Chang Kim

Chang Wha Kim immigrated to Topeka, Kansas around 1900 to work for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. He was killed April 4, 1913, while cleaning an engine that was being turned on and was crushed between the engine and the wall of the Santa Fe Round House. His fellow employees took a collection to save him a pauper's burial and got him buried in Mount Hope Cemetery with a simple stone to mark his grave. Kim's death didn't even make the local newspapers until June 10, 1913 when Frank E. Forbes sued the Santa Fe Railroad for Kim's death on behalf of Kim's wife, Song.

Chang Kim came from what is now Cherowon County in Kangwon Province in South Korea. I am not positive about this because newspapers would just spell foreign place-names phonetically. In the Topeka Daily Capital, Kim's home is phrased "Whagaichon, Dawiree, Chull Won county, state of Kang Won, Korea." His marriage to Song consisted of bowing in front of witnesses followed by a feast. Song had to admit her marriage certificate as evidence when she was brought to Kansas for the lawsuit. Chang would send some money back home to Korea for his wife and elderly parents. Apparently, he didn't send very much and never wrote a letter to accompany the money. He was also apparently going to bring his family over to America when he was killed.

The lawsuit was asking for $10,000 to Mrs. Song Kim and, according to the Daily Capital, she was "an uncivilized native" from the "mountain wilds" of Korea and "had to be tamed" before going to trial. Her lawyer was Frank Drenning and a Korean student attending the University of Kansas was brought in as a translator. At the end of it all, Song Kim was awarded $2,000 and, presumably, returned to Korea.