Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1922-09-21
Separator Man is
Victim of Acct
dent on Sunday

Jack Wilcox, 81 years old, and an
old-time Montanan, was killed about
3 o'clock last Sunday morning on the
road about mile above the Roy L.
Fish place at Raynesford when he was
caught and crushed between the frame
and front trucks of q threshing sep
arator belonging to Ernest w. Burnett
of this city, which he was operating.
The threshing outfit had just pulled
away from the Fish place, and it was
found that the front trucks of the
separator was giving some trouble,
the trust rods extending from the
front trucks back to the frame hav-
ing become weakened and allowing
the truck to pull away from the sep
arator box. Chains had been placed
to rectify this trouble, but had been
allowed too much slack, and it was
for the purpose of taking up this slack
that stop was made upon the road.
Burnett and Wilcox got under the
separator to adjust the chains and
finding the trucks pulled little out
of place called to the engineer to back
UP little. When this was done Bur
nett is said to have heard something
break, and he yelled to Wilcox to get
out Of under the machine, at the same
time throwing himself toward the rear
end Wilcox, instead of doing like
Use, attempted to crawl out between
the bottom of the separator box and
the truck, and just as he had gotten
his shoulders through the opening,
the great weight of the separator
settled own upon him crushing his
shoulders and chest.
Seeing the position Wilcox was in
and realizing that the life was being |
crushed ont of him, Burnett yelled to
the engineer to pull ahead, that Will
cox was being killed. The engineer
complied and as he did so, the casting i
supporting the separator box on the
truck broke, allowing still more !
weight to settle down upon the un-
lucky man, completely crushing the
spark of life out of him
The threshing crew set to work to
jack the separator up off its victim,
but finding him dead Sheriff C. II.
Kelley of Judith Basin county was
notified, he coming down and taking
the body back to Stanford, where it
is being held pending a search for
relatives. The sheriff stated that no
blame could be attached to the ma
,hine owner, Wilcox's death being =
plainly accidental
But little is known of Wilcoxs past,
.hough to members of the crew he
had made known something of him :
elf He is believed To have been mar j
led, though he is not thought to have
ived with his wife for some years. In
he more recent past he is said to have I
Engaged in farming near Billings, try t
ng sugar beets and then wheat rails 4
ng and losing what capital he may
lave had In earlier days he freighted
ut of Fort Benton, mentioning the I
act that he had freighted through /
his country before the railroads were {
uilt. He also followed sheep shear j
ng and among his effects were found b
apers showing that he was in good
tanding Of the Sheep Shearers union a
f Butte He spoke of having sheared il
heep for some outfit near Belt years c
go, and of later having freighted the v
5ool to market. The name of the out c
it was not known. He also sheared f
Or Burnett's father in years past, n
nd it was this acquaintance probably
nat prompted Burnett to keep the k
ging man in his employ, for more v
nan once he remarked that Wilcox s.
ras getting too old for separator s
ian and that he was afraid something Il
ouid happen to him. b
Burnett carries insurance under the Il
ate industrial accident insurance
wv.