David Ellis "Ellis" Lee (1882-1916)

LEE

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 3/30/2022 at 22:42:54

From Nevada Evening Journal October 9, 1916 (page 1)

MAN MANGLED ON ROCK ISLAND LINE

ELLIS LEE OF CAMBRIDGE MET TERRIBLE FATE SATURDAY NIGHT.

Ellis Lee, age about 35 years, was struck by a Rock Island train south of Cambridge Saturday night and his body so badly mangled that it could not have been identified save from a ring which he wore and parts of his clothing.

The body was found at an early hour Sunday morning by Mr. Goodhue near whose place the fatality occurred. Parts of the body were found as far north as the Cambridge yards and for a half mile south of where the torso and other parts were found and where it is supposed the accident happened. While it is supposed that it was the northbound night passenger that struck the man, trains both north and south distributed parts of the body along the track in either direction.

Ellis Lee one of the three sons of James Lee, who lived three miles south of Cambridge, had been working down at Valley Junction in the Rock Island shops and had come up home in the evening to spend Sunday. He had started to walk home late in the evening and evidently had taken the Rock Island track as a pathway.

Nothing was known of the accident until the next morning, when Mr. Goodhue happened out upon the track and found parts of the body. An arm with shreds of clothing was first found, and walking up the track a ways he found other evidence of a tragedy. He reported the matter to Cambridge and the track was patrolled and other parts of the body found and identified.

The Polk county coroner was notified but held no inquest, as it was clearly an accidental fatality. Lee was unmarried and had been working at Valley Junction for some time.