Chenango Union, Norwich, NY, October 5, 1876
Sudden Death Near Earlville [Madison Co. NY]
The Utica Herald gives the following particulars of a singular death near Earlville, on Wednesday night of last week:
"Wednesday night the engineer of the Utica express on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad saw a man standing within four inches of his engine as he was coming north, between Sherburne and Earlville. The man seemed to step off the track just as the train approached. Thursday morning the body of a man who had been seen at Earlville the preceding day, was found lying near the side of the track. He acted strangely and was believed to be insane. A coroner's inquest was held, but no injury was found upon the body, except a scratch that was probably caused by his fall. The postmortem examination disclosed the fact that a small, sharp-pointed piece of bone was attached to the outer covering of the skull and extended down into the brain. This was undoubtedly the cause of his insanity. Death was probably caused by fright or heart disease. Papers on his person gave his name as C. Chilson. He had relatives at home and Cazenovia, and his mother resides at Canastota. As his family was sick and the deceased had no property, he was buried at Sherburne [Chenango Co. NY]."
The Sherburne News says that it was ascertained the Chilson was in Earlville the day previous very ill. His singular appearance inducing the belief that he was insane. At the depot he called for paper and ink and did some writing, which was found on the body when it was examined. He wore a French yoke shirt which was observed to be the wrong side in front. Twenty-five or thirty apples were found in pockets of deceased and stuffed inside of his vest. There was some evidence that his struggle in death was a severe one, but no indications of violence.
Sherburne News, Sherburne, NY, October 7, 1876
Coroner's Inquest
The inquest on the body of Charles Chilson, of which mention was made last week, was adjourned to Monday the 2d inst., Isaac Plumb, Albert R. Gladwin, John B. Wilbur, William R. Walker, Albert C. Parker, Rush W. Carrier, Benjamin F. Matteson, and Archibald Whitford were sworn as jurors. Henry C. Lyman Coroner.
Geo. F. Merrills, being sworn testified, that he works for Jacob G. Reese near Earlville; Thursday morning, Sept. 28, was going to work in company with Jacob [John] Carrol; was on the road running north and south from Earlville, through the Reese farm; discovered the body of a man lying on the eastside of the road near the top of the hill north of Reese's house, about two miles from the village of Earlville; was dead; he lay with his head down the hill on one side of his face; off the traveled part of the road outside of the wheel track; it had the appearance of his having struggled considerable; this was in the town of Sherburne; the grass and the ground had the appearance of his having fell twelve feet from where we found him; the grass was trampled down; he looked as though he had laid there some time; did not see any evidence of any violence having been used on his person; I did not disturb the body; I immediately came down and notified the coroner at Sherburne; the hat was lying near his head and his clothing all on; that was the first I saw of him when I found him dead; he had forty-one apples on his person and lying behind him, all on his person except two; the apples were very hard, not fit to eat; I saw the marking on his clothing; it was C Chilson; I think it was Wednesday, instead of Thursday that I found the body.
John Carrol, being sworn, testified that he works for Mr. Reese, was with Merrills when the body was found and corroborated the statement of Merrills throughout.
George W. Shaw sworn: Is an employee on the D.L.&W.R.R.; resides opposite the depot in Earlville; have seen the body in the coffin, and know him to be the man I saw in the forenoon at Earlville station, Wednesday the 27th; he passed my house about 6:15 in the afternoon going towards Sherburne on the track; saw him fall from a bench on the depot steps that forenoon on the platform and picked him up; he was picking kernels of corn and eating them; said he was not hungry; Mr. Gross asked him if he would eat and he said he would; he did not appear to have good use of his left arm and leg; said he had not been drinking; said sometimes a person got down and could not get up; he ate a good hearty meal; do not think when he fell off the bench he could get up alone; never saw him before Wednesday.
David G. Stafford sworn: Is a constable in Earlville; has seen Mr. Chilson in the coffin; is the same person I saw at Earlville Tuesday the 26th; saw him in a saloon; was brought there for me to take charge of; I could not get any place for him to stay; he had something to eat in the saloon kept by Frank Goshaw; I left him in Ike Brown's hotel about 10 o'clock Tuesday evening; he said he come from Chicago last April, the 16th or 19th; that he had been among his friends in the town of Madison; said he went about three weeks before to his brother-in-law near Cazenovia, by name of Clark, about four miles from there; that his sister brought him to the depot to take the train; said his name was Charles Chilson; I asked him which house he put up at in Earlville and he said "down here on Fifth Avenue, they used to call it Milk Street until within the last three years;" I received the impression from talking with him that he was insane; that was the last I saw of him.
