NEWS: Items from the Morning Tribune, November 10, 1879, Blair County, PA

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Items from the Morning Tribune, Monday, November 10, 1879

REMNANTS OF THE WRECK.
The Debris About Cleared Away - Brakeman Cook Not Dead - An Investigation.

  Almost since the early hour of Friday morning at which the great freight 
wreck occurred at Kittanning Point the employes of the railroad company have 
been busily engaged removing the debris and loading it on cars for the 
purpose of having it disposed of in the customary manner.  The yard here 
yesterday contained several cars loaded with merchandise in various stages 
of demoralization.  Every friend train that passed the point yesterday was 
loaded with people who were curious to visit the scene of the disaster.  At 
10 o'clock yesterday morning immense strides had been made toward bringing 
order out of chaos, and everything except one car that had sustained light 
damage and three that had suffered to such an extent that they will have to 
be destroyed had been brought up from the foot of the hillside.  It was 
expected that the work would be completed some time during the early part of 
last evening.
  J. C. Cook, one of the brakemen who were injured in the wreck, did not die 
from his injuries on the train on which he was sent to his home at Ligonier, 
Westmoreland county, as was reported Friday night.  On the contrary, the 
clerk whose duty it is to make out a report of the affair for the officials 
of the railroad company had intelligence yesterday morning that Cook was 
still alive and there was every probability that he would recover.  The 
remains of brakeman John A. McDowell, which were brought to this city after 
being found about 11 o'clock on Friday night, were prepared for burial by 
Undertaker Tipton and forwarded to his late residence at St. Clair, 
Westmoreland county, on Pacific express Saturday morning.  The back of his 
head had been crushed, one side of his head and face were badly mashed, and 
several bones were broken.
  A Pittsburgh newspaper, speaking of the recent accidents, which included a 
couple at or near stations west of Kittanning Point, says that they "are 
being closely investigated by Superintendent Pitcairn and the officers of 
the road.  The company is not slow awarding premiums for good conduct and 
reliability among the employes, but it is equally prompt in punishing any 
shortcomings.  It is said the regular brakemen on the train wrecked at 
Kittanning Point were tired out and placed two new men on the train as 
substitutes.  Whether or not this statement is true will be demonstrated by 
the investigation now in progress."

FROM HOLLIDAYSBURG.

  Charley Dannals and Jess. Baird had a little knock-down.
  A neat and attractive curbstone sign has in been placed front [sic] Davis' 
drug store.
  Dr. Lindsay, the "blood searcher" man, left on Saturday for Elderton, 
Armstrong county.
  The parlor skating rink at the Opera House is getting to be a popular 
place of amusement.
  The Phoenix Hall and the hose carriage were draped in mourning in respect 
to the memory of L. F. Beamer, deceased, a member of the company.
  D. K. Ramey, the owner of Hickory bottom, is cultivating "Indian turnips."  
For further information inquire of the proprietor of the bottom, who knows 
the value of this new kind of turnip.
  Last week Benjamin Cooper shot twenty-three wild ducks, two rabbits and 
one wild pigeon at the Soapfat dam, and on Friday night Silvey and party 
captured on Reservoir mountain two coons and a skunk.
  The Altoona City Band has generously tendered their services and will give 
an entertainment in the Opera House in this town on the night of Thursday, 
November 20, for the benefit of our "soldier boys" of Company C.

ACCIDENTALLY SHOT WITH A PISTOL.

  At an early hour on Sunday morning George Jacobs, an 11-year-old son of 
Mr. Calvin B. Jacobs, who resides on Walnut street, went to the stable and 
procuring a screw driver went to work screwing at the lock of a small 
single-barrel pistol that had been presented to him by a school companion.  
The pistol was unfortunately charged or loaded with a No. 22 cartridge, and 
while working at the lock it was discharged, the ball penetrating the boy's 
body, immediately over the pit of the stomach.  The wounded boy was carried 
to the house and Drs. Irwin and Roller were called, but from the nature of 
the wound and the suffering of the lad they could give little hope of his 
recovery.

A MAN CUT TO PIECES.
Terrible Accident near Hollidaysburg.  Horrible Occurrence at Huntingdon, 
Pa.

