The Washington herald., 1908-01-12
YEARS OF ACCIDENTS
UNIQUE RECORD OF NARROW ESCAPES FROM
DEATH-FATE OF MRS. WALL

A living chapter of accidents is Mrs.
Helen Moore Wall, once Daniel Webster's
private secretary. and now. in her old
age. residing alone in a diminutive cot
tage on Savin Hill, Dorchester, near Bos-
ton. Mrs. Wall has always had remark
ably good health. yet she has paid the
doctors many thousands Of dollars for
attendance uDon her. for from her sixth
year, at which age she fell and broke an
ankle. Mrs Wallis life mas been sue
/ cessiOn Of falIings, breakings, maimings,
and brIisings There is hardly, it is said,
a bone in her body that has not been
broken at some time or other. and not a
year has gone over her head since that
first fracture Of her ankle that has not
been marked by some accident TO her
much afflicted body
I've been in every SORT of accident that
can happen to person. she said, ''ex-
eept one. I've never been run over By an
automobile I'm expecting that any day
and I should think it ought 10 be the
end And though she is not in the least
lugubrious. but very animated, and often
laughs merrily when she tells the long
story Of her misadventures. people who
are acquainted with her know that IN her
heart she hopes the end will not be long
in coming For she is seventy-six years
old. and her husband, to whom she was
deyotedly attached, is dead. says the New
York Tribune
Mrs Walls many accidents have been
no fault OF her own. II Is merely that
fate has led her under the Dlanks that
fell. into the trains that were wrecked.
III front OF the horses that ran away.
Her first railroad wreck happened fifty
four years ago, when train on which she
chanced to be, going out Of Cincinnati,
ran into a drove of cattle. In the smash
up Mrs. Wall was thrown against the
window with such force that her head
broke the heavy pane Of glass, and was
itself in turn badly broken. That time
she required only one surgeon. Several
other railroad wrecks have besprinkled
her life, with more OF less serious conse-
queRces Once, years ago. she was penned
In a burning building in Boston and was
rescued with difficulty, and not long af-
terWard she was rescued all but drowned
from the waters Of the Potomac, into
which she was preciDItatea by the over
turning Of a boat.
Al another time a janitor nearly
wrought her destruction quite without
meaning it. He turned off the gas as she
was descending the stairs in q public
building in Washington. and she made
a false step and fell to the bottom. in
turing one leg badly, bruising her body.
and altogether making herself a subject
for TWO surgeons that time.
Horse cars have likewise contributed 10
the excitement of her existence. One
started suddenly as she was boarding it
and threw her from the platform. fractur-
ing her kneecap. Her next m;shap befell
her in Boston. She was walking along
the street when two carpenters and A
heavy plank got mixed up with one an
other and tumbIed down a fight Of stairs
az the foot Of which the combination
struck Mrs. Wall. breaking her arm at
the wrist She was just recovering from
this accident when "a large dog, coming
rather hastily around a corner, ran into
Mrs Wall and knocked her down. She
got along with one surgeon that time
The marks OF her next accident have
remained with EeT all her life. II hap
pened as she was coming out Of a bake
snOp. The heavy door closed upon her
hand with great force, crushing the bones
so fearfully that the hand has been Grip
pied ever since The very next year Mrs
Wall was thrown from a trolley car and
badly injured. Just at preesnt she is re-
covering from a mishap which befen her
on her own heartrstonc. She tripped and
fell against a stove. fracturing her hip.
Another casualty from which Mrs. Wall
has never recovered, though it happened
years ago, was an encounter with pension
sharks They bled her rather severely
and she was so discouraged that she gave
up her attempt 10 secure a pension, and
has never renewed Il, A friend succeeded
IN getting S month for her, however.
Not much but memories and keepsakes
Of the past has Mrs. Wall in her old age.