Man Who Had Worked for Several Years on Kenosha Lines Died Six Hours After His Injury at Hospital of the Naval Training Station.
Steve Rochnowski, age 23 years, and for several years connected with the operation of the electric railways in Kenosha and intrurban lines out of the city, died at the Naval Training Station at Lake Bluff at 12:15 o'clock this morning as a result of injuries received just after six o'clock Tuesday evening when he was thrown from the rear platform of a Chicago and Milwaukee electric car at North Chicago.
The accident which resulted in the death of the Kenosha man was on the the most unusual ever known to the managers of electric railways. Rocknowski was standing on the rear platform of one of the large cars of the Chicago and Milwaukee Company when the trolley slipped off the wire. The rope attached to the trolley had been coiled up on the rear platform where Rochnowski was standing and as the trolley pole flew up into the air the rope caught Rochnowski and hurled him through the window of the rear platform. He fell with great violence striking his head on one of the rails. The men in charge of the car hurried back and when they reached Rochnowski he was unconscious. As soon as possible, the trolley was repaired the train was run to the Naval Training Station where the injured was placed under the care of the surgeon? In one of the pockets of the injured man a letter was found which gave the first clue to his identity and a message was sent to his relatives in Kenosha. A brother hurried to the Naval Training Station and identified the injured man. He died just after midnight without regaining consciousness.
At the time of the fatal accident Rochnowski was returning to Kenosha after spending a day's vacation at Highwood. He was widely known among the railway men and early Tuesday he had gone to Highwood to spend the day.
Rochnowski was one of the best known of the men connected with the electric railways in Kenosha. He was a son of Leon Rochnowski and was born and raised in Kenosha. He was unmarried and made his home at the family home at 271 Caledona street. For several years Rochnowski was employed as a conductor on the cars of the Kenosha Electric Railway Company and his work attracted the attention of the officials of the M R and K line and six months ago he was taken off the local cars and given a run of the M R and K.
He had been advanced by the superintendent until he was considered one of the best men in the employ of the interurban company.
The coroner of the Lake county will hold an inquest over the remains of Rochnowski today and later will be brought to Kenosha. The funeral will be held from St Casimir's Church at nine o'clock Saturday morning and interment will be at the family plot at the St. George Cemetery. (Tombstone is located at St. Casimir.)