Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-08-01

HIS SCArfeu iSOuy was oehthu
n Prescription Counter Friday Morning.
Baltimore, Nd, July 9sFa-C rouohing
upon his hands and knees behind the
prescription counter OF his store, DIR.
| r. Frank Waters, druggist at No.
| 1901 East North avenue, was found
dead yesterday morning, evidently a
victim of electricity.
| The face and parts of the chest were
| blackened from disooloration OF the
blood. The weight of the body rested
on the knees and the hands were bent
under, as though from great tension. |
| The thumb and index finger were |
burned to the bone, and on the right |
slds Of the hack, in the dofsal region,
dark oblong burn two and one-half
inches long and about quarter of an
inch deep told of the track of the
deadly current Across the dead mans
shoulders we're two white strips, where
the passage of his suspenders had pre-.
vented the discoloration of the flesh.
1t was impossible TO tell how long he
had been dead.
Above the prescription table hung an
ordinary incandesoent electric light
bulk with the Insulation burned of, \
several inches above the bulb. On the
right hand of the dead man, behind
the prescription counter, was an iron
sink, which may have been instru
mental in making the necessary fatal
circuit. The electric light,was lowered
almost three feet below its usual posi-
tion above the counter. AS additional
illumination two Welshach gas lights
hang also above the counter, and the
right hand one of these was burning at
full, height. ~
| H.
O'Clock yesterday morning by Charles
Streerer, Mo- 1915 East North avenue.
who is employed as clerk in the store.
i, Finding the store still closed at 8
O'Clock he crawled in through the cellar
. window and went through the house
adjoining the store and, not finding
DIR. Waters, came out again. Sergeant
!. Terence Hughes of the Northeastern
:, district noticed the store closed and the
one gas jet burning brightly and he
: advised Mr.. Streeper togo through the
Ilaoe again. He did qsoi and, coming
into the store, nearly fell over his en-
i ployer's body. Sergeant Hughes was
Immediately notified and Coroner John
examination.
DR.. Waters was last seen Thursday
i evening by DIR. Charles r. Shoemaker,
!. No. 1735 Aisquith street,, who dropped
into the store about 11.30 o'clock, just
n as Or. Waters was looking up. All the
!, electric lights were out in the place
i and the gas was burning, contrary to
!. custom, fact which DR.. Shoemaker
remarked upon at the time. DR.. Waters
!: put out all the lights except the. right
4 hand one, above the prescription counter,
= and after DIR. Shoemaker left ne locked
the front door. Whether he acciden tally
1 H. al Jsrxh ~ ID
tempting to turn out the gas and, falling
baok, made circuit with the iron
= sink, is not likely to be definitely
y known.
's The coroner's decision was that DIR.
Waters came to his death through the
o. electrio current by which the store il
% lighted. 1t is evident that he was a
~ victim of the disastrous effects Of
Thursdays electrical storm, the imme
diate cause being the leakage OF cleo
tricity from the street electric light
feed wire.
IN j. S. Holland, No. 1877 East NORTH
ol avenue. an electrician, who did the
NJ interior wiring of DIR. Waters store
of and houses In the neighborhood, said
id "The CAUSE of the trouble was OF
the outside and was the result of tnt
I'd electricity from the feed wire eithel
lg running down large tiee not far away
:. and thence into the house along thu
he gas or water pipes, or itSiumped from
he the feed wire at the converter aud 81
ill entered by the inoandesoept light wire
ms On Thursday afternoon the tree men
:. toned was constantly atiama witt
q electric currents from the feed wire
o. OF carrying 2,700, volts, which had beef
a. worn bare of insulation. The curren
which ordinarily entered the house wa
/ rn14
but the converter which regulates thi
O. supply was on Thursday evening con
n "a, tinual mass of flame, showing tina
as something was wrong My theory, then
he Ia that the iron sink and the gas ie
of were either charged from the ground o
ne the electric wire was charged from tn
mt feed wire, and when DIR. Waters at
III tempted to lower the light either b
made circuit with the electric ligh
he and the gas jet or the electric light an,
AK the sink. II the floor was at all dam
he might have received the shock from
/. the light alone. t
The burn upon the back makes !
liz liz probable that the circuit was made b
DIR. Waters striking the iron sink
ON The foretinger of the right han
by was burned much deeper than tn
I'd thumb, and this, with the fact that tn
rf, electric light had been pulled dow
ng almost three feet, makes it appear th j
IN he was unable to let 20 of the wire
DIR. Waters had been warned by MI
, lce Holland not to touch the electric bul
he or wire during stern on any oondi
sin tion, and it is supposed, therefore
The that it was accidentally touched. A
err the switches were evidently untouched
the DIR. N. g. Kierle city post-morser
physician. said last night that in hi
re- opinion the death Of DR.. Waters wa
w 1ae plainly acase of death from an electri
tSs shock and stated that the body had ever
ock appearance of death from electricity
IN DIR. Kierle also stated that he believe
ave that Or. Waters was turning out th
electric light when he formed a
sna electric circuit by leaning against tn
nto 1inn hahind tina oounter ~ He said tb
egs h,,.n =, tha hac, ,ndicated that suc
ina ina was the case.
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