An Old Engineer's Body in the Harbor, and a Hole No One Could Explain
John Hall had run locomotives for thirty years. Too old for the road, out of work for weeks, he was found floating in Tacoma harbor with a wound the coroner called a bruise.
TACOMA, June 18.—Special.—The body of John Hall, aged 65, who for thirty years was a locomotive engineer, was found floating in the harbor today by Thomas. Hall had been missing for several weeks. The man had been out of work for a long time, having grown too old for active duty. The cause of Hall's death is not known. In his right temple is an ugly hole, which some believe was made by a pistol shot. The coroner says the wound in the right temple was not caused by a bullet, but that it is simply a bruise made by striking something hard. Hall sent his watch and chain to some relatives in the East not long ago. Mr. Hall was well known in the New Tacoma section, where he lived several years. He has relatives here. He was a member of the Masonic order and of the Railway Engineers Union. He has worked for years along the line of the Northern Pacific railroad from Minneapolis west to Tacoma. He has a sister, Agnes DeMange, living at Rockport, New York. Coroner Parker has wired her for instructions.
“The man had been out of work for a long time, having grown too old for active duty.”
Aging out of work is not a new story: Hall's thirty years on the Northern Pacific ended with him too old for active duty and too proud to ask for help. The hole in his temple—bullet or bruise—remains a reminder of how easily a life can end unexplained.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.