MAX GROSSMAN GRAVESTONE PHOTO
The Evening Herald, Thursday, Dec. 26, 1901, Pg. 3
Died: Dec. 25, 1901
M. Grossman, proprietor of the Grossman ice cream parlor and confectionery on North Main street, was found dead in the pool below the river dam yesterday a little after four o’clock. Grossman had been fishing. The first and most natural supposition is that he slipped into the water and drowned. Other circumstances have given rise to somewhat different theories, but in every case the death is concluded to have been either the result of an accident or from a sudden attack of illness.
Mr. Grossman left his home, which is in apartments over the confectionery a few minutes after three o’clock, to fish from the dam. It has been his practice to fish there almost every day. A boy crossing the railroad bridge some time later is said to have seen him fishing there and to have inquired as to his success. Grossman is said to have replied that the fish were not biting. At 4:05 Roadmaster Hildebrand of the Santa Fe, started to cross the bridge and noticed bubbles in the water by the dam and looking closer he was a hat floating on the water. He met the Adams brothers, of the foundry, on the bridge and called their attention to the spot. The two ran down and cried back that there was a man in the water. John Adams waded in and pulled out the body. The shouts of the three men soon attracted others to the spot. Among the first to arrive was H. B. Paramore, who at once applied every means known for the resuscitation of drowning person, but without avail. Dr. R. S. Black later arrived, and the efforts to awaken vitality in Grossman’s body were prolonged for a half hour, without any signs of life being evidenced. The body was placed on a stretcher and carried to Philippi undertaking rooms.
When the body was found, it was in a crouching position, the head and feet being lowest in the water, as though the man had plunged forward on his face. The forehead was slightly bruised. The body was floating. These circumstances have caused some to believe that Grossman was stricken with a heart attack and was dead when he struck the water. The fact that the body was floating interferes somewhat with the theory of drowning. Grossman’s fishing tackle was found on the dam. The line was broken.
When Grossman left the house he was in good health. He was not subject to attacks of the heart or fainting spells of any kind. His wife can explain his death in no way except that Grossman may have fallen asleep while on the dam have pitched forward, been stunned by striking his head on the edge of the ice near by, and have drowned or strangled in the water.
M. Grossman was fifty seven years of age. He came here from Rochester, N. Y., where his mother, a brother, sister and a son by a former marriage reside. He was born in Baden-Baden, Germany, and came to this country at the age of nine years. He served three years in the Civil war with the Fifth New York Independent battery artillery. He was married to the present Mrs. Grossman nineteen years ago and leaves three children—one an infant.
Upon receipt of telegrams from the east, the funeral has been arranged for Saturday at 10 a. m. It will be held from the residence.
Mr. Grossman had $14,500 insurance. He had accident policies of $5,000 each in the Preferred of New York, and the Aetna. The policies were taken out just before Grossman left for the east on a visit in October. They ran for three months and would have expired on January 1. He had $3,000 in the Fraternal Aid association, $1,000 in the Modern Woodmen and $500 in the National Aid, which was lately transferred to the Bankers’ Union.
Coroner Haggart called an inquest this afternoon at the Philippi rooms. The Adams brothers testified to having discovered his body in the water and in the manner of its removal. John Adams was taken with a severe cramp in one foot as he stood in the water but managed to draw the body up to the dam. A board extends out from the dam at the surface of the water, so that it was possible for Grossman to have struck his head on this as he fell and to have caused the bruises on his forehead.
Charley Roberts, a small boy living on Ash street, testified to having seen Grossman sitting on the dam while he (Roberts) was playing near the foundry. He soon afterward heard a splash and saw a commotion in the water and in a little while saw people gather at the spot. He thinks it was only a few minutes after he heard the splash until he saw Adams pull out the body. The jury found that Grossman came to his death by accidental drowning.