James Grummer, Obituary/Death NoticePorter County obituaries and death notices . . . .
James Grummer
Last Thursday night a fire was raging along the Michigan Southern Railroad east of Chesterton, and Mr. James Grummer and others, section me, were fighting it until two or three o'clock Friday morning. Then as they were wearied and sitting beside the railroad at a safe distance from the track, a freight train from the east came along, and as it passed a hat blew against one of the other men, which proved to be that of Mr. Grummer who was then found lying with his head near the track, evidently stunned, and wet with blood from two holes broken into the back of his skull. He was then taken home, and his wounds were dressed by Drs. Jones and Morrical, which they did by trepanning, but not afterward; he was insensible however from the passing of the train till Sunday last, when he died. Mr. Grummer was a awake and well when the train came in sight, as the boss then talked to him and gave him a piece of bread. He is supposed after to have fallen suddenly asleep with his head so near the track as to have it hit and so fatally crushed. Yet as some surmised that some person struck him instead of the train, a pumpkin the size of a man's head was afterward placed in such position to that same train as Mr. Grummer's head was in, the train moving slowly for the purpose, and the end of a screw and an iron like the head of a bolt, indented the pumpkin, making two holes precisely like those in Mr. Grummer's head. The coroner was called last Tuesday, and impaneled a jury of inquest who found that Mr. Grummer came to his death by injuries inflicted on Friday morning August 21st, 1874, by a passing railroad train.
Newspaper: Porter County Vidette
Date of Publication: August 27, 1874
Volume Number: 18
Issue Number: 35
Page: 3
Column(s): 5
Key to Newspaper Publication Locations:
Newspapers Published in Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana
Chesterton Tribune
The Tribune
Westchester Tribune
Newspapers Published in Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana
Porter County Vidette
Practical Observer
Valparaiso Practical Observer
Vidette and Republic
Western Ranger
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Obituary/death notice transcribed by Steven R. Shook