  Four accidents on the rail have occurred since the wreck at Kittanning  by 
which four men have been injured, at least one of them fatally, another 
having both legs cut off.  The one the details of which are the most 
shocking took place just a short distance north of Hollidaysburg early on 
Saturday evening.  A man named William B. Koon, who is said to have been 
intoxicated (for the first time in four years) started to walk along the 
railroad track - notwithstanding he had been warned not to do so - to his 
home at Duncansville.  When near Gaysport he seems to have been overcome by 
a stupor and from all accounts he lay down on the track, with, as it 
appears, his head resting on one rail.  Conductor Dent's branch train, due 
in this city at 7:10 P.M., ran over the prostrate man, and his head was 
almost entirely severed from his body, beside being crushed nearly beyond 
recognition.  In addition, it is reported that his arms were ground into a 
shapeless mass and his legs cut off.  Every particle of clothing had been 
torn from his body.  The engineer discovered an object lying on the track 
when close upon the man.  He at first took him to be a hog.  The air brakes 
were instantly applied, but it was too late, and the result was as has been 
given.  The train was stopped, and Flagman Cox returned along the track with 
a lantern, when he found what was left of poor Koon, his brains being 
scattered along the rails for some distance.  The remains were subsequently 
gathered up and taken to Hollidaysburg, whence they were removed to 
Duncansville about 11 o'clock the same night.  The funeral took place at 3 
o'clock yesterday afternoon, and was very largely attended.  The remains 
were interred in the Carson valley Dunkard cemetery.  Mr. Koon was a married 
man and the father of three children.  He was employed in the nail factory 
of B. M. Johnston & co. at Hollidaysburg as a nail cutter.  His brother, 
Theodore Koon, who is a tailor in the employ of Mr. Jacob Snyder, of this 
city, departed for Hollidaysburg on Saturday night as soon as the 
intelligence of his brother's killing was conveyed to him.
  At Huntingdon on Saturday evening about 7 o'clock a man named William 
Port, who belongs at Warrior's ridge, Huntingdon county, was walking on the 
railroad track and when an east bound freight train passed by he attempted 
to board it.  He was in an intoxicated condition and his calculations 
miscarried.  As a consequence he fell beneath the wheels and his right leg 
was crushed below the knee and the toes of his left foot mashed.  Port was 
conveyed to the "dead house," where the company's physician attended him.  
One account of the accident states that the leg was amputated three inches 
below the knee, but the Tribune's Huntingdon correspondent makes no mention 
of this.  On Saturday afternoon he was taken to his home.  He is the support 
of a wife and four children, and it is believed that he may recover.
  Some time during yesterday morning another accident occurred near 
Huntingdon, by which a man whose name could not be ascertained yesterday was 
knocked down on the track by a west bound freight train and had both of his 
legs cut off.  It is supposed the unfortunate man was deaf, as every warning 
signal known to railroad men was given.  It is said that the man suffered 
such intense agony that he begged piteously of the engineer to kill him to 
end his torture.
  The engine of the Hollidaysburg branch train, a short time previous to 
running over Mr. Koon near Gaysport, struck a man at the depot at Roaring 
Springs [sic].  He was standing on the track with his back turned to the 
locomotive, and he must have been considerably astonished when the iron 
horse caught him and hurled him for some distance to one side.  He was very 
fortunately not injured to any extent.  It is altogether probable that this 
particular individual will be careful where he plants himself in the future.

FROM HUNTINGDON.

  Mr. John Richardson, who fell off the roof of the county almshouse, has 
not yet recovered the use of speech.  Otherwise he is convalescing.
  Some sickness is prevalent in this place.  The prevailing diseases are 
diphtheria, malarial fever and whooping cough.  A child of Alexander Cozzins 
died of whooping cough on Saturday morning.
  Huntingdon is booming in the invention line.  Gary's was to be motor, 
railroad crossing signal, electric light, and finally Henry Hassenphlugh, 
with a carriage which can be run, if invention is not a failure, without 
horses.  Truly we are having an invention boom.

GARY'S RAILROAD CROSSING SIGNAL.

