Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-07-09
FOURTH OF JULY ACCIDENTS
Man and Boy Injured, Neither
Apparently Seriously.
spent Bullet from rifle Struck Joseph
Dagennis in the Back-Robert
PoIvorth wounded by Blank
Cartridge.

Barring the facts that Joseph Dage-
nais. a resident Of Lakeside, was shot
in the back with rifle bullet and that
Robert Polworth. a nine-year- boy,
was shot in the side with blank cart
ridge, the list Of Fourth Of July casual
ties In the city was not abnormal
The shooting Of Dagenais has an air
Of mystery about It, and was perhaps
not part of the celebration of the Glor-
ious Fourth. The bullet struck him in
the back and lmbedded itself about two
Inches In the muscle in the left shoulder
blade. Who fired the shot and why 1t
was fred are not known. Mr. Dagenais
his wife and his brother and wife with
the latter's two children were starting
out for a pleasure drive Saturday after
noon. They had stopped for a few min
utes and their two-seated rig was stand
ing beside the curb at the corner or
Wright and Central avenues the horse
facing north Mr.. Dagenais and his
brother we're on the front seat and the
two women and children were In tn ,
rear seat. Suddenly a bullet wh1zzed
between the women and struck Dagenais
In the left shoulder blade. He felt the
by the others that he had been shot.
There seemed to be no immediate bad
effect and the party at once drove up
town to the office of Dr. F. ". Baylies.
The latter made an examination and
found that the bullet had sunk in the
muscles to the depth Of about two inches.
He probed for it and could feel it, but
could not take It out at the time. DR..
Baylies said that the bullet was about
the size of 81 calibre shot. The wound
was bandaged and Mr. Dagenais return
ed home. He experienced no bad after
effects Sunday and when the doctor ex-
amined him again he found he was suf-
fering from no fever. II nothing develops
the ball will not be removed
a very careful examination Of the To-
cality and inquiry among the people made
Saturday and Sunday failed to reveal
trace of anybody owning rife or Of any
shot being fired from any hrearm what
| soever. II Is supposed that the ball
that struck Dagenais was a spent one
although II still retained force enough
| to make quite a wound. To all appear
ances 1t was fired from some point near
| the Lumiere plant. which Is at the end
of the street, and then travelled straight
up the street. No report was heard, but
| this may be accounted for from the fact
that there were frequent explosions OF
frecrackers in the neighborhood. The
women heard the ball as It whzzed by
and 1t tore off part of the feathers OF
| one Of their hats.
| The second casualty OF the day occurred
In front OF rs Maple street when Robert
Polworth. son Of James Polworth, was
| shot In the side by a blank cartridge
fired from a 3S revolver, which was held
by Jerry Superneau, a boy about 16 years
of age. The shooting was purely acct
dental. The Polworth boy was STANDING
beside the steps and the Superneau boy
was sitting down. The latter stuck out
his hand and discharged the blank cart.
ridge just as the Polworth boy stepped
in front of the muzzle OF the gun, which
was only a few inches from his side
The boy was also taken to DR.. Baylie:
and 1t was found that the impact OF the
wadding from the revolver had bruised
| the flesh and made quite a depression
He was taken to the Fanny Allen hos
pital, where the wound was dressed. TIL,
only serious result that could follow
would be blood poisoning and possibl.
lockjaw, which might he brought abou
If a part of the clothing had been sho
into the wound Nothing serious has We
developed.