The Salt Lake Tribune from Salt Lake City, Utah • 60

THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE SUNDAY MORNING DECEMBER 27 1W8 r- mi i uy ii-i Utt 'H-7 vX a Kmmjmn I it V2J( I I scil tj I Mm c-' '7 7'' uIiiV dl1'1 Hi VMih 7' 111 'I'l'IlH im I ism i'lwrn 0 7 A 'V wj VW IL: iil mm iintd' Ik iif'iMj ilijllll hjft ufji i'ii! i 1 dsis tm 1 i 'III it is I Hv Ill I1" 'I iV'r mm hnf a 7 i ma 'V I Ilf III "1 Sr if XI lr 1 un0 I if' 1 1 Vo Another roll call of the years queerest mishaps discloses a strange mixture oLcomedy and tragedy and quite a few things that Just happen but did By Harry Bar santee PETER PERAULT of Pittsfield Mass had hit third automobile accident a few months ago Now nothing so very unusual about that fact in itself But Fate whimsically dictated that Mr Perault should have his first accident on North street his second on South street and his third on West street thus making it possible for him to win special recognition in this annual compendium of oddest accidents as the most consistent victim among the accident addicts of 1 936 Now it has become something of a tradition among writers on various phases of the American scene to select along about this time of year the most distinguished performers in their several fields the Most Valuable This the Most Popular That and so on Not to be outdone by his fellow publicists the writer has'winnowed and sifted some thousands of reports and is now ready to name his candidates along with Mr Perault for top honors inthe field-dLunlisuaL accidents They are: Most Inconsistent Capt Leon McKinnon whose home is wherever he happens to land Captain McKinnon has made more than 350 parachute jumps from airplanes and it would be only fair to expect him to have his accident if any in connection with "one of his death-defying leaps But no He was seriously injured in 1936 however it was in a forced landing when he slipped in his bathtub Hardesl-to-Hurt Lieut Albert Shepherd of the Army Air Corps While dressing for a dinner party in Panama City Shepherd was bitten by a deadly fer-de-lance snake guessed it snake died the lieutenant proceeded with his toilet after a short delay while he received serum and arrived at the party only a few minutes late Herbert Bowden Mt Holly Mr Bowden has been blind in one eye for 22 years and physicians had told him he never would see out of that optic again But a hot cinder flew into his eye and when the pain had subsided' he found he had regained his sight And special mention for perpetrating the dumbest stunt of the year goes to a young man of Manhattan (Jerome Furman 21) Vying for honors with such stellar performers of yesteryear as the Arkansas hill-billy who tried to shoot a fly off his knee with a revolver and the Ohioan who slapped at a fly on his nose with an open straight-razor this inquisitive youth placed a 22 calibre cartridge on an ashtray and then held a cigar lighter to its end just to see whai would happen Surgeons removed the bullet from his leg When milk Elmer kick rick Each caprice ide Pancoast consciousness of shoved through open air Each football gridiron pursuit Shakespeare while Each supposedly a play Mich UACH which The his life cat to the Old Tom as Friction There spector fi If his Cow dipped her tail in the and swished him in the face Tabor retaliated with a swift and hurt his big toe so badly that it had to be amputated 71 of Adams Mass year it seems someone is saved by a of fate from death in-a carbon monox gas-filled garage I l936 iL was Charles 27 of Atlantic City As he lost while fixing a gadget on the dashboard his car he slumped forward His leg the gear into reverse and the car backed the closed doors into the life-giving year it seems at least one well-known player noted for his durability on the is injured in some perfectly innocuous In 1936 there were three Bill Tony Mazziotti and Jack Gleason Notre Dame backs who were injured guests at a picnic year it seems an actor is shot by a unloaded pistol while rehearsing for Edward Pechette 35 of Bad Axe qualified this time year too there are those instances in a set of seemingly unimportant circumstances combine to wreak havoc prize example in 1936 nearly cost Inspector McDonald of Hamilton Ont The inspector enticed a stray alley gas chamber at the city pound intending to put an end to its worthless nine lives objected squirming in a lively manner McDonald thrust it into the gas in the fur created static electricity was a tremendous explosion The was knocked flat and his clothing was A 'Ml iiiiut tgs K- 7ns Charles Jones of Los Angeles swallowed $2000 worth of radium while being treated for a mouth ailment Pauline Lane of Knoxville swallowed a lipstick cap Ten-year-old Margaret Harbolic of Buchanan put a in her mouth and suddenly in the excitement of play swallowed it Mary Higgins a West Chester Pa stenographer swallowed her too She had her hands full of groceries sohe put her cash 50 cents in her mouth She slipped on the ice and downtt went Robert Ford Buffalo Negro says thatwas only small change A footpad held him ip so he put his of $11 in his mouth When the thug whacked him on the bean he prompt: ly swallowed the loot Later while physicians' were administering an anesthetic preparatory to sewing up his skull Robert coughed up the necessary fee first a 1 0 bill and then a dollar But even 1 1 bucks must have seemed like small change to Charles Jones of Loi Angeles who while being treated for a mouth' ailment gulped down $2000 worth of radium (ip am Truman Butler Oregon banker dropped out of sight