  On Saturday Mr. W. W. Gary had a later invention on his crossing signal in 
operation at Henry & Co.'s store.  The former signal, for reasons best known 
to himself, did not work as it should and he has been devising a new plan by 
which he thinks he can satisfy his friends as to his inventive ability.  
This new signal is nearly like the old one.  It is placed on a tie and the 
end of the lever-like bar runs down under the rail and fits close to the 
rail, so that when a train comes along the flange of the wheel strikes this 
lever; two wires of which are fastened to the lever on the telegraph poles 
to Henry & Co.'s store, where they are attached to an upright post; on the 
top of the post is a box which contains the apparatus for making the bell 
ring; the bell is about the size of a conductor's signal bell and is made to 
ring by the constant tapping of a hammer-like tapper.  The whole thing is 
very simple, and we have no doubt of Mr. Gary's ability to invent a railroad 
crossing signal, if he can't promote the interests of his stockholders, a la 
motor.

CITY AND COUNTRY.
Things Briefly Told.

  On Saturday while at work in the lower shops' planing mill Adam Heisler 
had the fourth finger of his left hand split to the wrist by coming in 
contact with the circular saw.
  A young painter named Kurtz, while engaged at his work on the house of Mr. 
Lingenfelter, at Fifteenth street and Seventh avenue, lost his balance and 
fell to the ground, receiving slight injuries.
  Harry Stevens, the Tipton man mentioned in the Tribune as having been 
charged with assault and battery by a man named Taylor, the trouble growing 
out of the fact that Stevens fenced up a private road, was arrested by 
Special Policeman Donohue on Saturday and taken before the Recorder.  
Stevens gave bail in $500 for his appearance to answer at court.
  The 3 months old daughter of Mr. S. M. Brophy - the "angel child" about 
whom St. Peter took the trouble to write a piece of poetry for the Tribune 
recently - was the victim of a painful accident on Friday evening.  While in 
her mother's arms sitting before the stove Mrs. Brophy's brother attempted 
to move a pot of coffee and placed it against the tea-kettle in such a way 
that when the kettle was shortly after moved the coffee pot fell in the 
fire.  Hot ashes were scattered about when it struck the coals and were 
thrown over the little one's feet.
  Mrs. Mattie Skinner, of Cincinnati, who has been spending a few days with 
her relative, Thomas L. McKiernan, Esq., of this city, took her departure 
yesterday, intending to spend a few days in Harrisburg, Mercersburg, York, 
Philadelphia, Reading, New York city, etc.  Mrs. Skinner is a daughter of 
the late Judge Stevenson and a niece of Hon. Judge Cox, of the Superior 
Court of Cincinnati; also of Hon. James Hart, Senator-elect, of the same 
city.  Mrs. Skinner is highly accomplished and of considerable literary 
attainments.  She promises to send the Tribune a letter or two descriptive 
of her travels.

NEWS FROM THE NEIGHBORS.

  The United States District Court Saturday discharged Brice X. Blair, of 
Huntingdon county, from bankruptcy.
  Messrs. Hoover, Harris & Co., Philipsburg, are enlarging their planing 
mill by an addition 30 by 37 feet for manufacturing telegraph arms and box 
shooks.
  Dr. Sweeny, of New Bloomfield, Perry county, while driving over the first 
railroad crossing near Philipsburg, Centre county, last week, his horse 
frightened at the local freight train.  The step on the engine tank caught 
the buggy and threw the horse and buggy down over the bank.  The doctor 
escaped with only a severe shock and the horse with a few scratches.

Boys Caught Stealing From a Grocery.

  On Saturday evening Charles W. Taylor, the grocer, had more trouble with a 
couple of thieving boys, they being caught in the act of stealing apples.  
The boys' names were "Jack" Miller and ----- Burley.  Mr. Taylor almost 
daily has trouble with boys whose penchant for apples - provided they don't 
have to pay for them - is strong, and he occasionally makes a capture, when 
the lads are confined to the "calaboose" in the store.  So far, however, he 
has declined to prosecute.  Mr. Taylor on this occasion was about leaving 
the store to go to his supper, when he observed the boys lurking around.  
Miller keeping his eyes on the clerks inside while his companion 
appropriated the fruit.  Mr. Taylor pounced upon them suddenly from behind 
and caught Miller.  The other escaped.  He told the boy to leave the 
locality and behave himself.  An impudent reply followed, and then Mr. 
Taylor took the youngster inside until he could notify the officers.  Miller 
afterward told the Chief of Police that Burley store apples while he watched 
the clerks.  Some parties standing by abused Mr. Taylor for his action in 
protecting his property, which was not very creditable to them, in view of 
the fact of Miller's admissions.  Mr. Taylor does not wish to prosecute even 
in this case, unless absolutely necessary, but he has determined to break up 
the thievery about his establishment.