OBIT: John ROWE, 1899, Altoona, Blair County, PA

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RESULTED IN DEATH.
John Rowe, a Laborer, Receives Injuries of a Fatal Character.
WAS LAYING A LINE OF SEWER PIPE.

__ in a Stooping Position the Sides of the Ditch Caved in and He Was 
Buried Up to the Neck by the Dirt.

DIED AT THE HOSPITAL YESTERDAY

  John Rowe, a laborer employed by plumber H. E. O'Neil, met with 
injuries Saturday morning about 11 o'clock, while laying a line of 
sewer pipe in a ditch on Seventeenth street, near Thirteenth avenue, 
which resulted in his death at the Altoona hospital yesterday afternoon 
at 1.40 o'clock.  Rowe was in a stooping position in the ditch when the 
___ caved in on him, burying him to the neck.  William O'Neil, James 
Mc__ and several others ran to his rescue and worked for almost an hour 
before they succeeded in digging him out.  He was carried into the 
residence of Charles Kephart, at 1302 Seventeenth street.  The 
ambulance was called and the injured man removed to the hospital where 
an examination showed that his ___ had been fractured and that he had 
been injured internally.  He lingered until 1.40 o'clock yesterday, 
when he died in great agony.  Coroner Mc___ after an investigation, 
decided an inquest unnecessary.  The remains were removed to the home 
of his sister, Mrs. Mary Swope, 2004 Ninth avenue.
  Rowe was born in Bedford county and was aged 40 years.  He was 
married and is survived by a step-son, Edward __er of Bellwood, and one 
brother, [Sam]uel, of Maryland, and three sisters, Mrs. Mary Swope, of 
Altoona; Mrs. Susan ___nna?, of Hagerstown; Mrs. Sadie ___ and Mrs. Ida 
Forney, of Columbus, Ohio.  The funeral arrangements will be announced 
later.

Morning Tribune, Monday, October 9, 1899

*Typed from microfilm of a bound newspaper, and the left edge of the 
article disappears into the gutter of a right-hand page.

JOHN ROWE'S DEATH.
A Coroner's Jury Renders a Verdict as to the Cause.

  An inquest was held last evening in the office of Insurance Agent D. 
Edward Butler, 1308 Eleventh avenue, over the remains of John Rowe, the 
unfortunate man who was fatally injured by the caving in of a ditch on 
Seventeenth street, Saturday morning.  Coroner McCartney impaneled the 
following jury: W. T. Howard, J. H. Dowling, D. Edward Butler, E. E. 
Horton, J. V. Taylor and H. L. Johnston.  They heard testimony of 
Plumber H. E. O'Neil, for whom worked and Grocerman Charles Kephart.  
To the latter Rowe stated that no one was to blame for the accident.  
He stated the same thing in relating how the accident occurred to Mr. 
Smith, with whom he boarded.  Messrs. O'Neil and Kephart explained the 
condition of the ground, also that the ditch was not over four and one-
half feet deep where Rowe was working.  Neither considered the work 
dangerous and attributed the accident to a slide of slate.
  The jury rendered the following verdict," John Rowe came to his death 
by a slide of slate in front of 1300 Seventeenth street, at 11 o'clock 
Saturday morning, while the said John Rowe was engaged in digging a 
sewer ditch, and that the occurrence was purely accidental, no blame 
being attached to anyone."
  Funeral services will be conducted at the home of Rowe's sister, Mrs. 
Mary Swope, 2004 Ninth avenue, this afternoon at 12.30 o'clock.  The 
remains will be taken to Bellwood at 2.05 o'clock and interred at that 
place.

Morning Tribune, Tuesday, October 10, 1899