"Skivered Him into Atoms"

“Joseph Drennon was under the weather from the use of whiskey, and he undertook to walk the C & V Railroad below St Francisville.  He had too heavy a load to carry and took a rest, a very long rest; the cars came along and skivered him into atoms.”  

Joseph Drennon, a well-known middle-aged man was run over on the C & V RR Saturday evening, February 10 1880, about dusk, by the north-bound freight train about three quarters of a mile south of St Francisville.  Mr. Drennon had visited the town during the day, and had been drinking liquor freely, the result of which had thrown him into a terrible state of intoxication.  He was seen laying on a pile of lumber from 12 o’clock until 4 o’clock in the evening when he woke up and started down the C & V track supposedly going home as he resided somewhere in the neighborhood of Allendale. 

The facts were that he reached a point about three quarters of a mile south where he laid down on the side of the grade, used the railing as a pillow, and went to sleep.  The train rounded the curve running at a terrible rate to climb the heavy grade that it was approaching, and a body of a man was recognized by Mr. Yelton the engineer.  He reversed the engine, whistled down the brakes and sanded the track but it was all in vain.  The engine ran over Mr. Drennon, crushing his skull into atoms, only leaving his nose, mouth and left ear attached to his body.

The coroner was notified immediately, and, upon his arrival, the following named jurors were selected. Ed Alexander, John Childers, L G Pittman, John Horrall, H T Lovellete, John Haskell and Wm S Quick, whose verdict was that the deceased came to his death by being run over by a freight train on the C & V RR while he was supposed to be in a state of intoxication.  On his person was found a pipe, a plug of tobacco, a silver half dollar and a soldier’s discharge paper, terribly worn yet showing the name of Joseph Drennon Co A 62nd Il Inf.

Mr. Drennon was a well-educated man of deep reading.  He had a brother killed at Raccoon Bridge three miles below St Francisville three years ago when the train knocked him off the bridge into the creek.  It is rumored that Mr. Drennon had another brother killed on the C &V RR between Mt Carmel and Grayville but the correctness of that report could not be confirmed by the reporter.  Mr. Drennon had an uncle who resided in Mt Carmel and a brother, a sister, and his mother who lived in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He had two brothers in the army, one of whom was killed at the Battle of Shiloh. Joseph Drennon was buried at the Compton graveyard aka Allendale Cemetery, Wabash County Illinois with a miitary headsstone.

Civil War Researchers: Joseph Drennen enlisted on January 1, 1862, in Lawrenceville, Lawrence County, Illinois at the age of 19 for three years by Captain McCleave. He was mustered in as a musician in Company A., 62nd Illinois Infantry on April 19, 1862, in Jonesboro, Union County, Illinois and was mustered out on May 2, 1865, in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois by Captain Hall.