We were always warned about this as kids. We were to never, ever to cross the river on a railroad bridge. I had some vague idea that a kid in Miles City had once been hit by a train crossing a bridge. I just found the story in Star.

His father was commander at the Radar Base. He and a buddy were walking across the Milwaukee bridge after fishing when the eastbound passenger train caught up with them. The one kid was a little way ahead and got off. The other kid, 13-year-old Arthur Jehli, was struck and killed.

It wasn't just a story parents told us as a warning. For some reason, I find that very sad, even 50 years after the fact.

Allison, Mrs. Cooper, the piano teacher here for years, lost a son to the railroad track also. She and her son both live here but she quit teaching in the last year or so. Lovely lady.

I have it in my head that my dad, acting in some capacity such as "deputy coroner" or something like that, had to go to a couple of accident scenes that were notable. One was the Frontier Airlines crash at the Miles City airport. The other was a boy who had been struck by a train.

I have no idea how or why my dad would have been "deputy coroner". I assume the deputy coroner fills in when the coroner is out of town. I know my dad was "Vice Justice of the Peace" for some time when Elsie Miller was the Justice of the Peace. Maybe it was that role that earned him the honor of being "deputy coroner".

The only other "deputy coroner" duty I recall him having was a man who lived on the north side of town who died in his home but wasn't found for a week or so. I imagine it wasn't a pleasant scene to survey.

You know, it is interesting to see the bridge there in Miles City. My Great Grandmother, Jessie Bronson lived there. She moved to Ferry, Alaska where there is the same type of bridge over the river to get to the little island.

I crossed that thing a few years ago when I went up there. I had my heart in my mouth the whole time. SCARY!

and yes, sad for the little boy.
Ellie