OBIT: Joseph HUFF, 1880, Braddock, Allegheny County, PA

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MURDER NEAR PITTSBURGH.
One Boy Knocks in the Head of Another with a Coupling Pin.

  PITTSBURGH, Pa., March 16. - This afternoon an affray occurred 
between Thomas Coughlin and Joseph Huff, both aged about fourteen 
years, which resulted in the death of the latter.  As Engineer Levi 
Close was running along east of Turtle Creek he discovered the body of 
a boy lying near the track.  He put on the air brakes, and just as the 
train approached the boy seemed to rouse from his stupor and rolled 
further away from the track.  When the train was stopped, the boy said 
he had been quarreling with a boy named Coughlin, and that the latter 
had hit him with a heavy coupling pin.  No traces of the assailant 
could be found, but the injured boy's cap was found lying between the 
rails, and near by were two coupling pins, the end of one being covered 
with blood and hair.  There was also found a pool of blood, the 
indications being that the boy had fallen inside the rails, but had 
sufficient presence of mind and strength to roll to the place where he 
was found.  He was removed to the baggage car and taken to Braddock, 
where his parents reside.  When near about a mile west of the place 
where Hunter [sic] was found, Engineer Close observed a boy some 
distance ahead, walking along very leisurely toward Braddock.  He 
suspected that he was the assailant, and, pretending not to notice him, 
stopped the train within a few feet of him.  Coughlin, as it proved to 
be, suspected that the train was stopping for him, and he darted into a 
sewer running under the tracks.  Engineer Close jumped from his 
locomotive and capture Coughlin as he emerged from the sewer.  Huff 
fully identified him.
  On arriving at Braddock young Huff was removed from the train and 
taken to the residence of his parents, where medical aid was summoned 
while Coughlin was brought to the city and placed in the station house 
to await the result of Huff's injuries.  An examination of Huff's 
wounds was made, and it was ascertained that he had been struck on the 
right side of the forehead, the blow crushing through the skull.  He 
died this evening from the injuries to his head.  Both boys were very 
bad characters and the terror of the neighborhood.

Morning Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Wednesday, March 17, 1880

CITY AND COUNTRY.
Things Briefly Told.

  Young Thomas Cochran, who was reported as having died from the 
effects of a stroke on the head by a companion, was still alive last 
night.

Morning Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Thursday, March 18, 1880

STATE NOTES.

  John Hough, the boy who was struck over the head with a coupling pin 
a few days ago, near Braddock - during a quarrel with Thomas Cochran 
about a chew of tobacco - died last week.

Morning Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Tuesday, March 30, 1880

Guilty of Murder.

  In the case of Thomas Corcoran, the boy who murdered his companion, 
John Hough, near Turtle Creek, a Pittsburgh jury returned with a 
verdict of murder in the second degree.  It will be remembered that 
Corcoran hit his victim over the head with a coupling pin.  The verdict 
was hardly expected on account of the youth of the prisoner - less than 
fourteen years.  He was remanded to jail for sentence.

Morning Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Monday, April 12, 1880