Muriel Power
| Date of Interment or Death | 02/27/1937 |
|---|---|
| Location | Old Fairview |
| Section | D |
| Block-Lot-Grave | 8-2-1 |
Obituary
Wahpeton Man is Killed When Car Leaves Rail Track
M.D. Power Crushed to Death Between Boxcars at Walcott Wednesday Icy Crossing Believed Caused Fatality
Leaves Wife and Two Small Children As Well as Mother, Three Brothers and Sister
Merle D. Power, Wahpeton young man was killed almost instantly Wednesday morning at Walcott when a boxcar he was helping to “spot” on a siding left the ails and collided with his own train. Power was employed as a brakeman by the Great Northern. He leaves his wife, Beulah, and two little children, Grace, 11 and Lois, 8. His mother, Josephine Power, made her home with the family. There are also three brothers and a sister.
Mr. Power was hanging from the front of a boxcar which was being place on a siding at Walcott. Magnus Olson, engineer, was switching the car with the freight engine when the car suddenly left the track. Oscar Nelson, conductor on the freight told Martin Hatlie, Richland county sheriff, that he believed ice and snow packed along the track caused the boxcar to leave the track.
The train of freight cars was west of the siding and Power was hanging from the west side of the freight car being switched to the siding. He was hanging from a stirrup on the car when the car let the track and rolled toward the standing string of cars. While the car did not come close enough to the string of cars to actually collide before it stopped, it rolled the doomed man between itself and another car. The heavy iron rod extending from the side of the car crushed into Power’s side and crushed his lung and broke several rigs. A bolt had penetrated Power’s skull on the left side and Dr. C. V. Bateman, who made the examination said that this probably killed Power at once. Power’s hips were crushed to a pulp by the force of the blow. His head was also crushed as was his back. Engineer Olson could not see the actual accident but he rushed up when he saw Power’s body lying between the cars. Power wasn’t believed to have been dead at that time although he passed away almost at once. Olson told the conductor that he believed that he saw Power’s hand move at that time. The dead man was placed in the caboose and brought on to Wahpeton after the sheriff was notified of the accident. In the absence of D.E. Lester, county coroner, Sheriff Hatlie conducted a brief investigation into Power’s death and allowed the train crew to proceed. The caboose with the dead man’s body was left at Wahpeton for a brief time until the body was removed. It was expected that no inquest would be held as the cause of death was entirely accidental.
Power had made his home in Wahpeton for the past ten years, working for the Great Northern railroad most of the time, when work was available. When unable to get work on the railroad he had found other means of employment but always going back to work for the Great Northern whenever opportunity presented itself. He was well known here and was a member of the local Methodist church. He was 37 years old July 29th of last year.
Headstone photograph(s)
Location
Old Fairview is located on the southern half of the cemetery grounds.