OBIT: Mathias Mummert, 1914, Hanover, York County, PA

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Hanover - 
Failing to heed the warning of his wife and not noticing an approaching train,
Mathias Mummert, of East Middle street, stepped in front of train No. 632, due 
here at 7:23 p.m., Saturday, and was struck and instantly killed.  The accident 
occurred in the presence of his wife and a number of spectators. Coroner B. W. 
Shirley held an inquest this morning and after hearing the testimony, the jury 
decided that death was purely accidental.  The railroad company was exonerated 
from any blame.  Mr. Mummert was sixty-eight years old, and is survived by his 
widow and one son. Mr. and Mrs. Mummert were taking a walk and when they arrived 
at the railroad crossing, Mrs. Mummert saw the train and stopped, but her 
husband, apparently failing to see it, walked ahead, and was struck and mangled 
by the wheels.  Charles W. Kline, of York, was the engineer of the train.

The Gazette And Daily - Monday, June 08, 1914

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Struck by a South-bound train of the Northern Central Railway on Saturday 
evening, Matthias B. Mummert, of East Middle Street, was hurled across the 
street a distance of about fifty feet into a gutter alongside the track and 
almost instantly killed.  Mr. Mummert had only returned from his work at the 
Cordage Mill about an hour before the fatal accident, and accompanied by his 
wife started down town.  As they neared the Middle Street crossing not far from 
their home it was apparent they both saw the 7:20 p.m. passenger train 
approaching.  Mr. Mummert evidently thought he had plenty of time to cross in 
front of the train, but his wife is said to have caught hold of his coat sleeve 
in an attempt to pull him back.  He had just stepped over the nearest rail when 
the cylinder head on the right side of the engine struck him and hurled the
body to the opposite side of the street.  The train which was in charge of 
Conductor A. D. Bell, of Littlestown, and the veteran engineer Charles Kline, of 
York, was brought to a stand-still within a few hundred feet.  The dying man, 
whose heart was beating faintly, and with blood flowing from both ears, was 
placed on a stretcher and removed to Union Depot on the train.  On arriving at 
the depot the injured man was carried to the baggage room but before the arrival 
of the local physician, Dr. J. H. Bittinger, the man was dead.  Dr. Bittinger 
found the man's chest crushed in and his left arm broken near the elbow.  The 
body was taken to the morgue of W. Bair's Sons where it was prepared for burial
and removed to the dead man's home Sunday morning.  According to the story told 
by Engineer Charles W. Kline, when he first saw Mummert he was eight feet from 
the track.  Kline had no idea he would attempt to cross.  At the time the train 
was traveling at a rate of about 12 miles per hour.  The bell and whistle had 
been sounded for the crossing.  Coroner B. W. Shirey, York, was notified of the 
accident through the railroad officials.  At the inquest held in the freight 
office of the N. C. R. Company, the following jury was impaneled by Coroner 
Shirey:  Charles H. Emig, Jacob Henry, Edward Hoffman, John Alwood, William H. 
Moyer and Jacob C. Bowers.  Testimony of four witnesses was heard as follows:  
Engineer of the passenger crew, Charles H. Kline; Haywood S. Swope, Iceman; 
Truman Heck and Mrs. Matthias Mummert, wife of the deceased.  Mrs. Mummert, 
testified that she warned her husband that he could not cross the tracks.  She 
said that the train was traveling fast.  She cried to her husband, "For God's 
sake, Mummert, don't try to get over.  I cannot say he was drinking, although he 
had the habit of drinking every Saturday afternoon and he had been up town 
today."  After hearing the testimony of the witnesses the jury arrived at the 
following verdict:  "That Matthias Mummert came to his death by being struck by 
a Pennsylvania passenger train at the Middle street crossing, Hanover, when by 
the evidence he deliberately stepped on the track before the oncoming train and 
is himself to blame."  S. B. Drenning, assistant trainmaster, and W. D. 
Cornwell, supervisor of the Frederick division, were present at the hearing.
The deceased was the son of the late Samuel Mummert, and wife, of Penn Township, 
and was aged 68 years, 2 months and 16 days.  He was married three times, his 
first wife being Miss Amelia Stonesifer, his second wife Miss Mary J. Wise, and 
the third wife, who survives, Mrs. Amelia Gobrecht.  Three children survive as 
follows.  Harris C. Mummert, Poplar Street extended, Mrs. Daniel Wagner, 
Baltimore Street, and Mrs. A. W. Spidle, of Harrisburg; two brothers, Daniel
Mummert, of Blooming Grove, Jacob Mummert, of Porters, and one sister,  Mrs. 
Addison Trone, of Parkville.  Funeral from his late home, No. 609 East Middle 
Street, Tuesday, June 9, at 10 a.m., services conducted by Rev. S. P. Mauger of 
Grace Reformed church.  Further services and interment at Christ church near 
Littlestown, Rev. Dr. F. S. Lindaman, of Littlestown, officiating.

Hanover Record Herald - Monday, June 08, 1914