The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-04-22
SOME RATHER
ODD MISnAPS
GATHERED IN THE COURSE OF
ACCIDENT INSURANCE.
A Motorman's celluoid Collar Ignit.
ed-Concussion from Hat--Man
Trod on Shoe Lace and Was Fatally
Injured-odor Of Flowers Asphyxi-
ated Mourner at Gam betta's Bier.
From Chambers journal.

| insurance companies tranSuCting
accident" business have calculated
that one out of every ten persons in
sured meets with an accident of some
kind, and receives compensation there
fore, each year. Were the uninsured
accidents tabulatcd 1t is quite possible
that the percentage would be much
magnified. The same authorities esti-
mate that one accident out of every one
hundred terminates fatally.
With these facts before us, 1t may
| perhaps be of interest to recall some
Of the more extraordinary accidents of
recent years, and allow them to point
their own moral.
About four years ago woman riding
bicycle in County Donegal,
| and having arrived somewhat late
for IL steamer that was about
to cross Lough Swilly. she, in her
| anxiety, lost control of her machine,
with the result that she rode over the
pierhead, falling distance of over
twenty feet into the water. She was
rescued practically unhurt; the bicycle
was smashed.
An almost equally miraculous escape
was that of cyclist who was riding
in the suburbs of London. A stone
threw him Off his machine, and, as i'll
luck would have it, a sharp point en-
tered his mouth and came out under his
eye. Thanks to the healthy condition
of his blood, he was we'll again in three
months.
BEWARE OF CELLULOID.
More tragic than the cycling acc-
dents already alluded to was that which
Dnfn 10kn IN nrin n,,4
morning his motor burned out Trying
to remedy matters, the man, in his con-
fusion. managed to get the controller
charged with electricity, and, as he un-
fortunately happened to be wearing a
celluloid collar, and the apparatus
came in contact with it, blaze round
the poor fellows neck was the result.
He was carried Off to the hospital in an
unconscious condition.
A most extraordinary batch of cur
ious accidents was collected and pub
lished by the Travellers Record in 1899.
Here are few samples:
1T was the doctor who smashed his
hand with hammer while hanging a
calendar, and the carpenter who was
thrown from his Wagon while in search
of the>doctOr." The electrician ran from
the bull, and broke his leg in Il l,asty
jump over the fence, which landed him
in the ditch, but the farmer worked
with the electric wire and burned his
hand "The clergyman burned his
hand while kindling a fire, and the
plumber fell up the church steps and
sprained his wrist and barked his
knee "The hunter is wounded by a
charge from another mans gun, and the
lawyer aimed his foot at another mans
dog and hit his own front doorstep"
ONE ON THE COMPANY.
In an American court. not very long
ago. the presiding judge gave what
most people will acknowledge to be a
rather novel decision in an accident in
surance case. The deceased. it appears,
was wearing tight boot. and this
caused an abrasion Of the skin of the
big toe. which was followed by blood
poisoning and death. The judge held
that death was occasioned by "eXter-
nal violent and accidental means, with
in the meaning of the policy The in
surance company had to pay.
While speaking of fleet" accidents
mention may be made of a fatality |
which occurred to a resident In Steyn- !
ing downstairs one morning, he trod on |
his bootlace. A fall was the result. 1t |
was thought that he had sustained only !
trifing injuries, but such was not the.
case. Within week he was buried,
and the insurance company paid the |
claim. |
The hat, az we'll as its opposite neigh |
Dor. the boot, has often been the cause |
,f nj h,1t
of minor character. Not so
that which befell leather merchant
of Northampton. Going into his house |
the doorway. with the result that it
ers head. The consequence was com
preston of the skull. followed by !
death.
A KICK AT NIGHT.
An extraordinary accident, and one
that has pathos all it's own, hap
pened to gentleman In Cardiff some
years ago. He took into beG with him
his little three-year- son, who was
from earache. The child. in
his restlessness, kicked his father in
the groin. Death from phlegmonous
erysipelas followed; this, as the med
cal evidence proved, being the direct
result of the kick.
Fire, rather than water, would, one
would think. be more dangerous to life,
but this Is not always the case, for a
fireman in New Jersey. while holding
The nozzle of il hoseppe, directing a
stream of water on ii burning building,
lost control of the pipe. and the rush
ng water. which struck him on the
cheek, completely crushed in one side of
mis- face.
Flowers. again, would hardly be sus-
pected as one of the probable causes of
yet at the Lying in state" of
he late NJ. Gambetta the Odor of the
lowers surrounding the coffin was so
powerful that one of the watchers was
,sphyxiated, and was only restored to
with considerable diff
iculty.
Somnambulism, smoking in bed foot
pail. lightning, dynamite, and the in
cautious handling of firearms-not to
mention the now happily discarded
all been active agents
On the accident list; but ESQ easily does
frequent occurrence accustom us to
they are too we'll known to
require special comment.
sTRGcK BY A METER.
However, the familiarity which
oreeds contempt Is sometimes rudely
upon by the occurrence of
some hitherto unheard-of accident,
which acts as spontaneous detonator