Iowa Old Press
Alton Democrat
December 5, 1896
A SHERIFF KILLED.
WILLIAM HERRON OF LEMARS FOUND DEAD
Found on the Railway Right-of-Way, Bloody and Frozen Stiff.
From the LeMars Sentinel.
The body of Sheriff Wm. E. Herron was found this morning near the fence on
the railway right-of-way about a mile this side of Merrill.
Two men came to LeMars early this morning and reported that they saw the
body of an unknown man lying in the snow near the fence by the roadside
about half a mile north of the house on the Morf place. They said that
there was blood on the man’s face and that they thought a murder had been
committed.
They had not touched the body, but at once notified Coroner Mammen. The
coroner and Marshal Baily started for the scene of the affair, but before
they reached the place, which is about five miles south of LeMars, the
morning freight train came along and the trainmen picked up the corpse and
brought it to LeMars where it was recognized, and friends and relatives
notified.
There was considerable blood on the shirt front and large icicles were
around the mouth. The hands were torn and bloody. A cut in the cap and
blood on the head showed where he had struck something and cut a gash in his
scalp.
Herron went to Hinton Monday night to serve subpoenas on some witnesses and
it was expected that he would return home on the 11 o’clock Minneapolis
flyer. The train does not stop at Hinton, so he expected to go to the
crossing of the Sioux City & Northern and the Central tracks about a mile
north of Hinton and get on the train when it stopped for the crossing.
After placing the body in Spring Bros. undertaking rooms, the coroner
impaneled a jury composed of Thos. Adamson, George E. Loring and C. E. Hass,
and with them went to look at the place where the body was found.
It was ascertained that Herron fell or was knocked off the train about six
rods south of a gate and farm crossing at the point where the wagon road
turns away to the north from the railroad, a short distance north from the
curve in the railroad track. Well-defined marks in the gravel and snow
showed where he had slid along the ground and down the embankment forty-
five feet where he landed in a snow drift about twenty feet from the rails.
The snow showed that he had lain there a short time and bled, and then had
staggered to his feet and walked to the barbed wire fence along the
right-of-way.
The tracks along by the side of the fence showed where he had staggered
along by the fence and hung over the barbed wires. There were places that
showed where he had fallen down and then got up and gone on again. Frozen
blood on the wires in several places showed where he had stopped to rest.
Herron was a strong man physically and a man of indomitable will and
bravery. Although he was badly hurt and bleeding and the cold was intense,
he made a desperate struggle for life. Again and again he fell down and at
every grasp of the wires the barbs tore his gloves and hands. Thus he
struggled on for fifty-one rods from the place where he struck the ground
from the train. Here he sank down and was overcome with the cold. Lying by
the fence with his body partly under it, he was found this morning, frozen
and dead.
Just as to how it happened, no one can tell. It is very probable that he got
aboard the train at the crossing and got on where the vestibules of cars
made it impossible for him to get inside. He wore an ordinary over coat and
light buckskin gloves and a cloth cap. He had not expected to take an
outside ride and if he did have to ride on the car steps he would have
become severely benumbed riding in the cutting wind before reaching the
place where he left the train and a lurch of the train might have thrown him
off. The train is equipped with Wagner sleepers on which the vestibules are
out almost even with the side of the cars. A man standing on the step would
be obliged to lean out and support his body by hanging on the grab irons
with his hands. There is, of course, no way of telling whether or not he lay
insensible for a time in the cold after he fell off.
At the inquest Wednesday afternoon, R. J. Bloomer and T. H. Waters testified
to seeing Herron after 10 o’clock Tuesday night at Hinton walking up to the
crossing to get on the train.
Herron has been sheriff for about a year. He was a very popular man and was
developing into one of the best sheriffs of the state. He has lived in
Plymouth County about fifteen years and previous to that time had lived in
Grundy and Hardin counties of Iowa, having been born in Fayette county,
Wis., fifty years ago.
During the time that he has lived in LeMars, he has made many friends and
his death in such a tragic manner comes as a severe shock to the community.
His wife and one son survive him and with his brothers will have the sincere
sympathy of the community.
LeMars, Dec. 4. –Special: The coroner’s jury in the case of W. E. Herron,
adjourned until this morning in order to get the evidence of the train crew
that took the fast train north on the Omaha Tuesday night.