Splintered: The Gun in the Corner

📜 UNEARTHED — Preserved from limited contemporary sources. 

— A Southwick Time Machine Original

On January 22, 1847, Lucetta Rising went to visit her father's home for what appeared to be an ordinary family visit.

Lucetta had married Aaron Humphrey Rising just four months earlier, on September 23, 1846, in Granby, Connecticut. The newlyweds had made their home across the state line in Southwick, Massachusetts. That January day, Lucetta and her husband went to visit her father, Morey Aldrich, who also lived in Southwick and worked in the manufacture of gunpowder.

The atmosphere in the Aldrich home was lively and fun. Lucetta was playing with her ten-year-old brother, Bennett. When she stepped into an adjoining room, Bennett followed her. As Lucetta turned her back, the boy seized a gun that was standing in the corner.

Without his sister's knowledge, Bennett loaded the gun with powder and common squirrel shot. In a playful mood, he exclaimed, "Now I will shoot you!"

 

A period-appropriate visual representation of the setting discussed in this story (for historical context).

Lucetta looked up to see the muzzle of the gun no more than two feet away, pointing directly at her. The gun discharged immediately. As she instinctively turned, the charge struck her arm about four inches below the top of the shoulder. 

The blast tore flesh from bone and shattered the limb, reducing much of her arm to splinters and lodging shot throughout the mangled tissue. Had she not moved at that moment, she would have been killed instantly.  

An illustrative image reflecting the circumstances surrounding the events described.

That same evening, an emergency operation was performed. The arm was so extensively lacerated and destroyed that it could not be saved and was removed at the shoulder.

Bennett Aldrich, who had fired the gun, survived childhood and went on to adulthood. He served in the military during the Civil War, where he was wounded in battle and sustained a severe injury to his leg. As a result, he was medically discharged from service. He married and started a family. In later years, records describe him as a man of intemperate habits, and by 1886 his wife had divorced him. On April 19, 1887, following a winter storm the night before, Bennett was found frozen to death, his body lying beside a road and buried in snow.

— From deep within the Southwick Time Machine archives

 

This account is based on primary records including census data, military records, period newspapers, official documents, and historic maps, with additional reference to select Civil War publications.

 

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Edited Out/Author’s Additional Research Notes

Morey Aldrich: abt. 1800 — January 19, 1861. 

Aaron Humphrey Rising: abt. 1817 — October 24, 1891.

Lucetta A. (Aldrich) Rising: December 27, 1829 — January 2, 1898.

Edwin Tehan Rising: May 3, 1862 — May 18, 1940.

Walter Bennett Rising: August 4, 1863 — November 20, 1940.

Frederick Humphrey Rising: July 1868 — May 3, 1934.

Bennett Aldrich: November 15, 1836 — April 19, 1887.

It seems like Aaron mostly went by Humphrey, which was his middle name. 

Some sources have Morey's date of death as December 19, 1861. This is not correct.  

Aaron and Lucetta had at least three sons: Edwin, Walter, and Frederick.

Lucetta’s gravestone incorrectly states that she died in 1897. 

Bennett Aldrich worked as a carpenter. 

Bennett was reportedly bitten in the foot by a rattlesnake in 1879. He started drinking a gallon of liquor each day to stave off effects of the bite. Three weeks later his foot was badly swollen but he had no other effects from the bite. It is unclear if he was an alcoholic prior to this event.   

Bennett fought in the Battle of Arrowhead Church in Virginia. It is sometimes called the Battle of Swift Creek.

It was reported that Bennett's leg injury in 1864 was severe. However, some sources say it was a flesh wound. Regardless, Bennett was discharged from the military in 1865 due to his leg wound.

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