Ballard’s Fire Chief Killed by a Falling 1,200-Pound Head-Block

Frank Finnerin, foreman of the Stimson planing mill at Ballard, was accidentally killed by being struck by a heavy weight about 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon.

Acting under the instructions of John Doreman, his superior, he was removing an iron head-block, about 2 feet and weighing 1,200 pounds, which is used on the carriages, from the sawmill on the south to the shingle mill just opposite on the north. He was directing the movements of a crew of five men—Chris Nelson, L. Shappee, G. Hedell, Sherman Fernand and Nels Nelson—who were transporting the head-block upon some one-inch boards across a tramway connecting the two mills. When about the middle of the tramway the heavy weight caused the rails holding the southwest stringer to the boards of the tramway to start and the stringer fell, throwing open a space of about ten feet. The men sprang to the ground, fifteen feet below. All landed safely except Finnerin, whose feet did not strike squarely. He was hurled backward by the momentum of the leap through the air, and just as he scrambled to his hands and knees the heavy weight, which had been poised for an instant on the edge of the planking above, fell, one corner of it striking Finnerin a glancing blow back of the left ear. His companions at once picked up his prostrate form and carried him to the mill boarding-house, where he died fifteen minutes afterward.

Deputy Coroner J. F. Lilley took charge of the body shortly after the accident. He found that the blow had cut a deep gash immediately behind the left ear and caused a compound and comminuted fracture of the skull. Death resulted from congestion of the brain. From the position and extent of the wound it is evident that had Finnerin’s head been an inch further away he would have escaped unharmed.

Finnerin had been with the Stimsons ever since the mill was located in Ballard four and a half years ago, coming with them from Muskegon, Mich. His general position was foreman of the planing mill, but he was a trusted employee, frequently taking charge of the mill in the absence of the foreman. He was lately elected chief of the Ballard fire department, and was a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias and Maccabees. He was well liked by all who knew him, and his death causes general grief among his friends in Ballard.

Finnerin was about 34 years old and leaves a wife and three small children, two boys and a girl. The remains will be embalmed at the morgue and taken to Muskegon, Mich., for burial.