of the patient to such an extent that death has an easy prey.

It has been announced that an item has been adopted in the Union Pacific budget for 1924, to 
provide adequate hospital facilities for the employees at Las Vegas.  The same item, we are told, 
has been incorporated in the budget of preceeding years, but no action came of it.

We believe it is a sacred obligation of the Union Pacific Company to carry out the hospital 
program here immediately.  Such is the sentiment not only of the employes but of the public 
generally.  With the new and closer sympathy which now exists between the Company and 
the people of Las Vegas, we hope that the hospital matter will receive prompt attention.