Killed on Tramway
James Tabb Loses Life by Runaway Cars - Inquest
censures Tramway Company
Weekly Register-Call
January 21, 1910
James Tabb of Black Hawk was instantly killed Monday
night, near the round house of the Gilpin Railroad company, on North
Clear Creek, above Black Hawk. The accident was caused by the
jumping of two loaded cars from the track, carrying Tabb with them, a
drop of about twenty-five feet into the gulch below. Death was
undoubtedly instantaneous, as deceased had his neck, back and both legs
broken and his body was disemboweled. The accident happened about
seven o'clock that evening, and was the result of deceased bringing down
two cars of concentrates from the Anderson mill on Winnebago hill, with
nothing but the hand brakes to hold them, and ahead of the regular
train, a practice which had been indulged in for some time and
fortunately without any resulting accident. The body of the
deceased was first taken into the round house, and Dr. Froid was
summoned, but nothing could be done for the unfortunate young man.
The body was found under one of the tramway cars in the gulch, but was
free from the car. It was afterwards taken charge of by
Coroner Hamllik and brought to the Harris undertaking establishment to
be prepared for burial.
A coroner's jury was impaneled, Tuesday morning by
Coroner Hamllik, to determine the responsibility for the accident, and
after viewing the remains at the undertaker's, the jury repaired to the
City hall. The witnesses summoned before the jury were Dan
Williams, Ray Thompson, Ernest Klein, John Tierney, James Winship, Louis
Pircher and Dr. C. M. Froid. The testimony showed that deceased
was employed by the Gilpin Railroad in the capacity of fireman, but that
it was customary for him to run down the cars of concentrates from the
Anderson mill, on Winnebago hill, ahead of the engine and with nothing
but hand brakes to control the speed of the cars. The cars
were taken from the mill at 6:40 o'clock, for deliver to the round
house, the end of the days labors. Evidently Tabb had
control of the cars until they reached a point near the Hidden Treasure
mill where the grade is steep and at this point it is supposed, that he
lost control of the cars, whether through the inefficiency of the brakes
or some other cause, which will never be determined. There
is a sudden short curve near the round house and at this place the cars
suddenly jumped the track without even showing scarcely any sign that
the cars had touched the ties after jumping the track. Tabb
and cars were precipitated from the high wall into the gulch, a drop of 25
feet, and there were no eye witnesses to the accident. Dan
Williams, and some of this family, who lived opposite the scene of the
accident thought that some cars had gone over the wall, but could not
see plainly, as it was dusk, but investigation showed them and other
volunteers that Tabb had lost his life. When Tabb was taking
the cars down, it was estimated that they were traveling at the rate of
six or seven miles an hour, and each car held about ten tons of
concentrates. Both trains come on down after Tabb took the
two cars, and the track was found to be in good shape and no fault could
be found on that score. A hasty examination showed that one
of the brakes was broken on one of the cars lying in the gulch, but as
to whether the brake was broken previous to the accident or caused by
the fall, could not be determined. The remaining three
brakes were found to be in good working order. Superintendent
Pircher testified that all the brakes were in good working order when
the trains were made up in the morning, and that the running down of
loaded cars without engines was done with the consent of the
representatives of the railroad company and that there had never been
any accident from that source.
The inquest did not bring out any real testimony bearing
on the accident, and after the examination of the witnesses, the jury
decided that they would visit the scene of the accident and determine,
if possible, any further facts. They went to the round house in
the afternoon, and after returning and carefully investigating every
point, they brought in the following verdict: That they find that
James Tabb came to his death on January 17th, 1910, at the round
house in Black Hawk, Gilpin County, Colorado, through an accident
[missing text] was born in Black Hawk and has one brother,
Frank, residing in that city, besides other relatives. He
was a steady and industrious young man quite popular and was a member of
Black Hawk Tribe, No. 84, I. O. R. M., and Central City Lodge, No. 557,
B. P. O. Elks. He had been in the employ of the Gilpin
Railroad for the past seven months. The funeral was held
yesterday afternoon, from the residence of his brother in Black Hawk,
under the auspices of the Red Men and Elks, interment taking place in
the I. O. O. F. cemetery. The funeral was largely attended and the
floral offerings were numerous.
