J. Edwin Harris - Central Falls, Rhode Island
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member 401Photos
N 41° 53.466 W 071° 24.304
19T E 300472 N 4640482
J. Edwin Harris was born March 23, 1871. The only son of Thomas and Elizabeth Harris, he was killed on the Providence & Worcester Railroad tracks about three miles due south of where he is buried at Moshassuck Cemetery in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
Waymark Code: WM162VQ
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 04/23/2022
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member YoSam.
Views: 2

J. Edwin Harris, born March 23, 1871, is buried at Moshassuck Cemetery in Central Falls, Rhode Island. His granite, full-face slant headstone is engraved:

J. EDWIN,
ONLY SON OF
THOMAS E. & ELIZABETH C.
HARRIS.
KILLED ON PROV. & WORCESTER, R.R.
NEAR BRANCH AVENUE BRIDGE
PROV. R.I.
OCT. 29, 1890, AGED I9 YEARS
7 MONTHS & 6 DAYS.

And on the upright face along the bottom edge, it reads:

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.

The plot is in Section C, midway along North Avenue on the south side of the road, a bit closer east to Myrtle Avenue than Pine Avenue. The stone is aligned with another Harris to the north, Anderton to the south, and just west of his parents' stone.

An article from Newspaper of The Morning News reported the accident:

GIRDERS DEAL DEATH BLOWS

An Unusual Accident on a Railroad
in Rhode Island
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 29 -- Just before 10 o'clock to-night an accident occurred on the Worcester division of the New York, Providence and Boston road, near the Branch avenue bridge, in the northern part of the city, in which two men were almost instantly killed and another is probably fatally injured. A freight train inward bound was either broken in two, or was switching out upon the main tracks, when two cars came together with unusual force. One of the cars was loaded with steel bridge girders and two of them were displaced and swiveled around just as the Lonsdale train bound north came along the next track.

THE WORK OF DEATH

One girder first struck the side of the smoker, killing Daniel McDermot of Pawtucket, who was sitting by a window playing cards, and wounding Fred Bennet, baggagemaster at the Central Falls station, who sat behind him. The big beam rebounded and struck the next car, a day coach, where N.G. Peabody, whose residence is unknown, was killed. The train was stopped with one girder striking through the car and another lying across it. The train was but lightly loaded, or more would have been killed.

An approximation of the incident's location: 41°50'50.0"N 71°24'47.0"W.

Type of Death Listed: Accident

Cause of death inscription on headstone: Railroad

Website (if available): Not listed

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