Coroner's Inquest

From The Oakland Tribune, 20 May 1874


Coroner's Inquest

Coroner Mather yesterday held an inquest in the matter of the death of young Hooper, the man who fell into the Bay from one of the local trains on the railroad wharf on the 12th instant. The deceased had been around town during the day, and was on his way home in the baggage car. It is supposed that a short lurch of the car caused him to fall through the side doorway. Several bruises were on his body, caused, probably, by his falling upon the fence alongside the tract. The jury returned the following verdict:

We the undersigned jurors convened to inquire into the cause of death of a person found, drowned, in the Bay of San Francisco, on Monday, May 18th, do find that the deceased name was Joseph Kent Hooper, a native of the State of Maine, aged 84 years [sic], and that he came to his death by accidentally falling from a car in the local train on the 12th day of May, while said train was in motion and that no blame attaches to the Central Pacific Railroad Company or any of the employees of said train.



Joseph Becht, M. M. Howe, J. J. S. Wyckoff, W. Jordan, L. S. Bixby, T. M. Lamping, D. Vogt, T. A. Belus, R. C. Harman, J. M. Rosenberg.