An intelligent, worthy young man, son of L.K. Chapman, who was reared at Springboro, Pa., met a sudden death at Rome, Ashtabula County [Ohio], in 1876. He was employed by the P.Y. & A.R.R. Co. as brakeman, and when in the act of making a coupling at the place aforesaid he lost his life in the following manner: The train was making a running switch at a lively rate when Orson had to make a coupling between a box car and an open coal car, which was loaded with wood. The wood stuck out over the ends of the coal car, which in the hurry of the moment, in all probability, was not noticed by Mr. Chapman until too late. When the cars came together there was not room for him between the projecting wood and the box-car, hence the wood struck him on the back of his head and literally scalped him. Falling to the ground, the car wheels mangled his legs and arms in a horrible manner, and death was instantaneous.
Mr. Chapman was a promising young man, and held the esteem of all who
knew him. He was 23 years of age, and was to have been promoted in a few
days to conductor for meritorious service. It appeared, and was thought
at the time, that the company should have atoned, in some measure, for that
butchery; but the father of the dead boy thought it would not be the means
of bringing back to him his beloved son, and the matter rested.
From Pioneer Sketches: Scenes and Incidents of Former
Days by M.P. Sargent
Published by Herald Printing & Publishing Co., Ltd., Erie, PA 1891