train smash

In 1892 Robert Bruce Henderson Munro was walking through the streets of Dunedin, after work, I think, when he somehow stumbled onto the railway line and was hit by a train.  It wasn't a complete train, but an engine being shunted.  He got quite a few column inches in the paper, though they weren't entirely flattering.  The article announces - almost in disbelief - that he didn't smell of alcohol - and that he lived with his daughter in Mornington.  In death he got his 15 minutes - or 15 inches - of fame:  it was reported in papers around the colony.

At the time he was 65, widowed, working as a gardener.  The only other piece of evidence I have about him is from Margaret's (his daughter's) death certificate.  He is listed as a bootmaker on that, but according to the paper was a caretaker at the provincial government buildings and latterly a gardener.

They found a wee bit of his flesh on the cowcatcher, but cause of death was a broken neck.  I'd like to report that he died instantly, but that was not the case.  He was breathing for at least three minutes after witnesses reached him.

He is buried in Dunedin - southern cemetery - with quite a few family members, including his wife Euphemia, around him.  The photograph suggests he doesn't have a headstone of his own, though, and my great-great-granny - his daughter Margaret - is elsewhere, in Timaru, with her husband, Peter Herdman.