Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1917 — FARMER KILLED BY DYNAMITE [ARTICLE]

FARMER KILLED BY DYNAMITE

Sanford Casey Meets Mysterious Death Early Wednesday. Sanford Casey, a prominent farmer of Carpenter township, wasinstantly killed about 7:30 Wednesday morning by the explosion of a one-ponnd stick of dynamite. Mr. Casey was quite well known in the southern part of the county. He resided one mile northeast of Remington. Considerable mystery surrounds the entire affair, and as there were no witnesses to The tragic end of the man, it is quite probable that the exact facts will never be known. Several days previous to the accident some men were engaged in blasting rock on the Casey farm, bait as Mr. Casey had a horror of dynamite he took no part in the work. When they had finished one stick of dynamite and several caps were left, and these were put away in a woodshed near the house. Mr. Casey expressed a fear that the dynamite % might be found by the children and cause trouble and it is thought he was in the act of removing it to a safer place when it exploded.

He was near the woodshed when the explosion took place, and first reports were that the body was blown to small bits, but this was incorrect, as the body was almost wholly intact, and he was Hilled by the terrific concussion of the explosion. This would lead one to believe that he was several feet from the explosion, and that the same was not caused by the dynaMite being dropped. Dropping the dynamite alone, even from a height of several feet, would not have exploded it, unless one of the caps near it exploded first. Dr. C. E. Johnson of this city, oemnty coroner, was called to Remington Wednesday and after reviewing all of the facts, rendered a verdict of accidental death, which was in keeping with all of the facts at hand. Mr. Casey was about 50 years old and is survived by a widow and several children. One daughter is quite well known in Rensselaer, having worked here for some time in the millinery store of Mary Meyer-Healy, but is now employed in a Monon millinery shop. Mr. Casey had resided in Carpenter township for a number of years and the entire community was deeply shocked by the tragic manner of his death.