TRAIN’S VICTIM-Mrs. Louise (Duster) Brown-1937

BROWN, DUSTER, EHRLER, EDWARDS, DONOHUE, MAHONEY, MOHAN, BAUER, BERTSCH

Posted By: cheryl Locher moonen (email)
Date: 10/9/2019 at 19:22:46

Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Monday, September 20, 1937, Dubuque, Iowa

TRAIN’S VICTIM
BURIAL TUESDAY
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Jury Returns Open Verdict
As To Cause of Death
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Funeral services for Mrs. Louise Brown, 59, wife of Hugh Brown, 2631 Washington Street, who apparently was killed by a train Saturday night, at Portage, Ill., will be held Tuesday morning from the family home to Holy Ghost Church at 8 o’clock. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

A coroner’s jury returned a verdict Sunday afternoon that Mrs. Brown, whose body was found lying beside the Illinois Central railroad tracks, died as the result of a cerebral hemorrhage and a fractured skull caused by an accident of an “unknown nature.”

This open verdict was returned by the jury because, from testimony given at the inquest conducted by Coroner Ray W. Bertsch, it was impossible to determine what train, or what part of a train, or whether any train had struck Mrs. Brown.

Was Visiting Husband

Portage is a railroad station on the Illinois Central about five miles southwest of Galena. Mrs. Brown had gone from Dubuque to Portage Saturday afternoon, for she and her husband, the telegrapher at Portage, where it was her custom to visit him on week-ends.

Her body was found lying between the east bound main line and the side track by her daughter-in-law, Mrs. King Brown of Dubuque, about 25 feet from the pump at the Portage Tower.

Brown told the jury that Mrs. Brown had left their quarters about 8:10 o’clock to go to the pump for water. When she had not returned after an hour, her daughter-in-law went to search for her, and finding Mrs. Brown’s body, called Brown, to summoned medical attention. Mrs. Brown had apparently been instantly killed. Her skull was crushed and her right arm somewhat bruised

Brown suggested in testifying before the jury that as she walked, down the side track, as was her custom, to the pump, she had stumbled and had been caught by the cow catcher of a passing train, for it seemed to him unlikely that she had been in the path of the train when struck. He declared before the jury that he could see no way in which the possible evidence of any train crew could have contributed to the accident.

William O. Flynn of Galena, who had accompanied Dr. W. O Bertsch to the scene of the accident, told the jury that he believed Mrs. Brown had been struck by some protruding part of the caboose and hurled to the side of the track where she was found.

Mrs. Brown, the former Louise Duster, was born in Dubuque County, Aug. 8, 1878 and had lived here all of her life.

Members of the jury were Jack Ehrler, O. E. Edwards, Jeffery Donohue, Floyd Mahoney, Basil Mohan and Homer Bauer.

She was a member of the Holy Ghost Catholic Church, f the Royal Neighbors and the Lady Orioles.

Survivors include her husband; one son, King Brown of Dubuque; five grandchildren; one brother, John Duster, of Dubuque; and four sister; Mrs. Sam Sutter; Mr. John Pauly; Mrs. Joseph Linden; and Mrs. Henry Gassmann, all of Dubuque.