Allen Stuart

STUART

Posted By: Phyllis Hazen (email)
Date: 3/31/2015 at 21:10:38

The Muscatine (Iowa) Journal
Monday, 23 March 1914, page 2

MAN KILLED UNDER WHEELS OF TRAIN MANGLED REMAINS FOUND ON
TRACK NEAR ATALISSA.
Believed to Have Been Named Allen Stuart — Remains Are Terribly Disfigured.

An unknown man, believed to be Allen Stuart, was killed Saturday night or early Sunday morning by a train near Atalissa and the horribly mangled remains were found beside the track when daylight came Sunday. The arms were severed from the body and the bead and trunk were badly cut, making It practically certainty that the man had been struck, run over and dragged by the train.
The only clues to the Identification of the man were tatoo marks on his arm, the letters A. S. being placed there, and a memorandum book which was found in his pocket.
Coroner E. H. King, of this city, was called to the place where the remains were found Sunday and an inquest was held.
Agent Testifies.
George L. Robertson, station agent at Atalissa, presented testimony at the inquest which gave a complete story of the finding of the body. He said that Conductor James Breen, of Train 17, east bound, reported to him that there was a body lying beside the track about a mile from town and Section foreman James Hayes brought the body from its resting place near the track.
The man was apparently 45 to 50 years of age and 5 feet, 8 inches tall. His weight was placed at 180 pounds. He had brown hair and blue-gray eyes.
The tattoo marks on his left arm consisted of the initials “A.S.” on the upper arm and what was apparently a spread eagle and cross with an unintelligible scroll on the forearm. On the left arm also was a scar which seemed to be a wound from a bullet which had passed completely though the arm.
Probably Bumming.
The general impression gained from the way the man was dressed and the position of the body was that he had been bumming his way on an east bound train. He was clad in
heavy underwear, two shirts and a sweater, a heavy pair of trousers and overalls, the costume usually affected by transient section-hands, There was quite an assortment of articles in his pockets, chef among which was a check book from a Rockwell City, Iowa, bank. It was on this book, which he had evidently been using as a memorandum book, that the name of Allen Stuart was written.
The jury composed of J. H. Stucker Fred Exo and G. A. Arnold, found that he had been accidentally killed by an east bound C. R. I. & P. train.
Coroner King ordered the body sent to the medical college at Iowa City, where it will be kept in cold storage for six months pending identification and if then uncalled for will be used for dissection purposes by the university medical college.
Could Learn Nothing.
According to advices from Atalissa this morning, no further light has been thrown on the identity of the man. Following the clue offered by the chck book, communication was obtained with Rockwell City, Iowa, but the bank could give no information concerning a man named Allen Stuart.
A further effort will be made today to discover something of the man and locate his relatives if possible, according to word from Atalissa and another bank at
Rockwell is to be queried regarding the man.
* * * * *

Muscatine (Iowa) Journal
Wednesday, 25 March
Page 7

VICTIM OF TRAIN IS BURIED AT ATALISSA

(Journal's Special Service.)
Atalissa, la., March 25.—The body of the man who was killed here by a train last Sunday was buried here yesterday afternoon In the Timberlake cemetery. While no further Identification was possible it is supposed that the man's name was Allen Stuart, as this name appeared on some correspondence found on his person and the initials "A.S.” were tattooed on his arm. All attempts to locate any relatives of the man were futile.