The Denison Daily Herald Friday, April 24, 1908 pg. 1 MEETS DEATH IN KATY WELL James McCusker Aged Fifteen Overcome by Fatal Black Damp ON EXPLORING EXPEDITION Started To Go Down Steps to Bottom of the Well, Became Dizzy and Fell - Body Recovered With Ice Hooks After Heroic Fight With Gases One of the saddest affairs the city has known for some time occurred near the Ray yards yesterday, as a result of which the 15-year-old son of James McCusker, one of the Katy's best known engineers, is dead and the whole family plunged in grief. The boy, whose name was also James, in company with two others, Fred Rader and Charley Elkins, were playing around the wells of the Katy, and in the course of their play James decided to explore one of them. The wells are those used by the water department of the Katy, about eighty feet deep and very large, with a circular stair for descending. According to one of the other boys, when near the first landing he called out, "boys I believe I'm going to faint." They called to him to hurry back and he started to return and was half way back when overcome and fell backward down the stairs. The boys at once ran from the place to secure assistance, the place being to a steam shovel in charge of M.S. Barton, loading coal near the scene of the accident. They stated that the boy had fallen in the well and that they were going for his big brother. Mr. Barton, accompanied by his brakeman, A. Crittenden, and a Mexican named Adolfo Gonzalez, hurried to the scene, others following as closely as possible. Arriving at the well they started down in search of the boy, but before the first landing was reached they were driven back by the suffocating black damp. Then it was known that this was the cause of the accident. A torch was attached to a line and lowered into the well to ascertain the position of the body, but at a depth of about twelve feet this went out, notwithstanding the wick was pulled out and spread so that there was a large flame. A. Crittenden, who is an extraordinary well built and strong looking man, essayed to go down for a few seconds in an endeavor to find the body, but each time would be driven back by the deadly fumes. Adolfo Gonzales next made the attempt and managed to get down nearly forty feet and discerned the body of the boy near the second landing, laying face down on the steps. Rushing back to the surface for a breath, he again went down and with a long clinker hook managed to get a hold in the pocket of the boy's pants. Working with this he finally released the foot from a space in the steps where it had been caught, this having stopped the descent of the body would doubtless have been precipitated to the bottom of the well. A pair of ice hooks was attached to a couple of ropes and after some little manipulation were gotten under the arms and the body drawn to the top, where Senor Gonzales fell, almost exhausted, and was for some time in great pain. The body was placed in Conductor Barton's caboose and brought to the downtown yards. James McCusker, the father of the boy, was speeding toward the city all unaware of the sad tidings awaiting him here. He was on the Fast Mail, the Katy's fastest train, and brought it to a stop, backed his engine up, was cut off and Ed F. O'Herin, chief clerk to C.T. McElvaney, master mechanic, climbed into the cab, and as gently as possible, broke the news to him. For a moment he seemed stunned, and mechanically threw the reverse lever over to the front, began to ease the throttle open as is always the case when coming in at the end of his run. As Mr. O'Herin explained to the bereaved father that his son was awaiting him near there, cold in death, a look of agony overspread his face and, like one in a dream, he relinquished his place at the throttle to A.P. Josselyn, a hostler who had been sent from the roundhouse to take charge of it, and went over to the caboose where the body of his son still lay. The crowd fell back deferentially, and Mr. McCusker, with the arm of Mr. O'Herin supporting him, climbed in and knelt beside his boy, where he was when the ambulance arrived and took charge of the body to prepare it for burial, after which it was carried to the home, No. 1102 Washington Street. Funeral will be from St. Patrick's Church Saturday morning at ten o'clock, interment at Calvary Cemetery. The Denison Daily Herald Saturday, April 25, 1908 pg. 5 The funeral of James E. McCusker, the young son of James McCusker, who met his death from black damp in the well at Ray yards Thursday afternoon, was held this morning at St. Patrick's Church at 10 o'clock. Services were conducted by the pastor, Rev. Father F.P. Maginn. Interment was made in Calvary Cemetery. The floral offerings were many and beautiful, and a large number of friends joined the sorrowing family in this last service of the dead. The Sunday Gazetteer Sunday, April 26, 1908 BOY DROWNED Thursday evening, Jim McCusker, a lad, was drowned in the well at the pump station at the Ray yards. McCusker and a crowd of boys were at the well and had descended. McCusker ventured too far down and was suffocated by gas. He cried for assistance but his appeals were in vain. He fell to the bottom and was drowned. The body was recovered and carried to the home of his parents No. 1102 West Washington street. The father of the boy is an engineer on the M.K.&T. railway. The Denison Daily Herald Tuesday, April 28, 1908 pg. 1 CARD OF THANKS We wish to extend our sincere thanks to our friends, and especially to the members of Hiawatha Division, Mistletoe Division, Knights of Columbus, St. Aloysius Society, and A.O.A. Club, for floral offerings and kind attentions in our sorrow in the death of our son and brother. Mr. and Mrs. James McCusker and Family. Calvary Cemetery Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |
