LINDSEY

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 07:15:48 :

Marin Journal
Thursday, June 14, 1900
Page 11

Accident at Tomales
Conductor Lindsey Meets a Terrible Death

Last Saturday afternoon at the Tomales switch yards, conductor JAMES M LINDSEY of the N.P.C.R.R. fell from the top of a moving car and was crushed beneath the wheels of a freight train. According to the testimony of Oscar Collister, station agent at Tomales, Lindsey was apparently trying to leave the cars. Collister could not say, however, whether the unfortunate man slipped or tripped. After the accident, the wheel of the brake on the car from which Lindsey fell was found near the body, and it appeared at that time that he had been trying to put on the brake when the wheel broke off and caused him to lose his balance. It was later learned that brakeman Blake had found the wheel some distance from the body and had laid it near the body. According to the testimony of Collister the wheel had been broken off before the accident occurred.

Engineer John Williams, fireman M. M. Clasby, and brakeman Geo. Hansen, as far as their testimony went, corroborated that of the other two witnesses. The verdict of the jury, however, was that Lindsey met his death through a defective brake on car No. 765.

Lindsey was known to be a steady, sober man, and had been in the employ of the Company for over two years. He was born in Bodega.