Virginian in 1912--Fatality

[NW Mailing List]

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
March 1, 1912

PRINCETON DAY BY DAY
------
HEAD CRUSHED TO JELLY
------
Fireman L. S. Shipley Instantly Killed at Fagg
    Wednesday evening last at Fagg, a small station on the Virginian Railway, near Christiansburg, Fireman L. S. Shipley, of this place was instantly killed by having his head mashed to a jelly between the car bumpers of a freight train.  Mr. Shipley was attending to some duty connected with his train and there being no eye witnesses to the accident, it is unknown how his head became caught between the bumpers when the train backed.  He had been in the employ of the Virginian for sometime and was a son of Engineer Shipley, of Page, where the remains were shipped for burial on yesterday morning.  He had many friends and acquaintances in this city.  His age was about twenty-four and he leaves a father, mother and several other relatives to mourn his tragic death.
------
[It seems unusual for a fireman to be attending to some duty about the train.  Maybe the report was incorrect and he was actually a brakeman.  I am not sure what the "bumpers" are, but I would guess that in an attempt to couple two cars the couplers somehow  bypassed, allowing the end sills of the two cars to "bump" into each other.]

Gordon Hamilton
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20111201/82b338ee/attachment.htm>