—  A Southwick Time Machine Original | Revisited   Frederick W. Legate of Southwick, Massachusetts, was a farmer and butcher who specialized in quality cuts of beef and veal at reasonable prices. During the mid-to-late 1870s, he suffered a series of setbacks. At about 10:30 p.m. on August 15, 1876, it was discovered that one of Legate’s tobacco barns was on fire, possibly caused by a spark from a passing train. The barn and its contents were destroyed, at an estimated loss of $2,000. A little over a year later, on September 27, 1877, disaster struck again when two more of his barns burned, taking with them roughly fifteen tons of hay as well as several wagons and sleighs, an additional loss of about $1,000. All three barns were only partially insured. Around this same period, activity at Southwick Ponds (today’s Congamond Lake), already a popular summer destination that attracted thousands of tourists arriving by rail, was growing. By the late summer of 1878, that n...

— A Southwick Time Machine Original | Special Series   Hard work built the early towns of the Pioneer Valley and the Berkshires—but it also claimed many lives.   Behind the quiet beauty of hilltowns, valleys, and historic tobacco farms lies a record of sudden, shocking deaths that remind us just how perilous labor once was.   The following accounts from Southwick and surrounding New England towns reveal just how dangerous ordinary work could be—and how quickly tragedy could strike.   Each story stands as a grim reminder of the risks faced by those who built our barns, railroads, mills, and wells—men whose labor powered progress, yet often came at a deadly cost.    🕯️ Author’s Note: This is Volume II (1800–1899) of a special Southwick Time Machine series documenting work-related tragedies in New England. Additional cases may be added to this volume over time as further historical records are uncovered. Accidents already recounted in other Southwick Time M...

 📜 UNEARTHED — This story has been assembled from separate events and narrative fragments. — A Southwick Time Machine Original On October 25, 1886, Jason Elbridge Stiles of Southwick, Massachusetts, was riding in a wagon near the train depot with Dr. G. W. Brace when their horse became frightened. Both men were thrown from the wagon and suffered severe bruising.   Southwick Railroad Station   Less than two years later, Jason Stiles found himself at the center of one of the most sensational scandals Southwick had witnessed up to that time. On Friday, June 8, 1888, Stiles—then single and living in Southwick—was arrested on a complaint sworn out by Franklin A. Osborne, a Southwick merchant and the town’s postmaster. Osborne charged Stiles with criminal intimacy with his wife, an offense under Massachusetts law at the time. A warrant was also issued for Mrs. Osborne on a charge of adultery. Franklin Osborne and Frances C. Miner married on April 6, 1881, but by 1888, Osborne ...

 — From The Southwick Time Machine Archives   In February 1950, New England was locked in a brutal cycle of winter weather. Snow fell across the Pioneer Valley, followed by sleet and freezing rain. On Tuesday, February 21, temperatures in Southwick, Massachusetts, plunged to as low as 11 degrees below zero, with wind gusts up to 15 miles per hour. Wednesday brought a slight moderation, with an average temperature just over 12 degrees, though it never climbed above 17 after starting the morning at just 8. By then, the town was sealed beneath layers of ice. Early Thursday morning, February 23, the accumulated weight finally proved too much. The roof of a large stock barn on the Hastings farm—part of the barn about 100 years old—suddenly gave way. The entire upper structure, including the roof and hay loft, crashed down onto the first floor, burying farm equipment beneath tons of hay, snow, and ice. The force was so severe that part of the first floor failed as well, sending heav...