Ostrom, Grant (1912)

OSTROM

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 5/5/2010 at 09:28:41

Grinnell Herald (Grinnell, Iowa) Oct. 25, 1912

JURY SAYS OSTROM WAS DEAD WHEN TRAIN STRUCK HIM

That Grant Ostrom, the Hartwick farmer who met his death last Sunday morning was dead before the train passed over him, severing his head from his body, was the verdict returned Wednesday by the coroner's jury which had been considering the evidence. The jury based its finding on the fact that there was little blood and also on the testimony of the engineer whose train passed over Ostrom's body. The engineer said that before the train reached the spot where Ostrom's body lay across the rails he had reversed, put on the emergency brakes and was using the sand, so that the engine was quivering and the vibrations, he thought, must surely have aroused any living man. He was beside the body, he declared, within a minute after the wheels of the engine had passed over it and did not find a single quiver to show that there had been life. The engineer was sure that Ostrom was dead before the engine hit him, and the jury agreed.

One explantion advanced is that Ostrom was killed by lightning, as a telegraph pole just across from where the body was found had been shattered, but there was no sign on the body to indicate that this is the case.