Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1879 — A Young Man Caught in a Loop of Red Hot Wire. [ARTICLE]

A Young Man Caught in a Loop of Red Hot Wire.

Johnstown (Pa.) Trlbnae. The victim’s name was Richard O. Jones, and he lived with his stepfather, Wm. S. Jones, on Market street, between Main and Vine. The accident happened at the Rod Mill, where he was employed as “stlcker-iu” at the finishing rolls, his work being to catch the end of the wire rods as they came through the rolls and guide them through the last pass before they are wound upon the spindle at the north end of the building. At a quarter after 6 o’clock this morning, only fifteen minutes before the usual quitting time one of the long red-hot rods, whose end he had just inserted in his part of the rolls, became twisted as It was guided along the iron floor behind him by a boy named John Bingham. The rolls were running at the rate of 450 revolutions ner minute, and the twist caused the wire to curvert through the air, one of the loops foiling over young Jones’ body, just below the ribs, and drawing jhim down on his knees with his back against the rolls, through which the wire sped with lightning-like rapidity. John Devine, a fellow-workman, was standing within a few feet of the victim, but was pewerlew to render any assistance. John Rowley seized an ax, and with a blow severed the wire, but not before it had cut aud burned its way through the body of the victim. The left arm was severed between the elbow and shoulder, the right between the elbow and wrist, and a portion of the backbone was all that held the multilated body together. His bowlear were cat into small pieces fell out in a mass on the floor.