Distress was brought
to the hearts of many young people of Simcoe on Christmas Day when it
was learned that Leo Curran Mitchell had been instantly killed by being
struck by a Grand Trunk Railway train while driving over a level
crossing on Union street with two companions about 10:30 that morning.
The story of the accident as
related at the inquest held on Tuesday evening between eight and eleven
o'clock, before Coroner Dr. W. A. McIntosh, was that Mitchell and
William Glenn, caretaker at the armories, were taking home Chas
Snelgrove, who was suffering from a badly sprained ankle, which he had
sustained on the previous evening while drilling at the armories, where
he had remained all night.
They approached the railway
crossing from the east, passing in front of the offices of J. B. Jackson
& Sons. At this point there is a double track -- a siding, and the
main track, which converge a short distance to the south of Union
street.
The Port Rowan passenger train,
made up of a baggage car, one coach and the engine, was backing down the
main track from the station in a northerly direction. Just as the
occupants of the cutter came to the first track, which is east of the
main track, they passed Arthur Wood with a milk wagon. Wood passed to
their left, which was between them and the train.
Glenn was driving and sitting up
between the other two. Mitchell was on the right-hand side, and
Snelgrove on the left, with his foot outside the cutter. Snelgrove did
not see the train at all. Glenn saw the train when it was about 30 feet
from the crossing, and they were almost on the track. He did not hear
any signals till he saw the train.
He thought, as they were going
at a good rate, they could get across better than to stop and turn
around. Mitchell evidently saw or heard the train and grabbed the
lines, which slowed the horse up before they got over the rails. Glenn
urged the horse on. Mitchell evidently believed the cutter would be
struck, and jumped out.
He must have fallen forward
while between the rails. His body was dragged some distance up the track,
and when picked up was found to be badly mangled, one arm and one leg
being crushed and the face bruised and cut. Death must have been almost instantaneous.
The train was stopped and the
crew notified the coroner. After visiting the scene of the accident,
Coroner McIntosh ordered the body taken to Coates' undertaking establishment. A jury was
empanelled and after they had viewed the body,
adjourned till Tuesday.
At the inquest on Tuesday
evening, which was held in the old Council Chamber, there was a large
crowd of spectators. The inquest lasted from eight to eleven o'clock,
during which time eleven witnesses were called, which included the train
crew and the surviving occupants of the cutter.
Those called were James Tocher,
Pt. Rowan, engineer; Leo Price, Port Rowan, brakeman; Boyd Dickinson,
Port Rowan, brakeman; John Norman, Port Rowan, fireman; Harry Parker,
Port Rowan, conductor; Wm. Glenn; Chas. Snelgrove; Arthur Wood, milkman;
Chas. Canning, chief of police; Cecil Fox, Woodhouse, milkman; and John
Patterson, farmer, living five miles west of Simcoe, and eye-witness of
the accident.
The evidence of the witnesses corroborated
in every way, and it was quite manifest that the
accident was nobody's fault. The train crew performed their full duties
as to signals, etc., and the occupants of the cutter were unconsciously
placed in an extremely hazardous position, and did the very best they
could to extricate themselves. The mistake in judgment of the deceased
apparently was responsible for his death.
The jury after being instructed by
the coroner, adjourned to the police office, and were gone about twenty
minutes when they returned with the following verdict:
The Jury's
Verdict
That the said Leo Curran Mitchell
came to his death in the Town of Simcoe at the crossing of the G.T.R.
track on Union street, in the said Town of Simcoe, on Friday, December
25th, 1914, by being run over by a G.T.R. train in charge of Conductor
Harry Parker, and that the death of the said Leo Curran Mitchell was due
to accident and mischance, and the said jurors attach no blame to the crew
of the said train in the said accident.
The said jurors further say than
in their opinion additional safe-guards are urgently needed at the
crossing aforesaid, and at other railway crossing in the said Town of
Simcoe, and would recommend that the proper authorities be
petitioned to increase the security at all crossings within the town by
the establishment of gates so as to safeguard life.
The following gentlemen composed
the jury: Dr. Wm. Burt, foreman; Chas. Eaid, Robt. H. Massecar, Thos.
Storey, R. Churchill, E. R. Matthews and Emerson Ramey.
T. R. Slaght represented the
Crown, and Messrs. B. Shepherd, London, claims agent, and J. P. Pratt,
Montreal, of the legal staff, looked after the interests of the Grand
Trunk Railway.
"Tony," as Mr.
Mitchell's friends always called him, was 22 years and six months of age
and well and favorably known in Simcoe, being propriety of the barber shop
next to the Battersby House, and was a popular officer of the 29th
Regiment, attached to the signaling corps. Besides his father, Charles
Mitchell, he leaves to mourn his early demise two brothers, Frank, a
younger brother, employed at Austin's hardware store and Ellett [sic], who has a
good shop in Ann Arbor, Mich.
A feature of the accident which
made it all the more distressing was the fact that the deceased young man
was to have been married this week. The bride-to-be, who has the sympathy
of the community, was Miss Mae McInally, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac
McInally, of Simcoe.
The Funeral
The
funeral was held from the family residence on Colborne street north, on
Sunday at 11 a.m. the services being conducted by Rev. A. B. Farney, of
Trinity Church. Burial took place in the family plot at Scotland. There
were many people in attendance at the services at the house. The
following were the pall-bearers: Messrs. Russel McIntosh, Roy Everett,
Roy Coates, Earl Stigmire, Bruce Thompson and Linn Cratt.
