Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1913 — WILBUR THARP HAD MIGHTY CLOSE CALL [ARTICLE]

WILBUR THARP HAD MIGHTY CLOSE CALL

Former Resident of Jasper County Game Near Meeting Accidental Death by Shooting.

Monticello Herald. Mention was made last week of an accident to Wilber Tharp, which at that time was. thought to have hap* pened while he was out hunting, but it now appears that the shooting occurred in his office by the accidental discharge of a revolver. Fortunately he is able to tell the story himself, and below is an extract froih a letter received by his father, Mr. Oscar Tharp, Monday Morning: “Two weeks ago Monday T was accidentally shot while in my office, by another party with a 32-caliber revolver, at a distance of abouf ten feet. The ball entered my lower lip, broke my jaw and tore out three of four teeth on the side. This broke the force of the ball and 1 spat the bullet out in the sink in the doctor’s offlce.'The shot knocked me down, but I got right up and walked up the hall two doors into the doctor’s office, where we picked out teeth, bone and bullet, and then he sent me to, the hospital to be operated on. Was only in the hospital four days. It was a narrow escape, but a ‘miss is as good as a mile’ they say. If the ball had struck a half inch higher it would have entered the mouth and probably broken my neck or struck the spinal cord. It had been very painful and inconvenient but that seems to be over now.” He is able now to be at his office and attend to business, and upon the whole the news is a great relief, not only to his parents, but to his many friends here who have been in suspense.