HARE, Ed - 1896 - Putnam

Source: Greencastle Banner-Times 11 Dec 1896 p4

ED HARE – note: do not find him on findagrave =

Between three and four o’clock Tuesday, Ed Hare of Bainbridge a Monon brakeman fell from his train and was killed. The accident happened at Sugar Creek which is but a short distance north of Crawfordsville and his absence from his post was not discovered until Crawfordsville was reached. The train was immediately run back over the road and Hare was found lying by the side of the track, with life extinct. It was thought that he had fallen from the side of the caboose or from the top of the train.  No one saw it happen, but it is probably that he was killed immediately. Hare was about 28 years of age, unmarried and lived at Bainbridge with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Hare. His hand was injured about a year ago by falling from the cars. He has been on the road for 8 or 10 years and was well known over the entire line. The remains were brought to Bainbridge on the express Tuesday as it was necessary for the Montgomery County Coroner to see the body. A strange coincidence connected with the death is the fact that Mr. Hare’s father had a dream the night before that his son had been thrown from a freight train. W.E. Hare had a large number of friends and was well known in Lafayette society. His death was quite a shock to the whole community. He was a member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and carried $2000 insurance in that order. Funeral took place Thursday 3 p.m. from the Presbyterian Church and was conducted by Rev. TD Fyffe of Crawfordsville. A number of railroad men attended the funeral, including the dead man’s crew.

Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal 11 Dec 1896 p 3

It was well on toward 9 o’clock Tuesday morning when a freight engine pushing a caboose ran slowly in through the rain and connected with the rear of a train which had been standing before the station for several hours. When the engine and caboose stopped several men stumbled off on the platform with solemn faces and proceeded to pull out after a long mattress on which lay the body of a man. The head was covered by a large blue and white handkerchief but the spiked shoes, the blue overalls and jacket drenched by the rain, the bloodless hands grimed by coal and dirt, were all mutely eloquent of a tragedy of the road.  The body was that of Ed Bare (sic) rear brakeman of the fast meat train No 71. The body was deposited in the baggage room until undertaker Barnhill arrived and carried it to his establishment to prepare it for burial. Meantime the train and its saddened crew went on their way.

It was 4:30 o’clock Tuesday morning when No 71 south bound reached Crawfordsville and after receiving orders was about to leave when it was discovered that rear brakeman Hare (sic) was missing. He was not to be found among the cars, in the caboose or engine or about the station and its companions were reluctantly forced to knowledge that he had fallen from the train. His light had last been seen by Conduct Ed Linn as the train left Linden. Accordingly orders were obtained from headquarters for the engine to run back to Linden and make search for the missing man. Engineer Charles Gore together with Conductor Linn then started back running slowly but in the darkness being obliged to depend on the headlight for their search. Linden was finally reached without results and as his light had been seen there the men knew they had missed the object of the solicitous search. It was getting daylight when the engine turned back and objects along the track side could be distinguished. Still Crawfordsville was in sight again before the men ceased to stare and start every time a chunk or rock showed indistinctly through the gray and dismal morning light. They were almost ready to breathe relief and to explain Hare’s absence on some other ground when suddenly they came upon that for which they hunted and yet dreaded to find. Around the corner at Martin’s brick yard the engine slowly rolled and as it did so Linn explained, “Boys there he is.”  The engine stopped and the men climbing off walked out some 12 or 15’ and down the bank where lay a little huddled heap. It was the body of their comrade cold in death and there was no need to take the icy hand to know that life was gone. He had slipped while walking o the car tops and whirling from the swiftly moving train had struck the hard embankment head first. His neck was broken and his head crushed terribly so that death was instantaneous. The body was left where it was and the engine running to town procured coroner Barcus and sufficient help to move the body and place it in the car.  The run back was made then and the return to Crawfordsville. The unfortunate young man was about 30 years of age and unmarried, being a son of Lon Jean Hare of Bainbridge, to where his body was shipped in the afternoon. He was a cousin of Wm. Saulsbury of Crabb & Reynolds and was regarded as an excellent young man, being one of the best brakeman on the road.

Same page: Last column – Edward Hare, the unfortunate young man who was killed here Tuesday on the Monon, boarded with county recorder Yopst at Lafayette. The Lafayette Journal speaking of the tragedy says: “When called yesterday the unfortunate man responded with reluctance. He was quite indisposed and was suffering from a severe nausea. It is the impression that he was taken suddenly ill on top of the train and fell from the top of the car. A strange incident connected with his death was experienced by Eugene Hare, the father. On Monday night the latter dreamed that his son had fallen from the train. In less than 12 hours the dream was realized in all the horror of reality. It was a strange thing, a premonition of what was to come.” -- kbz

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