John and Ellen Murray lived near the Chestnut Street railway crossing in Bloomington in 1870. John was an Irish laborer and Ellen was the mother of four girls, all under ten years of age. On the last day of July, 1870 their seven year old daughter, Ellen, fell under the engine of a Chicago and Alton train at the Chestnut Street crossing near the western depot in Bloomington while running an errand for her mother. Facts are very scarce, but in one account the little girl's testimony was that the engine ran over her leg, and as she reached to retrieve her leg, the engine backed up and ran over her hand, mangling part of her hand. When the accident was first reported she was under the care of Dr. Hill. He amputated her leg above the right knee and it was thought that two or three fingers would be amputated. (The photo of Ellen (above) is the only one here of Ellen. All other photos are for the purpose of illustrating the various ways the Victorians dealt with the loss of a limb. )
Not only did this young girl survive this horrendous accident, her family brought suit against the railroad for her injuries in multiple trials and higher court appeals. They were represented by the Ewing and Stevenson law firm. The first jury awarded Ellen $10,000 in March of 1871. Despite the fact that this amazing award was made to a small girl, no real comment was made in the Pantagraph other than to report the award. The railroad, of course, appealed against the award. Adjusted for inflation, this would be an award for $182,000 today, and would have been a small fortune at the time. (Chestnut Street is the street just south of the Depot in the map shown here.)
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the verdict was excessive and remanded the cause for retrial. It was tried again December 1871 (8 months from 1st trial to appeal to 2nd trial!!) and an award of $7,000 was made. The railroad appealed again on the basis of incorrect instructions to the jury.
The matter went to trial again (#3) in Feb 1873 and the award was $4,500. The railroad asked for and received a fourth trial, at the circuit court level. The matter was tried again in June of 1873 and an award for $8,100 was given by the jury. It was appealed again, but this time the supreme court affirmed the judgment and the railroad was forced to pay (June 1874).
Ellen's adventures in the McLean County court system were not over. Some time before 1880 the family moved to Joliet, where John worked as a machinist. The family had been increased by five children -- two sons and three more daughters. In 1879 Ellen, brought suit under her guardian's name against William Hughes, who had been assigned as the trustee of the award. Apparently the award had been squandered by Hughes. It was unclear whether Ellen ever received any money that had been awarded to her, but Hughes was sued by multiple people, in Chicago as well as Bloomington.
Ellen never married, but always lived with her parents and later with her sister in Joliet, in a home their father purchased on Chicago Street. She was listed in the Joliet directory as a dressmaker in 1888. She died November 26, 1941, age 78.
The tenacity of this family in pursuing recompense for their daughter's injury is notable, as is the quick succession of trials and appeals! Equally daunting is the thought of this young girl growing to adulthood, sans leg, struggling to find an apparatus that would allow her some semblance of a normal life. (Once again, the photos here are NOT of Ellen, only the one at the top of the page. These are photos from a study in England of a shoe maker who made artificial legs of shoe leather.) The legs shown in these photos were almost certainly more expensive than the Murray family could ever afford for their daughter, or that she could afford from the income of a mere dressmaker.