after congratulating a newly-married couple As he stepped backward he fell through a sidewalk manhole Psychologists in Dunnigan Calif are wondering if an animal can die of fright or shock A real affection existed between an 8-year-old and her horse One day the little equestrienne toppled from her mount The gentle horse took a few more steps and then fell dead State police of North Syracuse told recently how a valuable hunting dog gdt the license number of the automobile that killed it The impact tossed the dog high into the air As it fell the body knocked off the rear license plate Two rats caused the death of Edward Friend Chicago They had discovered sev- eral cases of sample candy in his car and were devouring it speedily when Friend got in and started to drive away Resentful at the thought of losing their banquet the rodents attacked him He lost control of his car and it crashed into a tree If ever milked a cow you will sympathize with Elmer Tabor of Coldwater Mich Bossie in a playful mood dipped her tail in the bucket of milk and slapped Elmer in the face with the soggy tuft Tabor in no mood for such foolishness retaliated with a heavy kick and injured his big toe so severely that surgeons had to remove it When Paul Hoffman of Danville Pa accidentally jabbed his horse with a pitchfork the infuriated animal kicked him to death Two minor fires in' 1936 are deserving of attention here A Jones court bailiff of (Council Bluffs la smelled smoke He rushed through the courthouse yelling Sure enough there was a trail of smoke behind him The fire however was in his own pocket where he had placed his lighted pipe And in Phoenix Arizl a woman dashed into a building and asked 7o use a telephone on fire and I want to call the fire department" she shoutedAThe buildiqg she had entered was the central fire station Qdd accidents that defy classification 'include the following: 1 Truman Butler a banker in Hood River Ore dropped out of sight after extending congratulation to a newly married couple As he stepped backward he fell through a sidewalk manhole John Smith of Melrose Park 111 washed his pants and then hung them on what he thougnt was a clothesline to dry The howeyer was a high tension wire and Smith -was electrocuted Johnny McNeil 14-year-old ad of Dallas Tex took his game of blind man's buff so seriously that he ran at top speed into a brick post and knocked himself out A Chicago roly ber sufferedlhe same fate While fleeing from policemen he ran into a telephone pole thereby making the capture easy tn A XM-J rFHOSE mentioned are Tops you understand To play this game according to the rules you really should have a few runners-up i For being consistent in having hei accident we nominate as winner of sec ond prize Miss Helen Savage a stu dent at'Whitman College- at Wall Walla She was given the role of at invalid mother in a school" play thei promptly went out and broke her leg And how about awarding secono place for toughness honors to Mrs Dor ren Peterson Hamby of Los Angeles) She needed a job so badly that she took one posing for an Indian knife-thrower Apparently she was also willing tq pul -lip with almost anything to keep it One of the knives went through hei thigh A hardy individual might -have called but not Dorren She stood unflinchingly until the last knife was thrown then left for the hospital Runner-up for dumbest stunt honors was the westerner who make his alarm clock go off So he cleaned it in a pan of gasoline on the kitchen stove -of all places I It went off By and large the accidents classified as in 1936 ran fairly true to the pattern of former years Each year it seems i someone chokes to death on a sandwich This time it was Pat- A A westerner who make his alarm clock go off cleaned it in a pan of gasoline on the kitchen stove The alarm clock went considerably ahead of schedule A usual animals figured strongly in oddest accidents Some of stories are touching indeed One of the most pathetic concerns Harvey Becker 8-year-old lad of Waukesha Wis Three Great Danes set upon Harvey while he was pjaying near his home and tearing viciously at his arms and legs Attracted by the screams a tiny Boston terrier tore loose from his leash and Went to the rescue The Danes soon tore the small dog to shreds but while they were thus engaged Harvey crawled away to safety Perhaps even more pathetic as a case that happened in New Jersey Oscar Wilkinson a milkman had trained his horse to start mov- ing toward the next house without the formality of a whenever he felt his mastei mount the wagon One blustery day fast winter Wilkinson slipped as he stepped into the wagon and fell under the wheels Faithful Dobbin true to his training moved on and the wheels passed over neck killing him bailiff ran through the courthouse at Council Bluffs la yelling and trailing clouds of his own Docket smoke The fire was in his own pocket' burned from his body The chamber was blown to bits The cat been een since And there is always the befuddled inebriate who contrives to get himself into some ludicrous situation and causes great damage before he gets out of it A motorist near Edgar Nebr drove inadvertently into a farmyard Ip ill-tempered effort to find his way back to the road he ruined 100 yards of barbed wire 20 feet of chicken wire 50 feet of line fence and uprooted or snapped off 50 cedar posts All of- which goes to prove that traffic mazes are not confined to the city The 1936 record differed from that of former 1 years however in the abnormally large number of odd things that were swallowed.