Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1933, October 26 - Man Leaps in Front of Train at Navan, CPR., Montreal and Ottawa sub., one fatality.

Ottawa Citizen 27 October 1933 Man Leaps On Railway Tracks As Train Near. Instantly Killed at Navan Victim Unidentified and Believed to Have Been Recently in Ottawa. An unidentified man, either resident or a recent visitor to Ottawa, was instantly killed when he stepped .in front cf the Montreal Ottawa C.P.R. passenger train at Navan at 11.25 o'clock yesterday morning. A Jury was summone under Coroner Martin Powers of Rockland and after the members had been sworn in the hearing o evidence was adjourned until Monday evening, Nov. 6, at 8 o'clock at Navan. The description of the dead man is given as height, 5 feet 8 inches weight, 150 pounds; age, 30 to 35; well dressed and muscularly built. A search of his pockets showed that all identification tags of maker and all letters and other means of identification had been removed. The only marks that remains were the name of a hat shop in Ottawa inside his hat which was very new and the letter "C" on the bucke! of his belt. Newness of the hat is: given for believing that he had recently been in Ottawa. The members of the train crew Engineer J.P. Chisholm, and Conductor C. Neil, both of Ottawa stated that they saw the man standing beside a rail stand a short distance west of Navan and that he waited there until the engine was about 30 feet away and then made a running leap in front of the train which could not be stopped in time to avoid hitting him. The body was taken to Tanner and Shaw's undertaking parlors at Vars. No identification had been made up to noon today. Ottawa Journal 7 November 1933 Nicholson's Death Found to be Accidental Navan, Ont,  Nov. 6 - a verdict of accidental death with no blame attached to anyone, was returned by a coroner's jury, sitting under Dr. Martin Powers, of Rockland, which investigated the circumstances surrounding the death of Earl Nicholson, 23, of Hammond, Ont. Nicholson was killed by a C.P.R. Ottawa-bound express train two miles west of this place on October 26th. The engineer and fireman of the train by which Nicholson was killed, were present and gave evidence. Six other witnesses were called. Nicholson, who had been boarding with a married sister in Ottawa for the past two years, disappeared the Tuesday prior to his death. At the time of the fatality, there was nothing in his clothing to establish his identity, and his name was not known until two days later, when the relatives viewed the body in the funeral parlours at vars, Ont.

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Updated 3 March 2021