Appauling Accident-Peter Burke-1912

BURKE, SCHULTZ, GARY, CHRISTENSEN, OLSEN

Posted By: cheryl Locher moonen (email)
Date: 1/24/2020 at 19:41:40

Schleswig Leader - May 24, 1912

A most appalling accident occurred here last Friday morning about eight o'clock, in which one man lost his life and another was injured.

John Spahn's building, Albert Schultz' old hardware store building, was being moved south across the street. A. J. Gary of Denison having the job. The building was not a strong one, having been built orginally for but one story. A heavy second story had been built on later. It had been raised onto the rollers, moved across the street ....and it was being let down into place .... the lower walls gave way and spread allowing the top story to fall onto the ground.

There were for men working under the building at the time of the accident - Buck Gary, Chas. Christensen, Peter Burke and Ben Olsen. The first two men, when they saw what was coming, crawled into some trenches that had been dug, and thus escaped uninjured. The other two men attempted to crawl out from under the building. Burke was almost out ...... when the top fell on him. A huge timber fell on the back of his neck, breaking his neck and killing him instantly. Olsen was also trying to crawl out when the building fell and had both legs caught under some timbers. ..... That he escaped without any broken bbone is indeed wonderful.

Peter Burke, the dead man, was a resident of Denison, as were all of the men who were working on the building. He was not married, and is survived by his mother. He did not have to work, being pretty well fixed financially. He was 38 years old. The funeral was held in Denison Tuesday.