Orlin W. Boyd (1892)
BOYD
Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 1/24/2008 at 17:17:34
The Winterset Madisonian
Friday, January 6, 1893
Winterset, Iowa
Page 7Year in Review 1892
March 26 - O. W. Boyd, of Winterset, killed by the cars at Pacific Junction.
________________________The Winterset Madisonian
Friday, April 01 1892
Page 7, Columns 1 & 2A HEART-RENDING ACCIDENT
O.W. Boyd Struck by a Switch Engine and Killed, at Pacific Junction
The town was thrown into great excitement last Saturday afternoon by the report that O. W. Boyd had had both legs cut off by a switch engine at Pacific Junction, in the western part of the state, and when word came later that he was dead, the general grief became the all-absorbing topic. Mrs. Boyd left at once, going to St. Charles to take the train, but hearing that her husband was already dead, stopped at Creston, and her brother, who lives at Greenfield, went on to see to the removal of the remains to Winterset. The details of the accident were not learned for some time, and are somewhat contradictory, but as learned by Mr. Boyd’s brother-in-law are as follows:
Mr. Boyd, who is a commercial traveler, in the employ of Menig & Slater, manufacturers of pickles and vinegar, at Des Moines, left the hotel at Pacific Junction at 8:30 Saturday morning to go to the town. There was a blinding snowstorm at the time, and he was carrying his grip-sacks and had his overcoat pulled up about his face. The way to town led him across the railroad a short distance from the hotel, then to turn right and walk along the depot platform, then to make another turn to the right and again cross the railroad, of which here there are two tracks, as a switch branches off. He reached this point just as a switch engine was backing down the track,
The railroad men say that they saw him all the way from the hotel, and when they saw that he was about to cross they shouted and blew the whistle. He had crossed the switch and was almost over the main track when the engine struck him. He was thrown thirty feet and fell across the track, and the engine ran over him, crushing his legs. There was also a wound on his head, which he probably received from the railing which runs along around the tender, at the time the engine first struck him.
He was carried into the depot, and surgeons were summoned, who decided to amputate his legs which they did about 12 o’clock. He was able to tell his name, residence and the house he traveled for, and apparently did not realize how badly he was hurt. He survived the amputation about an hour, dying at 1:05.
The body arrived in Winterset Monday evening, and the funeral was held at his late home on Tuesday forenoon. Rev. A. E. Major, of the Church of Christ, of which Mr. Boyd was a member, preached the funeral sermon.
The deceased was born in Vermont, but moved at an early age with his parents to Kentucky. During the war of the rebellion he served in the 22d Kentucky infantry.
After living for a time in Illinois and Muscatine, Ia., he came to Winterset in 1874. Here he engaged in the grocery and queensware business, which turned out, unfortunately, and he returned to his former occupation of commercial traveler, at which he has since worked. At the time of his death he was considerably over 60 years of age.
Besides his wife, his family consisted of a son, Clarence, now in California, a daughter, Laura, who is at home, and a step-daughter, Alice, who is married and lives in Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr. Boyd was a man universally liked and respected in this community, and his employers in Des Moines speak in the highest terms of his integrity and faithfulness.
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