Herman Platz, died 1899

An inscription on the back of another copy of this photograph, one that belongs to another collector, identifies the man as Herman Plotz [sic], born 2 November 1848, died 21 May 1899. The Wisconsin Vital Record Index records his name as Herman August Ploetz, and on findagrave.com there's a photograph of his headstone in Green Ridge Cemetery [Kenosha] which records his name as Herman A. Ploetz. The headstone corroborates his birth and death dates as inscribed on the other collector's copy of the photograph.

According to the registration of his death, Herman August Ploetz was a 50-year-old labourer from Germany married to Ernestine Brandt Ploetz. He died because he was 'struck by [a] train.' The undertaker was Thomas Hansen of Kenosha.

The following report appeared in Kenosha’s Evening News on 22 May 1899, under the headline ‘DIED FROM HIS INJURIES’ and the sub-heading ‘Herman Ploetz, Injured in a Railway Accident Succumbs to Injuries.’

‘Herman Ploetz, the German section hand who was seriously injured in a railway accident on the Northwestern road north of the city last Thursday morning, died Sunday morning as a result of the injuries received.

‘At the time the laborer was injured it was not thought that he had suffered any injuries beyond a broken arm and some severe bruises, but a later examination proved that two of his ribs were broken and that the entire system was badly affected by the shock attending the accident. Friday morning the man began to suffer intensely and frequent internal hemorrhages [sic] showed that his internal injuries were very serious. He was slightly improved on Saturday but Saturday night he had a relapse which resulted in his death Sunday morning.

‘The deceased was 50 years of age and had lived in this city for several years. He leaves a wife and eight children. The wife and the children are all very delicate, and for this reason the shock caused by the death of the husband and father is even harder to bear.

‘Ploetz was a member of the German Lutheran church, and the funeral will be held from the church Wednesday afternoon.’

Photographed by H.W. Reith of Kenosha, Wisconsin.