The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-10-28
HUGO ". HEYN FELL
TO DEATH AT DAM
From Tuesdays Daily.

From Tuesdays Daily.
The first serious accident in the con-
struction of the dam at Rapidan oc-
Cured yesterday afternoon at about
four o'clock. and resulted in the almost
instant death of one of the workmen,
Hugo w. 1Ieyn Of North AIankato.
With the large force Of men at work
at the dam, doing all sorts of work,
it is remarkable that there have been
so few accidents.
| Mr.. Heyn was working in the capa-
! city of Il carpenter. and had been so
employed at the dam since March, His
duties were to put the forms together
| for the concrete work and he was en-
gagged in doing this yesterday after
noon. tie was on one of the piers, fifty
feet high, with two other men, and
they were building the form up higher,
to receive concrete. The buckets that
run on the cable way and carry con-
crete to the place where it is to be
dumped were going quite near the men,
and Engineer Davidson had blown the
whistle each time the bucket started.
so that they could get out of the way.
Fell Many Feet
| After one of the buckets had passed,
Mr.. Heyn erected brace that pro-
! jectcd eighteen inches above the form,
| intending that this should be merely
| temporary. When the next bucket
started, the engineer blew his whistle
as usual, and one of the men warned
Mr.. Heyn that the bucket was coming,
but he remarked that he was all right.
The idler chain that supports the cable
caught on the brace and this resulted
in that portion of the form being pull
ed down. Mr.. Heyn went with it, and
| Fell to his death many feet below In
I his descent he struck on several seat
foldngs, and finally on the cement
floor at the bottom. Those who saw
he accident fastened to his side, and
found him still conscious but he died
in about five minutes. As soon as it
was seen that he was alive Superin-
| tendent Fletcher tcephoncd for Dr.
j. w. Andrews, and he FASTENED out
to the dam. but found the man dead.
His body was badly battered up. with
several bones broken, but his face was
disfgured by only one injury, which
was near one eye.
Reversed His Engine.
Engineer Davidson was watching the
bucket, and when he saw the idler
chain encounter the brace he reversed
the engine and put on all speed the
other way. but it was too late. Six
teen or eighteen buckets had passed
over the form after it had been erected,
before the accident occurred and the
engineer seems to have used all pre-
cautions. One of Heyn's companions
was at the foot of the form, and when
he saw part of it come tumbing down
toward him he managed to jump aside
in time to avoid injury. The other
man was inside of the form and was
out of danger.
As soon as it was seen that Mr.
Heyn was dead, Mr.. Fletcher notified
Coroner Kennedy and the latter at
once went to the dam and viewed The
remains and decided to order an in
quest for ten o'clock this forenoon.
The remains were turned over TO Land
hammer Bros, who brought them TO
their undertaking rooms.
Leaves a Family
Hugo William Hcyn was born in
Germany forty years ago, and came to
America when boy. He was married
at Elysian fifteen years ago, and is
survived by his wife and six Children.
the oldest fourteen years and the
youngest nine months. Their names
are Agnes, Lille, Ida, Esther, Victor.
and Berthold. The family resides on
;reen Valley street. near Mud lake, in
North Mankato. Mrs. Heyn is nearly
Frustrated by the sudden death of her
husband.
The family lived at Elysian and
other places before coming to Man
kato five years ago. Mr.. lleyn was
janitor at Emmanuel hospital for
time, and the summer before this last
one he was motorman on the street
car line. He followed the trade of
carpenter at such times as he was not
otherwise employed. His last place of
residence before coming to Mankato
was Elysian.
Officer of Insurance Society
Mr.. Heyn was a member of the
German ! lutheran church, and belonged
to the Sick Benefit society of the church.
He was also secretary and treasurer of
the local branch OF the Appleton In
'nrance company, which is 4 Lutheran
life insurance organization. He was a