The Shocking Discovery of the Body of James McDonough of Greenwich, Connecticut
The headline read “Found Her Husband’s Body, James McDonough’s Mangled Remains Discovered by His Wife.” [1].
James McDonough worked as a gardener for Greenwich (Connecticut) philanthropist Robert M. Bruce. His wife, Agnes Loughran McDonough, saw him off to work the morning of 10 September 1905 and when he did not return, she went to town to look for him. Maybe thinking he stopped by the tavern after work, she re-traced his normal walking commute. Their house was near the tracks and James often took a short cut through the railroad bed. He “was found horribly mangled by his wife, about 3 yesterday morning [September 11] , in the cut above the Greenwich station.” [1]
One newspaper account said “[H]e was in the habit of crossing the tracks each evening and walked on the tracks so that he could see approaching train.”[2]
Apparently because of a train wreck in Port Chester, NY, the trains were running that night in the opposite direction “and one coming up behind struck him with fatal results.” [2]
Sadly, he was only about 48 years old and left his wife and two children, James Joseph, age 6 and Mary, age 2. [3] He also left a brother, Frank McDonough, also of Greenwich and a sister Annie McDonough McSweeney also of Greenwich. Obviously, his death was quite a shock to his family. Agnes never re-married and worked most of her life as a laundress in Greenwich until her death in 1946. His surviving children remained in and around Greenwich.
[1] “Found Her Husband’s Body, James McDonough’s Mangled Remains Discovered by His Wife,” The Daily Advocate, 13 September 1905, p. 3, col. 3; image copy GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed June 27, 2020).
[2] James McDonough Obituary, Greenwich News & Graphic (Greenwich), 16 September 1905, clipping, Greenwich Public Library.
[3] Connecticut State Board of Health, Medical Certificate of Death in Town of Greenwich, No. 4004 (1905), James McDonough; Department of Vital Statistics, Connecticut.
