Joseph Warren Maxwell (1834-1908)

MAXWELL

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 3/5/2017 at 14:51:32

From Nevada Representative May 4, 1908

OBITUARY

J. W. MAXWELL KILLED BY FALL

J. W. Maxwell of the town of Maxwell, one of the best known citizens of Story county, was killed in Des Moines Friday evening by falling over the balustrade in the Kirkwood hotel and to the floor below. He fell about twenty feet, striking on his head and shoulders and he lived less than five minutes after being picked up. There was but one witness to his fall, a lady who was sitting in the hotel parlor; and she did not see him stumble, but only his passage through the air. The supposition is that he stumbled on the stirs, fell upon the balustrade and then slid over it at a turn in the stair. I. W. Douglas of Maxwell and Chas. Fish of Collins were in Des Moines and at the hotel with him; but neither of them happened to be accompanying him at the moment of the accident. He had gone to his room a few minutes before, and apparently the anticipation was that he was going to stay there.

Mr. Maxwell was past seventy years of age and had been a business-man in Story county for more than forty years. He came to this county following the war and some years after his father, Hon. Geo. M. Maxwell, who was in the county and active in its affairs before the war. He engaged in business with F. M. Baldwin under the firm name of Baldwin and Maxwell, which firm was for nearly twenty-five years the leading business firm of the county. In all the affairs of the community he was during this period as active and influential as his business position would naturally imply, and, his force and ability were universally recognized. We have not at hand all the data that we ought to have for an obituary sketch of Mr. Maxwell, and we hope to comment further upon his life and work. He was one of the notable builders of Story county and his tragic end is a shock to all who knew him. His wife, who was an invalid for many years, died about a year ago, and he had no children.