John Bulis, 1855-1892

BULIS, BULLIS

Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 1/25/2009 at 16:38:09

Fatal Accident

J, [John] W. [Wesley] Bulis [Bullis], a brakeman in the B. C. R. & N. yards at Iowa Falls, met with a fatal accident last Thursday evening when assisting in making up a train. He was on top of the cars, and when walking in the same direction that the moving cars were going, stepped off the foremost car in the glare of the large light on the round house, which blinded him. The fearful fall that the poor fellow sustained in pitching head first upon the track from the top of the car would have caused many men to lose all presence of mind, but not so with Bulis who in falling thought that if he did not throw himself from the track the cars would quickly be upon him. He struck the track on his head and shoulders and succeeded in throwing all of his body off the rail but his legs, which the murderous wheels caught and horribly crushed, one of them being taken off below the knee and the other above. He was at once picked up and carried to the hotel near the depot and his wife and C. B. Flindt, her step-father, residing in Estherville, were notified of the accident. Superintendent G. A. Goodell at once ordered out a special train to convey the relatives to Iowa Falls, and the distance, 102 miles, with the engineer Dick Witherell in charge, made the run, including stops, in two hours and forty-five minutes.

The unfortunate man's injuries were so serious that reaction never set in and after lingering until Sunday morning he died at 6:20. The remains were brought to Estherville Sunday night and the funeral was held at the M. E. church on Monday, where but a few weeks before the nearly heartbroken family had followed the remains of a loving wife and mother. On this latter occasion the church was crowded with sympathizing friends to pay their last respects to a friend and townsman who had lived here so long. Rev. Woodford occupied the pulpit and spoke words of comfort and good cheer from a text selected by Mrs. Bulis as follows: "Be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." His mother, two sisters and three brothers attended the funeral.

The pall bearers were selected from the railroad boys, and the interment was made in the west side cemetery.

The deceased leaves a wife and four small children. Providentially he had been carrying insurance on his life to the amount of $4,500. This, if it is all available, will prove a great blessing to his family so suddenly bereft of a husband and father. For several years Mr. Bulis had been car repairer at this station, but a few months ago he gave up his position to accept the one he was occupying at the time of his death, thinking that there was more of a probability of promotion than in the former. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and it is in the Masonic Aid Society that one of his policies for $2,500 was taken out. The other policy was in a secret society for railroad men only. Mr. Bulis was an honest, temperate, hard working man and his death falls with terrible force on his family, for whom general sympathy is entertained.

Source: Estherville Northern Vindicator, Estherville, Emmet County, Iowa, February 25, 1892.