Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA) Monday, January 11, 1904 SEIZES LIVE WIRE; IS ELECTROCUTED Eight Year Old Child Is Killed In Lew- iston. LEWISTON, Idaho, Jan. 8. - Bennie Riggs, the 8 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. George Riggs, was instantly killed at noon today by picking up the end of a broken electric light wire. The accident occurred near the corner of Sixth avenue and Eighth street. The child was on his way to school and is supposed to have picked up the broken wire from curiosity. No one saw the accident, though a num- ber of persons passed within a few feet of where the wire was lying. The child was seen by a number of other little chil- dren, who ran to their homes and told of the occurrence. Peter Frazier, a contractor, who lives across the street, first reached the scene and saw that the body was lying on its back across the wire, the right hand grasping the wire. Smoke was coming from the clothing, which was burning. As soon as an axe could be obtained, the wire was cut and the body taken from the ground. Death Instantaneous. Dr. Morris, who arrived while the body was still on the wire, after examination, announced that death had probably been instantaneous. It is thought that the body lay on the wire six or seven minutes after the first discovery. Word of the accident had been conveyed to the father of the child and the body was taken to the home of its parents. Examination of the child's body showed that the right hand, which had grasped the wire, had been badly burned, the little finger and front finger having been cooked. There were a number of severe burns on the back and on the head, where the electric current had emerged from the body. Holes had been burned in the outer clothing and the ground where the body lay on the wire was burned to a depth of several inches. The child's face was unmarred. The coroner's inquest was held this after- noon and at 3 o'clock fixed the cause of death on the electric light and telephone companies. The testimony given before the jury was that the wire was broken by being crossed with a telephone wire, which crosses the street at this point above the electric wire. The testimony was that when the child's body was at first discovered on the wire an attempt had been made to telephone the electric light substation to have the power shut off, but that connection could not be se- cured with central. Connection was final- ly secured and the power was shut off, but not until the wire had been cut and the boy's death determined. Several wit- nesses testified to having seen the broken wires lying on the ground at the point of the accident. One of these witnesses was Policeman Hadley, who stated that he had passed the place and had seen broken wires half an hour before the accident and had intended to inform the electric light company as soon as he got down town, but had forgotten it. The Verdict The coroner's jury was some time in reaching a verdict, but after an hour's deliberation, returned the following ver- dict: "That Bennie Riggs came to his death in Lewiston on January 8, 1904; that the cause of death was a live electric wire, which had been broken and fallen to the ground; that said break was caused by coming in contact with a telephone wire crossing the same. From testimony taken we find that those companies use the same poles and that similar accidents may oc- cur wherever the wires come in contact. "Fred E. King, John E. Fransman, J. Conrad Graff, W. B. Cooper, T. C. Reese, John Mark, A. P. Clark, W. C. Brooks, D. J. McGilvray, jurors." ===========================================================================