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April 15, 2010

Graveyard Rabbits Carnival: Broken to Shivers

The topic for the May 2010 edition of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival is: Cause of Death.

This is my entry. Poor Joseph!

Vollick, Joseph, News, appeared in Canadian Champion, 17 Jun 1869, page 2, column 3

FATAL ACCIDENT. - A fatal accident occurred on the 10th inst., at Mr. Hadden's mill, Nelson. A man by the name of Joseph Vollick was killed. It appears that he had been engaged at work on this mill for some time, acting in the capacity of fireman, and yesterday while in the act of throwing off the pump belt he was caught by it, and whirled around the main shaft at the rate of two hundred and forty times per minute. When they got the engine stopped his body was a mutilated mass, the bones of his legs were broken to shivers.

An inquest was held the same day on the body by Dr. Richardson, coroner, and a verdict of accidental death was given. No blame could be attached to either Mr. Hadden or Mr. Frazer, the foreman, as the mill is the same as any other mill, having a number of belts or straps, which always produce danger in dealing with them while in motion. He leaves a wife and five children to mourn his untimely end.

2 comments:

Cyndi Beane Henry said...

Oh my! Gave me the "shivers" reading what a terrible to go! I am sure this happened more than we can ever realize!

Anonymous said...

What a wild article! You never know what you're going to find when you research those archives.

I really enjoy your blog, and am passing along the "Ancestor Approved" award to you. It was given to me, and one of the requirements is to pass it along to other genealogy bloggers. You can pick up the graphic for the award at my blog at The Ancestor Blog. Enjoy it!

Stephanie