The Aug 8, 1901 edition of the Rhode Island Pendulum, page 5, has a story of a man from Auburn, Rhode Island who was killed in a very bizarre accident at a crossing, unbeknownst to the engineer.
It seems that the express was pulling out of East Greenwich station when a flagman at the crossing notified the engineer that there was a body on the cow-catcher. An investigation revealed that the man had attempted to ride a bicycle across a grade crossing at Cheppiwanoxette, where a freight train was passing the crossing going toward Providence. As it went by, the fast mail rushed along on the west bound track in the opposite direction. The wife and daughter rode across behind the freight and the father was in their rear. The daughter turned to warn him of the mail train but he rode in front of it and was struck by it. No one in the EG station noticed a body on the front of the train until it was leaving EG. of course, telephones were scarce, and there was no way to let stations down the line of the accident. So the poor man's body traveled all the way to the next stop and was not noticed until the train was leaving the station.
