Profile

Born: 11/21/1909

LODD: 3/1/1931

Burial:  East New Market Cemetery, Dorchester, Maryland

Fire Company: Cranston Heights Fire Company

John (Jack) Kridler Grafius was seriously injured on February 23, 1931, when the "Fire Apparatus Upset at Front & Union Streets" (Wilmington).  As the heavy engine rounded the corner at Lancaster and Union Streets, it's front wheels got jammed in a trolley switch.  The steering gear of the fire engine locked and the engine came toppling over, pinning Grafius and three other men.  He succumbed to his injuries on 1 March 1931, when "the fire truck made a sharp left turn, throwing off some firemen and killing Jackie Grafius".  The Cranston Heights engine was responding to an alarm in Bellefonte that was called in by a "practical joker".  Grafius was the stepson of Elmer J. Leach, warden of the New Castle County Workhouse.  Jackie was 21 years of age.