The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1888-12-20
A SAD ENDING
OF A BRIGHT YOUNG NAN.
He Falls into a Kettle of Water and
is Scalded to Death.

The slaughter pen Of F. B. Wellons &
Co. is situated outside the city limits in
the northeast part of town, beyond Mr.. E.
Pages residence. On last Thursday after
noon, two little white boys, named Will
moth, went there and they saw a man s
legs sticking out of the large kettle, ad-
Joining the furnace, in which water is
heated to scald hogs. They notified sew
eral persons of their horrible discovery,
who came down to the slaughter pen and
found that the person in the kettle was Mr..
Robert W. Page. They were Mortified at
the sight and were afraid to take him out
at first, thinking it unlawful for them to
disturb the remains before the coroner held
an inquest. Mayor T.W. Glover, Mr.. John
Northcutt and Mr. Toll Wallace arrived on
the scene and they took the body out
of the kettle. There was about FIVE or six
gallons of boiling water in the kettle. The
right side of his face, arm and hand ap-
peared to have been the only parts of the
body immersed in the water and were bad
ly burned. The body of the deceased lay
on the rim of the kettle and was literally
cooked by the arising steam and heat.
Sheriff AT. Coryell telegraphed Coroner
Green at Kennesaw, who came down on
the evening train and held an inquest.
The evidence Of Judge Roberts and
George Porter. both colored, who were
slaughtering at the pen, was to the effect
that Mr.. Robert Page, the deceased, came
down to where they were at work about IL
o'clock in an intoxicated condition and
had a bottle half full of whiskey, out
ofwhich they were treated. These two
men say they left the slaughter house
about halt past IL o'clock and Mr.. Page
lay down on the platform, near the kettle
to go to sleep, and that is the last time
they saw him alive.
Two negro boys, named Towns, testified
that they left the slaughter house after
Roberts and Porter had gone, and that Mr.
Bob Page got up off of the platform and
said he would 60 TOO, and when they left
he was on the gate trying to get over, but
whether he succeeded or not they didn t
know.
The supposition is failing to get over the
fence, he went back to the furnace, stag
gered and fell into the kettle. The jury
returned the following verdict:
eve, the jury, empaneled to enquire in
to the death of Robert w. Page, now lying
dead before us, find from the evidence in
troduced, that he came to his death from
having fallen into large kettle, in which
there was some hot, scalding water, on the
18th day Of December, 1888, and we fur
Their find that said death was accidental !"
Signed W. l.. Barnes, Foreman; G. F..
B. Davis, Joe B. Alexander, B. N. Brown,
W. Fl. Covington, 81. A. Barnes, F. j.
Northcutt, P. T. Handy, Geo. s. Owen,
J. c. Sanges, j. N. Walker. j. NJ Whit
man.
The deceased was 35 years old, unmar-
ried, and the son of Mr.. and Mrs. E. Page,
family that stands high in the respect of
our people. The deceased was genial,
clever and Industrious young man, and
his chiefest misfortune was being addicted
to drink. This unfortunate habit, when
under its influence, seemed to render him
almost helpless His death was sad one
and deeply regretted by our citizens. His
burial took place Friday afternoon.