Person:Julia Wardwell (7)

"Woman Killed at Castle Hill She was Struck by the White Mountain Express This Morning Rumors That It Was a Suicide An unknown woman was killed by the train near the overhead bridge at Castle Hill at 10:30 this morning. The woman was struck by Train No. 21, the White Mountain Express. The remains were terribly mangled. They were brought to the Salem station, and are now at the baggage room awaiting the arrival of the medical examiner. The woman was dressed in a blue and white striped cotton gown. The remains were so badly mangled that identification will be difficult. There are rumors that the woman deliberately threw herself in front of the train. The police are at work now in an effort to learn who the woman is and something as to the circumstances of the affair." -The Salem News 07 October 1902

(Yesterday's Late News) "Dead Woman Was Mrs. Ferguson And It Looks as Though She Deliberately Threw Herself In Front of the Approaching Express Train Near Castle Hill The woman killed by Train 21 from Boston, due in Salem at 10:00 A.M., today, was Mrs. George P. Ferguson of 67 Ocean Avenue. The identification was made by her husband who, missing her from their home and attracted by the whistling of the locomotive, went to the Castle Hill tracks, where he learned that a woman had been killed a short time before. From there he went to the Boston & Maine baggage room where his fear that it might be she, was confirmed. The remains were removed to the Full's undertaking rooms. That it was a case of suicide seems probable. That she was suffering with temporary aberration of the mind is also stated by her family. Eye witnesses say that to them she appeared to plunge right in front of the coming train. For some days she had been walking about the tracks near Castle Hill, and according to her husband, some days ago returned home and remarked that she 'didn't have the courage to do it'. As a result of this remark a close watch has been kept on the unfortunate woman, but while her husband was in the garden this morning she slipped out of the house, never to return alive. William P. and Charles T. Buckley of 5 High Street court, saw the incident. They were engaged in painting the house of Mr. Marchant, a contractor at Castle Hill, near the culvert. They noticed Mrs. Ferguson coming up the track toward Swampscott. She was walking on the outward track, near the Castle Hill culvert beyond the overhead bridge. Just then Train 21 from Boston came bowling along in charge of Engineer Newhall and Conductor Kennard. The engineer saw the woman on the track ahead and blew his whistle three times while she was yet a considerable distance away from the train. Instead of stepping over upon the other track or down the banking to the other side, these men say that she seemed to step in front of the train. Whether this was done deliberately or through confusion they couldn't of course say, but to them it looked as though she stepped deliberately in front of the train. Almond O. Beckford, a carpenter, also witnessed the accident and it looked to him as though she stepped in from of the train deliberately. The train struck her and carried the body several hundred feet before stopping. The remains were horribly mangled, both legs cut off and her head crushed until it was unrecognizable. The trainman picked up the remains and took them on the train to the station, where they were viewed by Medical Examiner Atwood and Associated Examiner Simpson. From the railroad men in the yard, it was learned that she was hanging around the tracks yesterday and acting queerly. The deceased was between 50 and 60 years of age and leaves a husband, who was a police officer at one time; a daughter, Clara H. Ferguson, teacher at the Oliver School; and a son, Arthur E. Ferguson, employed at the Pepper Candy Co. in Peabody. She was a most estimable woman and leaves hosts of friends." -The Salem News 08 October 1902

1. ↑ Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records to the End of the year 1849. (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1916-1925)
   Vol. 2, p. 394.

   WARDWELL, Julia Ann, d. John and Lavina [Holt (Pace). PR629],[born] Nov. 16, 1844.
   [Note: PR629=Bible record now in possession of Miss Clara P. Wardwell]

2. ↑ Find A Grave: Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, MA, in Find A Grave
   Julie Ann Wardwell Ferguson.

   JULIA A.
   WIFE OF
   GEORGE P. FERGUSON
   NOV. 16, 1844,
   OCT. 7, 1902.

3. ↑ Massachusetts, United States. Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915
   [1].

   Deaths Registered in the City of Salem for the year Nineteen Hundred and two.
   No.: 339
   Date of Death: 1902 Oct 7
   Name: Julia (Wardwell) Ferguson / George P. Gerguson
   Sex: F
   Condition: M
   Age: 57 y. 10 m. 21 d. [birth calculates to about 16 Nov 1844]
   Cause: Railroad accident
   Place of Residence/Death/Burial: 1 2 3 Salem
   Occupation: [blank]
   Place of Birth: Salem
   Parents: John S. & Lavinia H. Pace
   Birthplaces of Parents: Saco, Me / Andover