Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1884-01-30
Singular Accidents.

II ono wishes to verify the saying that
"truth is stranger than fiction he needs
but to carefully examine the files OF
daily newspapers for few days. He
may select almost any topic, and in 8
short time he will be able to make a col
lection of incidents bearing upon it that
will prove to be both curious and inter-
esting. To illustrate this fact, take the
various ways in which certain persons
have been killed or injured during the
past year, as described in our columns
and in exchanges.
During the flood a steamboat ran
against the balcony of house at Kan
sas City, Mo-, and crushed to death a
man who was sitting upon it. James
Little, of Canton, Ohio, drank some
cold beer, which paralyzed his stomach,
resulting in almost immediate death.
Two young men in Adair County, Mo-,
agreed to be photographed with pistols
drawn on each other. The artist, while
arranging the position of one of the pis-
tolls, accidentally discharged it, and the
ball entered the lungs Of one OF the sit
tiers. Thomas j. Wharton, Of ST. ouis,
took up large oyster and said: "This
is the kind of an oyster Walter Brooks
choked to death on, tried to swallow it
and choked 20 death. Mike Maroney
entered core oven in a foundry at Pitts
burg, to warm himself. Another work
man, not knowing that Maroney was in
side the oven, placed a core on the truck,
ran it in, closed the door, and roasted
him alive. Johu Thompson and his
brother tried to stop dog fight at
Green Ridge, Penn, the latter throwing
stone which, missing the animals,
smashed his brother Johns skull. John
Lafuhuski, of Nantichoke, Penn, broke
bottle of whisky in his pocket, satur-
ating his clothes. He soon afterward lit
a match, when his clothes took fire, and
he was fatally burned. While on parade
at West Point, Lieutenant Archibald
Gibson was prevented for a whole hour
from lifting his hand to remove spider
from his ear. At the conclusion of The
parade his ear was full of blood. The
insect was not removed for two days, and
Gibson finally died Of inflammation of
the brain.
A Sheriff's posse surrounded the resi-
dence of a desperate thief at Pine Bluff,
Ark. The thief jumped from a window
and ran for the woods, with a crowd af-
ter him, the feetest of whom, being mis-
taken by the next Aeetest for the thief,
was shot by him. AS the Rev. Mr..
Petrey, of Rock Castle, Ky, was enter
ing his home he was followed by a hen,
which perched upon a hanging rifle.
The rifle, being iostled out of position,
fell, striking on the lock, and was dis
charged, killing the minister A boy
named Boart, at Do7er Court, England,
while eating some preserves, swallowed
the sting Of a wasp and died before he
reached the doctors. Louis Garthwait
was lowering a forty pound torpedo of
nitro glycerine into a well ut Rixford,
Pa. when the well made sudden flow,
struck the torpedo, and it exploded,
blowing him to pieces. A chimney
swallow filed the muzzle Of a gun of Mr..
William Suggs, of Dublin, Ga, with
clay, and when he discharged it the
weapon blew off his hand. A friend of
Lieutenant w. A. Moore at Creelmoo
snapped a cherry pit at him, which
struck the optic nerve Of his eye, caus-
ing paraly sis and congestion Of the brain,
and he narrowly escaped death. An old
man at Louisville aimed a kick at his
wife, but lost his balance, fell, ard was
fatally ipjured-a lesson to wife-beaters.
Were a novelist to present such an ar
raw Of accidents as happening to his
characters he would be laughed at, and
yet every one of them actually occurred.
Cincinnati COltjaerciQL