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- Niagara Falls Gazette May 27, 1874 Pg 3:6
Drowned
Last Friday night a little boy about six years of age, named Martin McInerney, was missed from his home; The boys father saw him between four and five oclock in the afternoon. The boy was returning form school, and sat down near the Fourth Street Canal bridge to watch his father who was piling railroad iron near by. Shortly afterward the boy was missed, and his father made an unsuccessful search in the vicinity for him, as he had been in the habit of watching him when crossing that bridge and felt a little cautious when his absence was notice. Upon going home that night, Mr. McInerney found that the boy had not been home, and he at once suspected that the little fellow had fallen into the canal. Search was mad for him the next morning, and his body was found below the bridge through which he had fallen.
Coroner Krull subsequently held an inquest upon the body and secured a verdict in accordance with the facts we have stated above. The verdict also censured proper village authorities for not keeping the Fourth Street Canal Bridge in proper repair. Incorporated in the verdict was a statement by jurors of a visit made by them to the bridge and memoranda of the condition of the structure at that time. They describe the concern as being in a dilapidated condition which is certainly a mild expression that several of the planks are rotted out and that nothing in the way of guard rails to prevent any person from walking into the canal could be discovered.
The shameful condition of this bridge has long been the subject of comment in the village. Upon several occasions the GAZETTE has called the attention of the village authorities to the dangerous structure. Private and public comment and even broad hints concerning the manner in which poor Jerry Ryan met his death, unavailed to secure any attention to the matter from those who are supposed to control the village government. Another pretty plain argument has been presented to whomsoever it concerns, in this sad incident.
1870 Census states that his birth place was New York
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