His Death In Florida

More Particulars of the Killing of Engineer Bross—A Singular Coincidence

In the Florida Mirror of Fernandina, Fla., of April 21st, there appears an account of the death of engineer Edward Bross, who was killed on the Sunday previous, by the derailment of the engine. He jumped from the engine, and his lifeless body was found six or seven feet away, under the trucks of the baggage car, his feet protruding from the mud, his head crushed and his arm severed. The Mirror says he “was a general favorite, and considered one of the most careful engineers on the road.”

In the same issue of the Mirror appears the following communication, headed “Was It Superstition?”

To the Editors of the Mirror:

The fate of engineer Edward Bross was accompanied by an unusual premonition. For some weeks prior to the accident Mr. Bross seemed to be despondent, and a lady in this city bantered him about his moodiness, to which he replied, that he could not help a feeling on uneasiness, for he had been troubled lately by constantly recurring dreams of accidents, in which he was a prominent factor; that he had tried to laugh it off and think nothing of it, but the dreams continued till he had become confirmed in the idea that he would soon be killed, and he could not dispossess himself of the idea. His lady friend told him that it was a childish idea, or at most only fit for a woman to entertain, all of which he admitted, but ended by saying that he would go with the next accident; that the engine he was running, No. 13, was an unlucky thing anyway and would kill him and so great was his fear that he made partial plans to go North on a Long Island road, but was finally persuaded to stay, and his death followed close after the change of his plan.

As a coincidence, in this connection, we will mention that a gentleman from the lower portion of the state, who frequently rides on the F.R.&N., stated to his wife, as he mounted the train that morning, that he was pretty sure to have an accident before he reached his destination as old No. 13 was attached, and he had never yet failed to meet with disaster when riding after that particular engine, and with it came the death of Ed. Bross.

The people of to-day are not very superstitious in the matter of premonitions or in the fatality of certain numbers, but the above statement is true in all its relations.

I offer no explanation of the fact as they occurred, for facts are sometimes stubborn things.

Fernandina, Fla., April 19, 1888.

Source: Port Jervis Union, May 7, 1888.