The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-01-17
HORRIBLE ACCIDENT
w. W. Reynolds OF Wabash Avenue Killed BY
an Electric Wire Last Night


A deplorable accident occurred in this
city last evening. in which W. ". Rey-
! holds Of 525 North Wabash avenue lost his
/ life.
Mr.. REYNOLDS was in the employment of
i the Keith & Perry coal company in the
/ capacity of teamster. At 5:45 n. m. he
arrived nc the house OF Madam Hall on
/ Wichita street with ton OF coal. and
leaving the team stand in the back yard
he entered the house by the rear coor TO
get the receipt for the delivery Of the co1i
/ signed. On leaving the house for the pur-
F.! pose OF emptYing the coal into the base
ment he saw loose wire which DISTRACTED
( his passage. Thinking, no doubt. it was a
/ telephone wire, he took hold OF it and be-
gan rolling it up as he went down the
steps and waen he touched the ground the
shock that ensued knocked him down
and instantly killed him Charlie Open
heineT. who saw him fail, went to his res
cue and taking his hat he used a an insu-
iator to release the wire. which was burn
I ing his fingers, from his grasp.
The police were notified at once and DR..
St John summoned who, upon arrival,
pronounced him dead. The coroner was
at once summoned and when he arrived he
enpanalled jury Of six citizens, viz: J.
D. Caldwell. w. A. Sloddard, James
WoItz, John Ramsell, J. c. Diver and J.
s Mendenhall, who Waved the body and
adjourned till Monday morning.
The remains were then taken to Dun
bars undertaking roome where they were
embaimed and kept during the night, but
viii be conveyed to his late residence this
morning, where they will be kept till bur-
ial, which will probably be Wednesday as
friends in Indiana are expected to come to
the funeral.
The deceased was IS years old and
leaves wife who is consumptive
and four children, the youngest of whom
is 10 years of age. He lived here fourteen
years, and was candidate for the city
council last year. He was a member of
the Ancient Order of United Workmen,
belonging TO Lodge No. -. of this city, in
which his life was insured for 8, 900. The
lodge will probably conduct the funeral
services.
The wire that killed him belonged TO
the CitizeEs Electric Light company and
connected the incandescent lights in Mad
anne Halls house with the power house
and when the accident occurred the wire
was charged with a current of electricity
equal to LOO volts The wire WAS all
right up TO u o'clock yesterday when a
colored man named Bradley, or BARLEY,
went into the adjoining lot, which belongs
to Robert Jacks, to cut down tree. He
evidently was very careless or very ignorant
for when he cut down the tree it fell over
on the electric light wire in question and
broke it. The colored man paid no atten-
ton to the broken wire and the matter
was not reported TO the company by him
or by Madam Hall until long after the
machinery at the power house had started
up aud until a few minutes before the &C
cident occurred. The company, when in-
formed that the wire had been broken, sent
their line man there at once, but he was
few minutes too late as he had to walk a
distance of several blocks. IL ne had ar
rived there five minutes sooner, or, more
properly speaking, if the breakage in the
wire had been reported five minutes earlier,
the accident would not have occurred.
Superintendent O'Neil of the electric
light company was seen by a reporter a
few minutes after the accident occurred,
and he was very much effected by the re-
port of the fatal accident. He stated,
however, that the company was not re-
sponsible for it as all due haste was made
TO have the wire repaired when the Office
was informed of the breakage. you
have no idea" said he, chow we
are wdrried By the results of the |
ignorance or carelessness Of other people. /
They cut down trees every day and break /
our wires to the great danger of the COM /.
munity. aud never even report the matter |
10 u.s. OF course we can't watch every
foot of our wires; it is impossible; and, in /
nearly every case, we are not informed Of l
a breakage till the power is turned on. /
The present accident is due altogether to |
colored man who allowed tree to fall on ,
and break the wire without reporting the /
matter to US, 1t is 4 very sad occurrence (
and one l am very sorry for, as it was the /
first accident CT the kind which has &C.
Cured by reason OF our wires"
The hands of the dead man were burned .
pretty badly between the fingers, and his
eyes protruded out OF their sockets to a
great extent, but. beyond that there were
no marks about the body.
Three or four persons witnessed the &C
cident. and they viii give their testimony
before the coroner tomorrow.
Robert Jacks was seen and he said: "a
,olored man came to me yesterday and
isked me il he could cut down tree on
ny property I told him he could if he
would be careful, to which he replied that
he would and stated that he had done a
good deal of such work without ever doing
any damage He never heard anything
more of the colored man or the tree until
asst night when the death of Mr.. Reynolds
vas reported and the circumstances con
lected with il.
The colored man was searched for last
light TO ascertain his version of the affair,
,ut the reporter could not find him.
Mr. Reynolds was hard working man
f excellent reputation and his death was
earned with sorrow by everybody who
Knew him, last night.
IN OBSEKVANT VISITOR