Note from Clyde Williams

Young Man wrote, “I’m leaving in a Hurry, ” Just Before Death

I am leaving in a hurry. That is a joke.—-Clyde Williams.

This was the strangely coincidental note on a postal card which came to a Norfolk friend yesterday from Clyde Williams, the Norfolk young man who was killed under a train at Cheyenne, Wyo., and who wrote this postal and mailed it evidently only a short time before he was run over. Another note was received by the dead boy.s mother. This note was written after he had been hurt, and while he was being taken to a hospital. He succumbed enroute to the hospital and, it is said, begged those about him to end his suffering by taking his life. The remains arrived last night for burial tomorrow afternoon. Source: The Norfolk Daily News, Sat. August 25, 1906, page 8

How Clyde Williams Died

First Information Giving Details, is Brought Here.

Fell From Top of a Box Car.

Walking Along the Top of the Train, From Caboose to Engine, a Sudden Sharp Curve Made Him Lose Balance—H. L. Doughty Investigated.

Accurate and definite details of the death of Clyde Williams, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Williams of Norfolk, who was killed under a train near Cheyenne some days ago, were brought to the parents here today for the first time by H. L. Doughty, deputy for the Highland Noble order, who has just returned from Cheyenne, where he went for the purpose of investigating the death in connection with insurance held by the deceased in his company.

Clyde was in the employ of the Union Pacific railroad company at the time of his death, as he had been for some time previous. He, with two companions, left Cheyenne on a night freight train bound for Laramie, as they were due to go to work at Laramie the next morning. They started out by riding in the caboose. Clyde was acquainted with the fireman in the engine which drew the train and , and shortly after leaving Cheyenne, he started to walk from the caboose to the engine, over the tops of the cars, in order to ride with the fireman.

Thrown Off at a Sharp Curve

There is a very sharp curve in the track about two miles west of Cheyenne and it was at this point that the young man, losing his balance when the train swerved suddenly, fell down between two cars and was run over by the wheels. The lower part of his abdomen was cut wide open and his left leg was crushed. The accident occurred at about 2 o’clock in the morning and he lived until 6:15, when he died in a Cheyenne hospital.

He was immediately taken back to Cheyenne and, while in the baggage room, wrote a note to his mother and father, telling them of his approaching death. This note was handed by the dying boy to the baggage men but the latter failed to mail it as he had promised and the message only reached the Norfolk home a few days ago.

$65 in Money is Missing

Clyde told the physician who attended him that he had $65 in his sock, but no trace of the money has been found. Railroad men at Cheyenne say that the curve which threw Clyde from the train, will kill any man who is not well acquainted with the route.

Clyde’s companions and the railroad men under whom he worked all vouch for him as an industrious, sober, ambitious young man living a clean life, and the death was a severe shock to those who knew him.  Facts regarding the death were difficult to get from the railroad company and the information was only obtained by Mr. Doughty after hard work. Source: The Norfolk Daily News, Sat. September 8, 1906, page 8.