Sunday, January 9, 2011

1891 Shooting Accident

Numerous reports were written in the local newspaper about shooting accidents while hunting, and what follows gives an account of a couple of young friends:

Herbert Briggs, aged about ten years, son of Mr. J.S. Briggs, of West Handy, met with a sad and nearly fatal accident on Sunday, April 5th. He started out in the woods where they had been making maple sugar and Merritt Knickerbocker took a gun along with him. The Knickerbocker boy thought he saw a duck near the river and cocked his gun but did not shoot and left the gun cocked. A little time after, he had forgotten that the gun was cocked and turned partially around, pulled the trigger, discharging the gun and lodging the contents in the inside of Herbert's leg, just below the body, and within very close proximity of the large artery, but very fortunately not cutting it off.

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