Death came with startling suddenness and in awful form to James Mallon of Skaneateles Falls Tuesday morning when he was run over by a freight engine of the Skaneateles railroad near his home. Just how the accident occurred can only be conjectured, as there were no witnesses to the tragedy. It is believed that he stepped on to the pilot of the engine to ride a short distance, slipped off the narrow step and was crushed to death beneath the engine. His body fell between the tracks and both legs were severed near the hips. Had he fallen outside the rails he might have survived the terrible injuries, but by reason of the accumulation of snow between the tracks there was no earthly chance for a man in such a narrow compass and his life was instantly crushed out.
Mr. Mallon had started to get a pail of water at the brick block near the Ayrshire Mills, a quarter of a mile from his home. The water supply at Skaneateles Falls is meager and the well at the school house grounds where Mr. Mallon and many of his neighbors generally supplied their needs, was frozen up. The freight engine had just placed a car on the spur at the stone quarry and was hauling a car that was to be placed on the track leading to the Syracuse WallPaper Company's plant. The train was moving slowly and it is presumed that Mr. Mallon who had at times been employed on the (rail) road, and therefore was not unused to such practice, stepped on to the pilot of the engine to ride to the Ayrshire mills which is nearly opposite the wallpaper company's plant. It was the purpose of the train crew to make what is termed a flying switch with the car that was placed on the branch. Fireman John Fitzgerald alighted to throw the switch after the engine had passed and Michael Powers had stepped between the engine and the car to pull the pin, when he was startled to see a mans legs lying beside the rails. He shouted to the Engineer Michael King to stop the engine and the crew removed the body to the Ayrshire Mills. Later the remains were brought to Meagher Undertaking rooms in the village where they were viewed by Coroner Willer, who after questioning the train crew, decided an inquest was unnecessary.
Mr. Mallon was an industrious and respected citizen and his untimely death is mourned by a large circle of friends. Owing to his advanced age and to the fact that he was a pensioner of the Civil war he of late years had only worked when he felt so disposed. He was janitor of the schoolhouse at Skaneateles Falls and occasionally was employed as a section hand on the Skaneateles railroad. Some years ago he was a fireman at the Glenside woolen mills.
Mr. Mallon was born in County Meath Ireland in 1838 and emigrated to the United States when about 21 years of age. He located in Elbridge where he worked as a farmhand and soon after the breaking out of the Civil War he enlisted and was assigned to Company G, One Hundred and Forty-Ninth regiment, New York Volunteers. Soon afterward he was transferred to the engineering corps, where he served until the close of the war. Upon his return to the North he became a resident of the town of Skaneateles and for thirty years lived at Skaneateles Falls. Mr. Mallon was a widower and is survived by four children Mary and Margaret Mallon of Skaneateles Falls, Thomas Mallon of Elbridge and Edward Mallon of Auburn.
Funeral Service were held this morning at St. Mary's Church in this village and were largely attended. Interment was made in St. Mary's Cemetery.
Among out of town people who attended the funeral were Miss Nora Feely, Mrs. Kehoe, John Boyle and William Gannon of Auburn, Thomas Gallager of Syracuse and John O'Hara of Camillus.

The Democrat
SKANEATELES, N.Y THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1907