Union Cemetery

Smyth, James


BORN IN: Ireland
DIED: 5/4/1902
AGED: 70
CAUSE OF DEATH: Fracture of cervical vertebrae
DEATH LOCATION: San Francisco

MEMBER OF: GAR

PLOT INFO:
HEADSTONE INFORMATION:
STORIES:
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BURIED IN UNION CEMETERY WITH THE SAME LAST NAME:

BURIED NEARBY IN PLOT GAR:
CURRENT EVENTS:
  • 1836 Revolver (Samuel Colt)
  • 1845 Texas annexed into U.S.
  • 1846 Mexican-American War
  • 1849 California Gold Rush
  • 1850 California became the 31st State
  • 1860 The Pony Express
  • 1861 Abraham Lincoln elected President
  • 1861 American Civil War
  • 1865 Abraham Lincoln assassinated
  • 1866 Ku Klux Klan
  • 1869 National Woman Suffrage Assoc.
  • 1871 The Great Chicago Fire
  • 1876 Telephones (Alexander Graham Bell)
  • 1876 Baseball's National League
  • 1877 Phonograph (Thomas Edison)
  • 1879 Light Bulb (Thomas Edison)
  • 1901 Teddy Roosevelt elected President
OBITUARY ---------------

Los Angeles Herald, Volume XXIX, Number 216, 5 May 1902

DRAGGED FROM HIS BUGGY

Civil War Veteran James Smith

Meets Untimely End

SAN FRANCISCO May 4— James Smith, civil war veteran, pensioner and member of the Grand Army of the Republic, met a sudden death today shortly after his arrival in this city from his home in Redwood City. He was driving down Folsom street in a buggy leading another horse. When near Twenty-third street the lead horse took fright at something, shied violently and dragged the old man out of the buggy, causing him to fall to the ground, dashing his head against the curbstone. He was rendered unconscious and died as he was being placed in the patrol wagon, which had been summoned.

San Francisco Call, Volume 87, Number 156, 5 May 1902


SHYING HORSE CAUSES DEATH

Old Man Supposed to Be James Smyth Instantly Killed

A gray-haired man, supposed to be James Smyth of Redwood City and a Grand Army veteran, met with his death unexpectedly at Folsom and Twenty-thlrd streets between 12 and 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon.

Smyth was driving into the city in a buggy, leading a horse which, it is supposed, he intended to sell. When he reached the corner of Folsom and Twentythird streets the horse he was leading shied at something and the sudden movement threw the old man from the buggy. He struck on his face against the curbstone. He lay motionless, and a crowd soon collected. Dr. A. S. Keegan, who lives close by, was summoned, and said life was extinct.

Meantime the Seventeenth-street Police Station had been notified, and the patrol wagon was hurried to the scene. The body was taken to the City and County Hospital, whare Dr. Keegan's statement was confirmed and the Morgue officials summoned.

Deputy Coroner Brown found a letter in the old man's coat pocket from William Smyth, Carson City, addressed to "Mr, James Smyth, Redwood City, San Mateo County, Cal." In the letter It spoke of the receiver being a pensioner, and mentioned a friend who worked for the Sunset Telephone Company and lived at 2619 Sacramento street, upon whom he was asked to call when in the city. There was a Grand Army button in the lapel of his coat. He had $57.60 and a gold watch and chain in his pockets.

The man was about 65 years of age and 5 feet 6 inches tall. He had gray hair, whiskers and mustache. The horse he was driving was a chestnut, and the one he was leading a gray. It Is supposed his skull was, fractured by the fall against the curbstone, although the only mark is across the bridge of the nose.

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