Obituaries (July 19)

Grace Hartwell & Catherine Bentley

Two Women Killed at Crossing

Utica Saturday Globe, May 1915
 

Scene of Fatal Crossing Accident

The cross marks the spot where Miss Grace Hartwell and Miss Catherine Bentley, of Sherburne Four Corners, were killed at the Galena Station of the Lackawanna Railroad

 

Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]:  A crossing accident, taking as toll two human lives and that of a horse, occurred at the Galena station [North Norwich, Chenango Co., NY] of the Lackawanna Railroad Monday evening.  Train 804 was speeding north at the usual rate of 40 miles an hour, no stop being scheduled at Galena, when the engineer, Charles W. Haight, of Utica, saw the head and shoulders of a horse appear past the corner of the station, headed for the tracks.  He had given the regular warning signal, but when he saw the horse, blew the whistle again, shut off steam and set the emergency brake.  Mr. Haight realized as the train rushed on that the horse drew a carriage that was occupied and that the reins were drawn tight as he struck the animal squarely.  The momentum of the train carried it 800 feet past the crossing.  At a signal it backed up and trainmen and passengers picked up the lifeless bodies of two women found 50 feet from the crossing, placed them in the baggage car and carried them to the station.  The remains of the horse and the wreckage of a carriage were strewn along the tracks.

The story of the tragedy reveals that Miss Grace Hartwell, aged 36, and her maiden aunt, Miss Catherine Bentley, whose home was on a farm near Sherburne Four Corners [Chenango Co. NY],  had driven to the Galena station with a crate of eggs which they delivered to the station agent, W.C. Lindsey, just as the train whistled on the curve several hundred feet below the station.  The ladies were in a top buggy with the side curtains drawn.  The horse was young and afraid of trains.  Mr. Lindsay said he would make out the receipt for her later and cautioned Miss Hartwell regarding the train, though she was considered an expert driver and was in the habit of coming to the station twice a week.  Whether she lost control of the horse or from force of habit turned across the track, which here parallels the track of the Ontario & Western to go to a watering trough at which the horse was accustomed to drink, will never be known.  Eye witnesses who saw the carriage turned towards the track directly in the path of the on-rushing train attempted to attract the attention of the occupants, but could not.

 

Coroner E.W. Wilcox and Drs. Manley and Gibson were summoned from Norwich and relatives of the dead notified.  Later in the evening the bodies were removed to the Hartwell home at Sherburne Four Corners, where Miss Hartwell resided with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Hartwell, who were unable to go to the scene of the accident.  The daughter had always lived at home and had assumed much of the active management of the farm, her brothers, Alfred and Samuel, living in California and at Port Huron, Mich., respectively, while her only sister, Mrs. Frank Deming, lives at Chautauqua.  Miss Bentley was the sister of Mrs. Hartwell and was about 75 years of age.

 

While the crossing is regarded as dangerous it has never been the scene of an accident.  The highway crosses the tracks just north of the station, which shuts off the view of trains approaching from the south.  The Ontario & Western tracks run parallel only a few rods away. Engineer Charles W. Haight testified before the coroner that during his experience of 24 years as a locomotive engineer this was his first fatal accident.

 

Binghamton Press, May 13, 1915

The funerals of Miss Grace Hartwell and Miss Katherine Bentley, who were killed Monday evening when struck by the northbound Lackawanna train at Galena were held at the home of Sherburne Four Corners yesterday afternoon at 1 o'clock, The Rev. W.A. Trow of Sherburne, officiating. Burial was in the Riverside Cemetery at North Norwich.  Many Norwich relatives were in attendance.  Coroner Wilcox of this city has just completed his inquest into the accident.  Four of the train crew who were witnesses of the accident came to Norwich and gave their testimony to Attorney A.D. Gibbs.  All information goes to show that the accident was the fault of no one, the horse which the women were driving becoming unmanageable and dashing before the speeding train.

 

The Missing William Williams

Chenango Union, May 27, 1897

 

Several weeks ago the Union published the fact that a Dr. Williams had died in San Francisco, leaving an estate to this two brothers, one of whom was William Williams, formerly of Norwich, N.Y., and George Williams, formerly of Norwich, N.Y.

 

It was stated at that time that the George Williams was thought to be the husband of Mrs. Margaret Williams, of this village, and the Attorney who has the matter in charge here was satisfied that that was the case.  Future developments, however, point in another direction, and it is now believed that the persons wanted belong to another family of Williams.  The William Frederick Williams mentioned as one of the heirs, was a printer by trade, and was an employee of the Union office under the proprietorship of Harvey Hubbard and John F. Hubbard.  Leaving Norwich he became editor and publisher of a newspaper in the Mohawk Valley.

 

George Williams enlisted in the 114th Regiment, Company E.  He was a corporal and at a date which is unknown he was transferred to the reserve corps..  There has been a story among veterans that a George Williams, a member of the 114th, was captured by guerrillas and drawn to death, but if that story is authentic it undoubtedly refers to another Williams, since the reserve corps to which this George Williams was transferred was not exposed to guerilla warfare.

 

The father of George and William Frederick Williams, was James Williams, a harness maker, who was commonly known as "Paddy" Williams.  He had five sons, two of whom, with the father, died here in Norwich. The remaining three were George, who was in the army, William Frederick, and Dr. James Williams whose estate is now awaiting its lawful heirs.  On the mother's side of the house, the family were from Otsego county, the mother's maiden name having been Harriet Ludington.

 

Attorney Boyer, of San Francisco, the attorney who drew the will of Dr. James Williams, has been in town several days, investigating the case, and has obtained from the official records a substantial chain of facts connecting the William Frederick Williams, Printer, with the family of the deceased Dr. James Williams.

 

The Missing Williams Identified

Chenango Union, June 10, 1897

 

William Fred Williams, concerning whose present whereabouts there has been a very general inquiry for the last two months, and who, as told in the Union last week, is heir to an estate in San Francisco, has been identified.

 

Last week the Union stated that Williams was formerly an employee of this office, which he left a quarter of a century or more ago.  He afterwards was located in the Mohawk Valley and afterward at Albany, but after that no trace of him had been found when the Union went to press last week.  It has now been ascertained that he went from Albany to New Haven, Conn., where he was employed upon various of the city papers, being at one time foreman of the composing room of the Journal and Courier and later the Evening Union.  He was foreman in the latter office when he died, in January 1893, leaving a widow and two children.

 

As foreman of the Evening Union composing room he was well known to the present editor of the Chenango Union who was upon the staff of the Evening Union before coming to Norwich.  During all the inquiry concerning William Fred Willems, however, the identity of the missing man with the Williams of the Evening Union did not occur to him.

 

Mr. Williams was pleasant dispositioned, hard working man, in New Haven, and with the assistance of his wife constructed a large house near the College Campus and rented rooms to Yale students.  He was an ardent Typographical Union man and was at one time one of the leading spirits of the Typographical Union of the city.

 

Williams was traced to New Haven by H.D. Newton, of this village, and Mr. Newton represents the interests of his heirs.  George Williams, the other brother, was not the George Williams who enlisted Co. E 114th regiment.  That gentleman is still living and belongs to another family.  The George Williams who is interested in this case enlisted in another regiment, and was captured by Moseby's guerrillas, tied to a tree ande drawn to death by a pair of mules.  He was 16 years of age when he enlisted and left no family.