Year of 1900, Utah Newspaper Article's Reports "NARROW ESCAPE FROM DEATH" of Samuel LeRoy Hepworth

Samuel LeRoy Hepworth b 10 July 1881 - d 5 Oct 1946  

   Samuel LeRoy Hepworth was the third  child and only son of Samuel Hepworth and Mary Jane Powell. He was seventeen years old when his father died (1898) and nineteen when his mother died in 1900.  In October of 1900 Roy (the name he was known by) had a near death accident. 
I thought all three articles were so interesting that I have posted all three.   The first article was in:

The Deseret News on 18 Oct 1900

NARROW ESCAPE FROM DEATH

   Roy Hepworth, a young man nineteen years of age, had a narrow escape from a frightful death shortly after nine o'clock this morning upon the tracks of the Oregon Short Line on North Temple street. 

Hepworth was driving a delivery wagon, belonging to Hepworth & sons, the butchers, attached to which were two horses, going in a westerly direction on North Temple and Fourth West streets, when the tail end of the rig he was riding in was struck by an Oregon Short  Line train coming from the North.  The young man was thrown from his seat, clean over the horse into City Creek under the bridge and when taken out was found to have sustained a severe scalp wound, his right leg badly mashed and his left shoulder, it is thought, thrown out of place.  The horses were also badly bruised as a result of the accident, while the wagon was made into kindling wood. 
    Young Hepworth, who is an orphan, was conveyed to the resident of his uncle,[my great grand parents home] No. 757 West 
First North street, where he received attention from Dr. Pinkerton. At last accounts he was doing as well as could reasonably be expected. 
    John Bentrod, proprietor of a saloon, was an eye witness of the accident.  He declares that the man in charge of the gates at the place where the accident occurred, deliberately closed them on Hepworth, the  team and wagon, closing them in and preventing them getting out.  
   Bentrod further said it was nothing short of a miracle that Hepworth wasn't killed outright.  

Salt Lake Herald  19 October 1900

YOUNG TEAMSTER'S MIRACULOUS                           

ESCAPE FROM FRIGHTFUL DEATH   

                       __________________________________________

   Roy Hepworth, a 19-year-old boy, in the employ of the Hepworth Meat company as deliveryman, had a narrow escape from being crushed by an incoming Short Line train at the North Temple street crossing, near Fourth West, about 9 o'clock yesterday morning. 

   The young man, unable to see the approaching train on account of some intervening cars, and not hearing the warnings of the watchman, drove his team onto the track in front of the engine before he discovered his danger.  He attempted to turn off the track, but the engine struck the wagon, throwing it and the team and driver ten or twelve feet into the rocky bottom of the City Creek aqueduct.  Hepworth was badly cut and bruised, but is not dangerously injured. 

   An employee of the railroad who happened to be near when the accident occurred, ran to Hepworth and found him unconscious.  The boy was taken to the home of his uncle, James Hepworth, 757 West First North street, Dr. Pinkerton being called.  He said Hepworth was not dangerously injured.

   Hepworth and his relatives blame the railroad company for the accident, but several eye-witnesses say that it was not due to any negligence on the part of the company.  Hepworth says that the guard gates were up when he drove in, but they were put down immediately afterwards.  He declares that he did not hear any warning from the tower man until he was already on the track.  He said he could not see the train on account of a line of cars in front of him. 

   The tower man, John Carlson, says that Hepworth drove under the gates as he was putting them down, and that he yelled and motioned at the boy to stop, but the latter failed to do so. 

On the same day  19 October 1900 in the Ogden Paper this was reported.

Ogden Examiner 

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE  

   That Roy Hepworth, aged 19 years, is not now a corpse is almost a miracle.  While driving a delivery wagon of Hepworth & Sons, the butchers, yesterday morning, at about 8:30 o'clock, he attempted to cross the tracks of the Oregon Sort Line at the intersection of North Temple and Fourth West streets, when his wagon was struck by a train coming in from the north, and the young man was thrown out into the ditch.  Several people who were near at hand ran to assist Hepworth, and when he was taken out of the aqueduct it was discovered that he had several severe wounds about the head and shoulders and other parts of his body were cut, or lacerated.  He remained conscious, however, and as he is of a very strong constitution it is believed he will be all right again in a very short time.  The wagon was badly damaged and the horses were considerably bruised.  

From these three articles this is what I learned about Samuel LeRoy:

1) He went by the name 'Roy'.

2) He was nineteen years old in 1900.
3) He was a orphan 

4) He worked for Hepworth & Sons

5) Relationship to James Hepworth (Nephew)

6) He was of a 'strong constitution' (and I think he was.)

Newspaper search is laborious and I love it.  There is so much you can find about ancestors through the newspaper. There are: 

1. Birth Announcements  
2. Wedding announcements
3. Death notices and obituaries.
4. News stories
5. Legal 
6. Advertisments    (I found in an Insurance  Advertisement in 1872 where $3000.00 was left to his wife when he died: Charles Kidgell to Sarah Ann Cashmore Kidgell) and the list goes on. 
    Renée