Work-Related Tragedies in New England: Volume II (1800–1899)
— A Southwick Time Machine Original | Special Series
🕯️ 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 Machine stories have been omitted.
Granville, Massachusetts — 1838
Henry L. Hayden, a carpenter from Hartford, Connecticut, was helping construct a barn in Granville, Massachusetts, in April 1838. He was working high above the ground on April 21, when the scaffolding beneath him suddenly gave way.
Hayden crashed violently to the barn floor below. His head slammed against a nail box with tremendous force, fracturing his skull so severely that he died within an hour.
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| Illustration of a typical New England tobacco barn |
West Granville, Massachusetts — 1839
Nathan C. Parsons was loading manure with his son in West Granville, Massachusetts, in May 1839.
During the work, Parsons's son accidentally struck him in the eye with his pitchfork. The injury was so severe that he succumbed to it about three days later.
The Parsons family was still recovering from the death of Nathans' father, who had passed away on August 21, 1837. Tragedy struck again when Nathan's younger brother, Augustus Parsons, died on January 15, 1840.
Granby, Connecticut — 1841
Edwin Moore of Southwick, Massachusetts, was cleaning a well in Granby, Connecticut, on September 22, 1841. He had only been at the bottom a short time when the earth near the base caved in, burying him in about five feet of soil.
Men at the top quickly realized the danger and lowered a ladder, attached by rope to a windlass, to try to reach him. Moore grabbed the first rung, but he was so firmly enclosed by the surrounding earth that the rung broke, and more dirt fell, completely covering him.
It was late in the afternoon, and there was nothing the men could do. Moore remained trapped in this perilous situation until the next morning. By then, about 200 men had gathered to dig around the well.
Southwick, Massachusetts — 1844
Daniel Palmer lived in the Hillside District of Southwick, Massachusetts. He was well-known, beloved, and respected throughout Southwick.
On Thursday, December 19, 1844, he was working in his barn, climbing up and down a ladder, with a pitchfork in his hand, as he had done countless times
before. But on this day, the ladder slipped on some hay.
Palmer dropped the pitchfork as he fell — and below him, positioned at exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time, lay the tool he had been holding, its tines pointing upward. One of the prongs pierced his throat and drove upward into his head.
He lingered in intense agony until Death arrived on Sunday morning, December 22, 1844.
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| Illustrative view of tools common to 19th-century |
West Granville, Massachusetts — 1851
Samuel Curtiss of West Granville, Massachusetts, was found dead along the road to the sawmill on October 23, 1851. He appeared to have been run over and crushed by the wheels of a carriage being pulled by mules with which he was hauling a heavy log. Besides the mules, there were no witnesses.
Southwick, Massachusetts — 1861
On April 10, 1861, as the nation stood on the brink of Civil War, Deacon Judson R. Phelps of Southwick, Massachusetts, was focused on a more immediate task—demolishing one of his old barns. Perhaps the structure had outlived its usefulness, or maybe he was making room for something new.
As Phelps worked, a portion of the building suddenly gave way. Timbers and boards came crashing down, crushing the deacon to death beneath their weight.Lafayette M. Noble, of Westfield, Massachusetts, had been employed at Samuel Horton’s paper mill for only three weeks. On Saturday afternoon, October 19, 1867, he went below the machinery to detach a belt. The engineer attempted to slow the wheels to allow him to work safely, but was too slow.
On September 21, 1874, a crew of men was repairing the track near the railroad crossing by the depot in Southwick, Massachusetts. As the 11:00 a.m. train approached from the south, warning was given and the workers stepped to one side of the track to allow it to pass.
Unbeknownst to them, the train had been divided in order to switch a coal-laden car onto a side track. The rear portion—eight cars in number—continued along the main track to be rejoined farther up the line.
One of the workers, James Keenan, a longtime railroad laborer, believed the entire train had passed and stepped forward to resume his work. The foreman, seeing the danger, called out to him. Realizing his peril, Keenan attempted to move clear but fell upon the track before the approaching cars and was struck and killed, his body being severed in two as the cars passed over him.
Around noon on April 13, 1876, Charles “Charley” F. Hasler of Westfield, Massachusetts, was removing bricks from an old well at his home on Mill Street. He was about twelve feet below the surface, standing on a ladder, when the well caved in and crushed him.
One of his young sons was also on the ladder but was nearer the surface and was able to escape with the help of his mother. Strong men with shovels soon arrived. After about an hour of digging, they recovered Hasler’s body.
In July 1879, the five-year-old son of Warren D. Arnold of Southwick, Massachusetts, suffered a fatal accident while near a mowing machine. Both bones of his leg were cut off when he stepped over the machine’s cutting-bar.
Southwick, Massachusetts — 1881
Samuel Smith of Southwick, Massachusetts, was employed on the Kellogg farm on Loomis Street, about three miles from the center of town. On April 20, 1881, he ventured up Sodom
Mountain to chop timber for railroad ties.
When he didn't return that night, a search party formed the next morning. They found him crushed beneath a massive tree he had cut down.
In a horrific twist of fate, his face had struck the sharp edge of his own axe, which buried itself deep in his skull—cutting a terrible gash from mouth to ear.Granville, Massachusetts — 1883
In 1890, tragedy again visited the Barnard family. Charles’s brother, George F. Barnard, was electrocuted and killed in a separate work-related accident. He was about twenty-eight years old.
On September 11, 1888, John W. Burlingame of the Longyard section of Southwick, Massachusetts, was working at Stowe's Mill in the Hillside District. While working near the engine, he slipped and fell onto the pitman and was horribly mangled.
This article is based on original primary-source research, including but not limited to official records, census data, death certificates, and period newspapers. Southwick Time Machine stories are living documents. Research is ongoing, and this account may evolve as new information comes to light.
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