Macon Telegraph (Georgia)
23 January 1902
(Viewed online at GenealogyBank.)
WATCHMAN KILLED AT POST OF DUTY
John Alexander, Watchman at Railway Crossing, Met Tragic Fate Near Atlanta
ATLANTA, Jan 23 -- John Alexander, a watchman employed at the Bwllwood crossing of the Southern railway, five miles from Atlanta, was killed yesterday afternoon while attending to his duties as watchman at the crossing, which position he had held for a long number of years. The accident was rather of a peculiar character. When killed he was trying to save one of the city teams from being struck and hurled from the track by an approaching engine. The engine, however, hit the cart with much force and hurled fragments of it in every direction. Some of these struck Alexander and he was knocked down, his injuries being such that he died soon after the accident occurred.
For fourteen years John Alexander had stood guard at the Bellwood avenue crossing and many times had his watchfulness and care saved human lives. He had become a familiar figure at the crossing and there were few who visited that part of the city but who knew him. He always had a cheerful word to say to those who went over the crossing where he was stationed. People coming into the city from the country had become accustomed to seeing him and hundreds of farmers were used to his greetings and kindly salutations.
More than half a century John Alexander had lived in Atlanta and was one of the landmarks of the city. Many of the older citizens have known him for a lifetime.
He was known to be one of the most careful men that ever looked after a dangerous railroad crossing, and yet he found death at the spot where he had so often rescued lives.
