25 September 2012

Tribune Tuesdays: Dashed from Window to Death!

From: The Oakland Tribune, 09 March 1912, Page 1, Column 7

DASHED FROM WINDOW TO DEATH
Instantly Killed in Fall
Passers-Bay on Street See Fatal Drop From Third Story
Aged Man's Skull Crushed When Body Hits Cement Pavement

Patrick Higgins, a porter, aged 7? years, fell fifty feet to the cement sidewalk from a third-story window of the Clarendon House, Seventh and Washington streets, at 11:45 o'clock this morning while washing the window, and died instantly of a crushed skull.

He is believed to have been killed accidentally, although there were no witnesses who noticed how he happened to fall. Several persons who were passing on Seventh street when he struck the pavement saw his body hurtling through the air. A few minutes before the fatal accident, Mrs. Mary Marshall, the housekeeper, instructed Higgins to attend to some work other than washing the windows which, she says, is usually done by a regular window washer.

The back of Higgins' head was crushed like and eggshell and a curious crowd instantly surrounded his body. Policeman C. G. Gargadenee notified the police and coroner's office.

Higgins was a former saloonkeeper of Memphis, Tenn., and had been employed as a porter at the Clarendon House, of which C. A. Cammas is proprietor, for two years. He resided at the National House and had no known relatives in this state.

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