Word was received from Calhoun on Wednesday morning of one of the saddest accidents that ever occurred in the county. Ira Gilbert, a leading citizen of that place, was crushed to death by the falling of a brick wall some time after midnight. He had been firing a brick kiln, and becoming weary, laid down about three feet from the wall and dropped to sleep. Some time before morning the wall dropped and covered him with about three feet of brick, smothering him to death. Rev. A. W. Clark will conduct the funeral service at 10 o’clock Friday, and burial will be under Masonic auspices of which order he has been a member for many years. He was clerk of the Modern Woodman camp down there and carried a $2,000 policy. Mr. Gilbert conducted a blacksmith shop and implement store besides making brick in the summer, and was just getting into comfortable financial circumstances. He leaves a wife, but no children. His father, Len Gilbert, resides in this city.

#2-22 Aug., 1901 - The Pilot - Ira Gilbert Ira Gilbert of Calhoun was killed at his brick yard yesterday sometime between 1:00 in the morning and 7:00; just when, no one knows. Mr. Gilbert had commenced to burn the brick and had started the fire. At one o’clock he went out to tend it, expecting to remain till morning. It is supposed that he laid down beside the kiln and dropped to sleep. The heat caused the walls to bulge and when they gave way he was buried beneath some five feet of dirt, some of it having fallen at least fifteen feet. The canvas that has probably been used as shade lay over him, thus keeping the dirt from the body. The first alarm that something was wrong came when he did not come to breakfast. His foreman went over to the yard and reported what had happened and that Mr. Gilbert was not to be found. Willing hands were soon at work and in a few minutes his lifeless body was recovered. The funeral will probably be held from the home Friday morning at 10 o’clock, under the auspices of the Masonic order assisted by the Woodmen of which orders he was a member. He was Master of the Masonic lodge, and has lived in Calhoun much of the time for thirty years, and probably was as well known as any man in Washington county, certainly a better man, more open and frank in his work and action, never lived. When Ira Gilbert spoke, everyone knew that he meant what he said and that he would keep his word to the last sentiment expressed was never doubted. He leaves a wife, but no children. His father, Len Gilbert, was on his way to Calhoun Wednesday morning, and learned the sad news at DeSoto where the message to Blair had been caught from the wires. #3-26 Aug., 1901 - The Pilot - Ira Gilbert The funeral services of Ira Gilbert, who was killed last Wednesday by the falling in of the first layer of the kiln of brick he was burning, was held in Calhoun Friday. The Masons and Woodmen had charge of the funeral. He was master of Solomon lodge No. 18 and Clerk of the Modern Woodmen. Mr. Gilbert was also a prominent businessman. The services were held at 10 o’clock and the Masons conducted the body to the hall, where the services were held. Rev. A. W. Clark spoke there. At the grave the Masons took charge and had their funeral services. Mr. Gilbert leaves a wife, father, two sisters and a brother. He was forty two years of age and had lived in Calhoun about forty years. #4-29 Aug., 1901 - The Pilot - Ira Gilbert Ira Gilbert, buried in Ft. Calhoun, Nebraska cemetery today by the Masons and Modern Woodmen, was born in Iowa 42 years ago this August, and came to Ft. Calhoun when eighteen months old, and although once or twice in California and the west, and once a clerk in Council Bluffs, he always claimed this as his home, and some years since was a partner in the firm of Gilbert & Clasen, who carried on a wagon and blacksmith shop and implement business, and for several years has carried on business alone with Wm. Duncan in charge of the smithy, and last year purchased a part of the old J. B. Kuouny field and put in a pressed brick plant that has this year brought on his sudden demise. His father, Veteran Len Gilbert, now a resident of Blair, says that from early childhood he was energetic and apparently fearless and had he lived he probably would have done much more to build up his town and county. His family consists of a wife and an aged mother-in-law, Grandmother Towne. Among prominent Masons present were County Judge Jackson, City Marshal Rice Arnold and William Arndt, Blair; E. H Clark, Omaha and Thomas Ritchie, Florence. Rev. A. W. Clark preached the funeral sermon with Mrs. Clark at the organ, the choir being Henry Schwager, Arthur Bauman, Misses Grace Vaughan, Ella Clark, Lena Schwager and Mrs. Arnold of Ord. The Ft. Calhoun band kindly furnished the music for the procession. ~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

Find a Grave Memorial #18175498