Notes:
Easton Express, Friday, July 9, 1926, Page 1
Washington Young Man Gives His Life To Save Companion
John F. Spangenberg Caught By Express Train as He Stopped to Push Fellow Workman to Safety.
John F. Spangenberg, 21 years old, of Washington, N.J. a painter on the Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad, was instantly killed yesterday afternoon about 3 o’clock when he was struck by the engine of the Buffalo Express. He sustained a fractured skull and was dead when his companion found him beside the track. He was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Spangenberg, 9 Jackson Avenue, Washington.
The Morris county coroner conducted an investigation and issued a certificate of accidental death. E. H. DeVoe, of Washington undertaker went to Chatham yesterday and took the body to the morgue in Washington, arriving at midnight last night.
Spangenberg a likeable young man came to his death through his efforts to save the life of a fellow workman. The other young man succeeded in getting out of the path of the train but the express struck Spangenberg.
For the past three months Spangenberg has been employed in paining bridges for the railroad. He has been commuting between his home in Washington and the various bridges along the main line of the railroad. For the past few days, eh has been working on the bridge at Chatham. Every day about 2:55 p.m. the foreman on the job blows a whistle and the men working on the bridge get out of the way to allow No.5 (The New York – Buffalo express) to pass.
Yesterday on account of heavy traffic there were two sections to No. 5. The usual signal was given and the men cleared the bridge as the first section rolled past. The painters started to hurry back to their work when Spangenberg saw the second section approaching. He was with a companion and called to him, “Look Out! Here comes another section!” He shoved his companion out of the way, the moments he lost in performing that heroic act cost him his life for he was caught by the on-rushing train.
The express is due at Chatham at 2:58 but does not make a stop there. The engineer brought the train to a stop and the crew and some passengers leaped out of the cars to ascertain the cause of the stop. Nothing could be done so the train was again started on its way to Buffalo.
Spangenberg was well known in Washington where he was born. He was a member of the Presbyterian Sunday school and was interested in boy’s work in connection with the activities of the Y. M.C. A in Warren County. He is survived by his by his parents and two sisters, Mrs. Earl Creager, of Washington, and Mrs. Joseph Gerald, of North Branch, N.J..
The funeral arrangements have not been completed. |
