Incident Details
Cause of Death:Railroad Detective Charles Silversides was killed after falling between two train cars near Otis.
He was guarding freight train No. B.A.4, which was transporting a load of copper from Chicago, Illinois. A group of five tramps had boarded the train at Chicago and had given Detective Silversides trouble as he attempted to eject them from the train several times.
When the train pulled away from the Otis railroad yards, Detective Silversides advised the conductor he was going to go get the group and bring them back to the caboose.
As he attempted to make his way to the tramps he fell from the train and was run over. The train crew discovered he was missing when they arrived at South Bend. Another train crew was notified and located his body at 3:00 am near Holmesville.
Railroad Detective Silversides, from Chicago, was single and survived by his mother, brother and sister.