The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-12
QUEER ACCIDENTS.
Some of the Strange Mishaps That
Occurred the Past Year.
ANSWERS.

(AnSWers.)
The hackheyed saying about truth
being stranger than fiction is constant
ly brought to mind by incidents of
everyday life. Things happen which
no novelist would dare invent. and
iNes are lost in the most wildly i'm
probable fashion.
rake the following as an example:
A Great Western train was running
between Bristol and London when an
extraordinary tragedy took place in a
third-class carriage. A woman trying
to open bottle of whisky broke the
cork. Having no corkscrew she tried
TO force the cork into the bottle with
her thumb. The bottle exploded, and
Jagged splinter of glass gashed her
thigh, cutting an artery. She bIed to
death in few minutes. 8
Another woman. wife of a miner at
a place called Cheboygan, Mich, lost
her life in even stranger fashion. Her
7-yeaT-old boy had played truant from
school, and when he came home she,
remembering the old proverb about
sparing the rod, chastised him with a
strap. At the very first blow there was
fearful explosion. The boy was kill
ed instantly, and his mother received
injuries from which she did not re-
cover. Investigation proved that the
little fellow had stolen a dynamite cap
and slowed it i'm one of his trousers
pockets. The blow from the strap had
exploded it.
One does not expect to lose ones
life through a visit to the dentist. Yet
such case happened in August last.
working man went to the dentist to
have an aching grinder extracted. The
tooth was an obstinate one, and in try
ing TO get a good grip of it with bis
forceps the dentist forced his patients
head back further than usual There
was sudden crack, and the man col
lapsed. Horror stricken, the dentist
realized that i'm forcing back the head
he had broken his patients neck.
Strange things happen in the streets.
One day in September last a l,osse,
harnessed to a van. pulled up suddenly
i'm the middle of the main thoroughfare
on the south side of Trafalgar square
and stood there as if rooted to Tie
spot. Everything possible was done 10
induce the animal to proceed, but it
fatty refused to bulge. A huge crowd
collected, and traffic became Absolutely
blocked. For two hours and a half
by the clock that horse remained where
he stood. Even when the harness was
taken off and a dozen men tried 20 lit
him away he refused to surrender. At
last the verdict went forth that he
must die. and, a gun being brought, he
was shot. The police say that the in
cident. is unique in the history of Lon
don streets.
A much more terrible accident was
witnessed in Sloane square one Sunday
night in the same month. The eek
of the petrol tank of a London motor
omnibus broke off. The bus was sop
ped and the driver got down and plug
ged the hole with his thumb, While
the conductor went back with lamp
to look for the plug When he got
back the driver was still holding on
TO the leak, but by this time was soak
ed with petrol The conductor paused
to ask a lady passenger to get of. Sud
denly there was a fash and a report,
and the omnibus burst into flames.
Next instant the horrible sight was
seen of the driver all abaze running
up the street, living torch. Men ran
to the rescue and flung coats Over MIN /
But il was too late He died o. his
injuries. What had happened was iris: |
The escaping petrol had run away in Il !
stream down the gutter. A pasScr by !
had dropped a match or cigarette end. !
and the infammable liquid had burst |
into flame. and the fire had run back !
up the gutter TO the bus and thus set |
fire to the unfortunate driver.
And it will suffice if we barely men
ton the terrible caisson accid ent at !
London, the details of
which will be fresh in the minds of
most as one of the most odd, as well !
as terrible, which have occurred in !
1907