J. I. Costner likely thought he was stepping out of danger when he moved from one railroad track to another.
The 65-year-old North Carolina hotel proprietor had been walking near Stokesland in February 1906 when he saw a freight train approaching. He stepped onto the neighboring track to avoid it.
What he could not hear over the noise of the freight train was a fast-moving passenger train coming up behind him.
The engineer had no time to stop.
Costner was struck and killed instantly, leaving behind a wife and four children.
Run Down By Train
ASHEVILLE, North Carolina. — J. I. Costner, aged 65 years, a hotel proprietor of Spray, North Carolina, was run down by Southern Railway passenger train No. 8, near Stokesland, Tuesday afternoon and instantly killed.
Mr. Costner was walking along the tracks, when seeing a freight train approaching, he stepped from the track on which he was walking to another track. The noise of the advancing freight train prevented him from hearing a swiftly running passenger train approaching him from the rear. The engineer did not have time to slow down, and the engine struck Mr. Costner with terrific force.
The body was horribly mangled and hurled to a considerable distance. The head was completely severed from the body, and the remains were strewn along the side of the tracks.
Mr. Costner is survived by a wife and four children.
Source: The Times Dispatch. Richmond, Va. February 23, 1906.