Devolson Willcox testified to seeing deceased about the mill at Earlville, Monday or Tuesday evening; he was told to go away, as the dog might bite him; his actions made witness think he was crazy or a fool; he came back again to the mill and winters then took him to Stafford.
William Cassels sworn: Saw deceased pass his house about 6 o'clock Wednesday morning; he had a cane and limped.
William P. Beach sworn: Live about 3/4 mile from where the body was found; heard a scream as if a man in distress on the railroad track; took a lantern and with another man went to search but did not see anyone; heard the scream three times.
Andrew S. Douglass being duly sworn, testified as follows: "I am a practicing physician and surgeon at Earlville, N.Y.; I have seen the body of the deceased here in the coffin; I know it and recognize it to be the body of Charles Chilson; I have known him for as much as thirty years, since we were boys; he resided in the town of Fenner, Madison County; he was brought up by David Hess; he lived with him I know for several years; I lived within about two and a half miles of him at that time; should think his age was about forty-four or five, he was about my age; he lived with Hess until he was about twenty-one; they educated him well; he went to Cazenovia to school; think when he was twenty or twenty-one he commenced teaching; he taught two for three seasons; he went from there to Chicago, and read law; he was admitted to practice; was in real estate and broker business; I then lost sight of him until last May; saw him then in Cazenovia; he was a smart business man; it must have been sixteen or eighteen years ago when he went to Chicago; he came to visit one time at Mr. Hess's; when I met him last in the spring he looked different from what he used to; I asked my bother-in-law what was the matter with him; he said he was deranged; from his actions and deportment I thought he was evidently deranged; he was married in Chicago, and lost his wife; was burned out at the large fire there and people thought that was the cause of his losing his reason.
Elisha S. Lyman being duly sworn, testified as follows: I reside in Sherburne; am a practicing physician and surgeon; have been for the past forty-two years; I saw the body of this Chilson where it lay before it had been removed; as he lay, from appearances, should think he was paralyzed on his left side; he lay partially on his left side; he had not, I should think, struggled hard, from his retaining the quantity of apples he had on his person; don't think the apples he ate had any effect upon him; his limbs were rigid; at time I found him, his head lay down the hill; nothing unusual in his countenance for a person dying in that position; there was no blood on his head only a little scratch over his right ear; it was of no consequence; I made a postmortem examination of the body with the assistance of Charles L. Easton, Jr. at the Medbury Hotel, in the village of Sherburne, on Friday morning, the 29th of September, we found no external marks of violence on his body; was examined his throat, heart and lungs, stomach, liver and intestines, found no marks of injury or disease; on removing the scalp and sawing through the skull on the back part of the right side, under the back part of the parietal bone, found some dark blood, two or three tablespoon full, which run out on sawing the bone; there was no blood in any of the sinuses; on removing the dura mater the surface of the brain looked healthy; in the dividing membrane of the hemispheres was a deposition of bone not connected with the cranium, but attached to the part of the dura mater (the falx cerebri) which divides the two hemispheres; one portion of this was one and quarter inch in length; could not see any place in the brain that showed irritation from these; the brain was a very firm brain, which is common to lunatics; I judged that insanity might be expected to follow the formation of this bone, owing to the pressure produced by them on the brain.
Verdict of the Jury, State of New York, Chenango County, ss.
At an inquest indented and taken this second day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, for the People of the State of New York, in the town of Sherburne, in said County, before Henry C. Lyman, one of the Coroners of said county, on view of the body of Charles Chilson, then and there lying dead in the village of Sherburne, upon the oath of Isaac Plumb, Albert R. Gladwin, John B. Wilbur, William R. Walker, Albert C. Parker, Rush W. Carrier, Benjamin F. Matteson, Archibald Whitford, good and lawful men of said County, who being sworn and charged to inquire how and after what manner the said Charles Chilson came to his death, say, upon oath aforesaid, that he was found lying dead in the highway near the house of Jacob Reese, in the Town of Sherburne, County of Chenango, and that he had no mark of violence appearing upon his body; And so the said jurors upon their oaths aforesaid, say that the said Charles Chilson died from exposure.
Henry C. Lyman, Coroner
No comments:
Post a Comment