OBIT: John FITZGAR, 1861, Lockport, Westmoreland County, PA

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Railroad Watchman Killed

The Pittsburg DISPATCH states that on Saturday evening of 
last week, John Fitzgar, a watchman on the Pennsylvania 
Railroad, was killed by being run over by a freight train at 
Whipporwill straight line, five miles east of Gallitzin, 
this county, under circumstance that give rise to suspicion 
that he was foully dealt with. It was Fitzgar's duty to 
watch and keep the tracks clear, and he was in the 
performance of this duty a few minutes before his death, a 
woman having observed him walking along the road with a 
lighted lamp in his hands. A small wound, supposed to have 
been inflicted with a sharp instrument, and not be anything 
about the train, was observed in the center of his forehead, 
while his head rested on one rail, his feet on the other and 
his lamp with the light extinguished was found on the end of 
a tie on the other track, these facts creating the opinion 
that the man was first killed and then placed between the 
rails to cover up the deed. The deceased resided at Lockport 
and leaves a wife and four children.  A coroner's inquest 
was to have been held on Monday morning. 

The Alleghanian, Ebensburg, Pa., Thursday, March 7, 1861, 
Volume 2, Number 29