John Hackmann, 1898 Obituary

HACKMANN

Posted By: david reineke (email)
Date: 8/16/2008 at 17:11:25

I translated the following obituary from Der Carroll Demokrat, a German-language newspaper published in Carroll, Iowa, between about 1874 and 1920. It was originally published on Friday, 28 January 1898. Any information in brackets or notes at the end are my own explanations. It reads as follows:

A disturbing report has been forwarded to us from Willey. John Hackmann was in that town on Saturday, and in the afternoon he went over to Dedham in order to travel to Templeton on the passenger train, which was due in Dedham at about 11:00 p.m. He went to the train station in the evening and purchased a ticket to Templeton. During the long wait, he fell asleep in the waiting room. He missed the train when it arrived and was left behind. He wanted to go to Templeton to take care of some business and to be back again by Sunday so that he could begin work on Monday at the creamery in Willey, so he decided to go on foot along the rail line. He had to travel over a bridge about three miles from Dedham, and when he found himself on the bridge he saw an express freight train coming from behind him. Realizing the danger he was in, he wanted to quickly turn back in order to let the train pass by. But he fell with one foot between the beams and, being unable to pull himself out quickly enough, he was hit by the onrushing train. The engineer must not have seen the unfortunate man and had only noted that there had been an obstacle on the tracks. Another train was soon due to pass over the same stretch, and so when the engineer reached Templeton he telegraphed Dedham with instructions for it to travel slowly and carefully near the bridge. When the following train then arrived there, they found the lifeless body lying on the bridge. The left arm and leg were completely severed from the body, so that the interior organs visibly protruded. The sheriff and coroner were notified on Sunday to hold the inquest, and the jury rendered its verdict that the deceased had met his death in a train accident, also noted that the railroad was free of all guilt. The young man who met his death in this horrible fashion was still unmarried and about 25 years old. He stayed often in and around Willey. If we are correctly informed, he came from Winneshiek County and in 1893 went to work as a butter maker in the creamery at Willey. Since then he had always worked in the vicinity. He was a cheerful, friendly young man and had many devoted friends.