OBIT: Joseph L. COGLEY, 1889, formerly of Lancaster County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by JRB Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lancaster/ _________________________________________ KILLED AT TRENTON. Joseph L. Cogley the Victim of a Railroad Accident. The Well-Known Printer Jumps From a Moving Train and is Struck by a Locomotive - Death Ensues on Tuesday - A Sketch of His Life. The sorrowful intelligence was received in this city on Tuesday afternoon, between four and five o'clock, of the death in Trenton, New Jersey, of Joseph L. Cogley, the well-known printer. Mr. Cogley was the victim of a terrible railroad accident. A letter was received by Joseph M. Cogley, father of deceased, on Tuesday, which stated that his son had met with an accident and giving the following details: On Saturday night Mr. Cogley went to Philadelphia, where his wife was visiting. On the return to Trenton, which is supposed to have been on Sunday night, Mr. Cogley fell asleep in the car. He was not awakened when the train stopped at Trenton, and when the train started and was well under way he was aroused. He ran to the platform and jumped from the moving train in the darkness. A passenger train from New York came along and struck Mr. Cogley. He received fatal injuries. The letter did not give the exact time the accident occurred, and it may have happened on Monday night. Sketch of Deceased. Joseph L. Cogley was a son of Joseph M. Cogley, the veteran printer, who lives at No. 43 West German street. He was in the 37th year of his age. He learned the trade of printing at the old Express office. He was employed at various offices on the completion of his apprenticeship and for four or five years was a faithful workman in the Examiner job room. More than two years ago he removed to Trenton, where he secured employment in the Trenton watch factory. His wife established a boarding house in Trenton. Mr. Cogley was here on Christmas and returned to Trenton on Thursday afternoon. Deceased was a jovial, great good-natured man, and had a wide circle of friends. Everybody knew Joe Cogley, or "Little Joe," as he was familiarly called, and all will remember his ready wit, his fund of funny stories, his powers of mimicry and his comical grimaces. Deceased was a companionable man, and many friends here will mourn his death. Deceased was one of the charter members of the old City Band. He was a skilled drummer, and quite a musician in other respects. The body will be brought here to-morrow, and the funeral will take place on Friday, from the residence of his father. A wife and two daughters survive. The Lancaster Daily Examiner, Wednesday, January 1, 1890 DIED. COGLEY. December 31, 1889, in Trenton, New Jersey, Joseph L., son of Joseph M. and Sarah A. Cogley, aged 37 years. The relatives and friends, the Iroquois Band, the printers and watch makers are respectfully invited to attend the funeral, from the residence of his parents, on Friday, January 3, 1890, at 2 o'clock, P.M. The Lancaster Daily Examiner, Thursday, January 2, 1890 THE LAST RITES. Funeral of Joseph L. Cogley, the Popular Printer and Musician. The funeral of Joseph L. Cogley, the popular printer and musician, the particulars of whose tragic death have been given in the Examiner, took place at 2 o'clock this afternoon and was very largely attended. The Iroquois band attended and the interment was made at Lancaster cemetery, Rev. C. Elvin Haupt officiating. The pall bearers were W. Phillips, H. Hall, C. Zook, W. McEvoy and Anthony Kuhns, all of Trenton, N.J. The Accepted Theory of His Death. It seems passing strange that there should not have been an inquest on the body, and in the absence of such official inquiry nothing but theories exist as to the circumstances of Mr. Cogley's terrible death. Accompanying the body to this city were Messrs. Edward James John McGuire and Anthony Kuhn, a committee from the Trenton Watch Factory, where the deceased was employed, and Mr. James gives what is probably the true theory of his death. He says he was with the deceased on Saturday evening last when a dispatch was received from his (Mr. Cogley's) wife, asking him to come to Philadelphia, where she was visiting a sister. The deceased started for Philadelphia that evening, and on Sunday evening started back to Trenton, as the foreman of the department in which he worked desired him to report for duty on Monday morning. In going to the Broad street station to take the train for Trenton, Mr. Cogley walked with a nephew, while his wife and her mother walked ahead. When the Broad street station was reached, Mrs. Cogley missed her husband, and, supposing he had boarded the 6:30 train, then in waiting, got on and was carried to Trenton. Meanwhile Joe was looking for his wife, and, failing to find her, got on the 6:50 train for Trenton. It was the last time his friends saw him alive. His body was found about two miles beyond Trenton by the engineer of a freight train from the west. He was lying in fifteen inches of water, with one foot and one hand protruding. He carried a Trenton watch, and this led to sending his body to Trenton, where it was placed in the Morgue, and there, later in the day, it was identified by Mrs. James. His neck was broken, and there was a hole in the back of his neck lage enough to put your hand in. The Tell-Tale Watch. The watch of the victim had stopped at 8:35; and from this and the fact that his body was four tracks away from the track on which he was riding, the trainmen who found the body discredit the theory that he jumped. Their theory is that he was asleep when his train passed through Trenton, and that when the conductor asked for tickets for Elizabeth, which would have been about two miles beyond Trenton, the unfortunate man was wakened, that the train slowed up and he got off, and that, in attempting to walk back to Trenton he was struck and killed by the second section of Western Express, which would have reached the point where the body was found at about the time the watch stopped - 8:35. This seems plausible; and, in the absence of official investigation - which we think should yet be made - it will be accepted by the friends of the deceased as the true theory. Of course, the men of the 6:50 train, on which the victim took passage, could throw light on the subject, and they ought to be officially examined. The Lancaster Daily Examiner, Friday, January 3, 1890