Officer Isaac Dilley was crushed between two freight cars when trying to clear people away from the freight yards.

At about 4:00 pm on December 13, 1894, Officer Dilley was chasing some boys and vagrants away from the Rock Island yards when he attempted to pass between two cars that were being switched onto a sidetrack and was caught between the drawheads. When the cars rebounded he jumped out, falling alongside the track and spitting up blood. His revolver that was strapped to his left side was bent and twisted completely out of shape. He was taken to a doctor's office and then to his home where he died at 6:15 pm.

Officer Dilley was buried at Odd Fellows Cemetery in Trenton, Missouri.