Obituary – George Johnson
East Liverpool Tribune
FELL UNDER A MOVING TRAIN TO HIS DEATH
George Johnson Fatally Injured at Yellow Creek Station
TO BE BURIED AT SPRING GROVE
George Johnson, 18 years old, colored, was run down by a train on the Cleveland & Pittsburg railroad at Yellow Creek station shortly after 2 o’clock Monday morning (November 16, 1903) and so badly injured that he died in an hour.
Johnson was running to board the train which was under motion when he fell under the wheels of one of the coaches. His left foot was cut off above the ankle, and his left leg was crushed and bruised. Johnson was on his way to Irondale to work on the railroad construction at that point. He was accompanied by John Steele, another colored man. Steele lives on Steubenville street in Wellsville near the Vulcan brick works. Johnson’s sister, Mrs. V. T. Calloway lives in a part of the house Steele occupies, and Sunday evening Johnson went to his sister’s to spend the night so he and Steele could start together for their work on Monday morning. They intended to take the early train at Yellow Creek station.
Johnson overslept himself and when he got up the train was whistling for the shop station. Johnson and Steele started to run for Yellow Creek station and when the got there the train was just leaving. Steele got on the platform of one of the coaches and was almost to enter the car when he heard a cry for help. He thought of Johnson at once and jumped from the car to the ground, landing on a pile of slag and receiving many bruises. The train went on, and Steele began to search for Johnson and found him lying on the track badly hurt.
Steele got word to the watchman at the brick works and the railroad men at the Twelfth street station were notified. In a short time the injured man was taken to the Twelfth street station on an engine where he was attended by Dr. Noble but his injuries were so serious that his life could not be saved and he died a the station.
Undertaker Haugh was notified and the body was taken to the rooms of Haugh & Son where it was prepared for burial and later removed to the home of the dead boy’s stepfather, Robert Wilson on Fourth street near Broadway. The funeral will be held Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. at the home of Mr. Wilson. Rev. L. A. Upshaw will conduct the services and the body will be interred in East Liverpool where the body of the boy’s father and other relatives are buried.
The dead boy is survived by his mother, Mrs. Wilson, and two sisters, Mrs. Calloway, and Mrs. John Brekingham, both of Wellsville. He was born at New Brighton, Pa. Before he went to work on the railroad he had been employed by Contractor Rinehart as a teamster.