A shocking accident.

KERN

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 6/11/2007 at 10:15:51

A shocking accident.
From the Bellevue Leader. Re-printed in the Maquoketa Record, April 18, 1906.
An appalling accident, which shocked the community following its announcement, occured at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Kern, who reside south of Bellevue, yesterday afternoon, shortly after one o'clock when their eldest daughter, Frances, a young woman 18 years of age, was shot and instantly killed by the accidental discharge of a shot gun in the hands of her brother Edward, a lad of eleven years. The facts in the case as gathered by the Leader representative are substantially as follows: The family had finished the noon meal, and the boy Edward began preparations to shoot a dog. He took down a shot gun and engaged in loading it for that purpose, his mother and sister, Frances, being in the room with him. The gun was pointed in the direction of an open window. The young woman started for the woodshed to bring in an arm full of wood and when she turned the corner of the house she looked into the muzzle of the gun whereupon she turned hastily but the cruel weapon was at that moment accidentally discharged and she received the full charge in the right side of her head, death being instantaneous.