Washington, DC Train Accident, Jul 1904

Express Kills Aged Man

Isaac B. Webster Stood Bewildered in Front of Train.

Coroner Nevitt, Deputy Coroner, and Morguemaster Near by When the Accident Occurred.

ISAAC B. WEBSTER, seventy-two years of age, of 521 Eighth Street northeast, stood in the middle of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad tracks, near Seventh and Ohio Streets crossing, yesterday afternoon, apparently bewildered, until he was run down by a flying express train and instantly killed. The body was horribly mangled. By a peculiar coincidence, Coroner Nevitt, Deputy Coroner Glazebrook, and Morguemaster Shoneberger, all riding in the morgue wagon, were waiting at the Fifteenth street crossing, only a few squares away, for the same train to pass when they heard the screech of the warning whistles and the shouting of men, and a moment later they were informed of the accident. The body was placed in the wagon and taken to the morgue, and after investigating the circumstances Coroner Nevitt gave a certificate of death by accident.

According to the story as gleaned by Coroner Nevitt, it seems that Webster, who left his home only a short time before, was hurrying along a footpath which crossed the track about 100 feet east of the Seventh street crossing, when train No. 521, drawn by engine No. 1329, in charge of Engineer G.E. Armstrong, hove in sight around the curve. Edward R. Johnson, in charge of the crossing, lowered the gates on both sides of the track and then looking around saw Webster on the track. It was too late to run to the aged man’s side, so Johnson yelled to him to jump. At the same instant Engineer Armstrong also saw the danger and blew the whistle. Pedestrians who were waiting for the way to be cleared joined in one cry of horror as Webster was struck and his body thrown high in the air and to one side of the track. A glance showed the first arrivals at the man’s side that death had been instantaneous.

The Washington Post, Washington, DC 9 Jul 1904
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Transcribed by June. Thanks June!