The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1880-03-04
The sad Accident.

EDITOR CHIEF:-Please allow space in your
columns to state. as briefly possible the circun
attending the sad accident which resulted IN
the death of Leslie. the youngest of Mr.. E. n
Watkins. notice Of which appeared in your last Is
sue. Friday evening February 10Th, Leslie left the
school room. at the close of the afternoon session,
and arriving at home. saldled "A horse. as his
CUSTOM for short ride and had just returned from
the exercise to the stable his father came in from
the corDield with team. Leslie assisted in un-
hitching the horses rom the wagon and insisted up
leading them to water, down Mt well short dis-
from the stable while his father should attend
to the milking. The request was complied with. a
repetition of one which probably had been granted
many times during the past Winter, Leslie had
often shown himself perfectly trustworthy and COM
horses upon the place. Mr.. Watkins saw his son Mt
the well, Us he went into the house for the purpose
of getting the milkbucket; but as supper was al,
ready on the table, he concluded to eat, and had
partially finished the meal, when, bearing Lesies
foot-step upon the back porch, and knowing. from
the heavy footstep that something was wrong he
hurried to the door, and he opened il, Leslie fell,
but was caught by his father before reaching the
floor. In answer to his fathers inquiry where he
hurt, he replied that he Was not hurt, but re-
peated three times. PA, could not reach the halter
rope - and in the inquiry if he would not
lie down. replied, "Yes, pa, am sick, which were
the last rational words he uttered, until the follow
ing NOR ming Upon his return 70 senconsciousness,
from 9 A. NJ to p. ". the following day. he was I'M
able to explain the immediate cause or manner IN
which he received his injury: Your informant upon
graph may be to fact, still no one knows
with any degree of certainty how the accident &C.
cured, and can only conjecture as TO the manner,
from the attending circumstances. Leslie was last
by his father standing by the well, and holding
the horses. as they stood quietly drinking He was
next met at the door, as above stated and only con
scious of effort the halter of one Of the
horses, that had evidently escaped him; and also
that be was unwell and desired to lie down. An ex-
by the aid of a lantern, while awaiting medical
sstance from st. Joseph to assist DIR. Ashmead,
showed conclusively that there had been no pranc-
ing or jumping of the horses, but on the contrary,
that they had been turned toward the stable, and
had proceeded some fifteen feet, where Lesiies cap
was found. and few feet further on was the plain
pool of blood where he had lain. and the marks of
his hands where he had made quite a struggle to re-
gain his feet, and where he finally succeeded and
went in almost direct line to the house, with the
exception of frequent hats that he made in his des-
perate though noble and manly effort to reach the
house, and tell his father Of some effort attempted
but unsuecessfully The more probable cause OF the
accident among the many possible ones, il the fol-
lowing: At the well, the boy probably got on to
one of the horses as was his custom, and that In
leading the other he accidentally dropped the rope
of the one he riding, and that while reaching
for it, he dropped his cap which was but few steps
from the WELL and that almost Immediately he slip
ped from the horse he was On, IN order TO PICK up
the rope he had dropped, or was pulled on by the
horse he leading, and upon reaching the ground,
either kicked by Il one he was riding or beng
dragged to the ground, may possibly have been
stepped upon, thereby producing the injury. Tho
latter superstition would be the more plausible one
seeming to indicate that it must have been power
full kick delivered a direct horizontal line at
right angles to perpendicular or upright position
of the body. But had this been the case, the body
in falling would most naturally have shown marks
upon the loose ground in q reverse position from the
one in fact which was with the head towards the
stable, and the same impression made repeatedly, a.
the little fellow moved towards the house.
The extremely difficult and dangerous operation
of trephinng most successfully taccomplshed By
Drs. Heddens & Son, of st Joseph, assisted by DIR.
Asll ue n
their patient rallied after, and WAS semi-eon-
scious froIH A. N. to P. NJ, as before mentioned
From reliable statistics at hand, not more than -
per cent of of skull fracture OF such nature rs
to require a surgical operation of this kind ever re-
but owing TO the excellent constitution oil the
boy, and his strong vitality. there would have been
some hopes of his ultimate recovery had il not been
for extrayasaied blood lodged somewhere on the
membrane iuclosing the lower part Of the brain,
which could only lie reached by of absorbents
which. owing to the terrible shock the system bad
received was impossible. From p. N. on Saturday
until his death, he remained in comatose state, eN
cept intervals there would be partial semi
attended by more or less restlessness,
occasiOncd by suffering.
Here drop the matter, having stated all that Is
known. and conjectures can add no certainty But
before leaving this subject wish to state that no
possible blame can attach itself to Mr.. Watkins,
il evident from the fact that Leslie. at the age OF
years, took the premium for boys riding, at our
County Fair, when several of his competitors were
much older and larger than himself. Since then he
has been accustomed to riding aud driving. accom-
panied by members Of the family; and during the
last year, has proved himself fully competent to
manage and take care of any horse or team ON the
place. Leslie had been in the habit of feeding this
particular taam the greater part of the Winter
They were both gentle, and never had shown any
restessness when being handled or fed In conelu-
sion | will repeat YOUR announcement of Leslies
death. with tue simple correction that he died at
half past seven Tuesday evening; was buried Thurs,
services at the residence Of Mr. Watkins, conducted
by Rev. st. John and Rev. Amos FRIEND.