A Boy’s Run of Unbelievable Bad Luck
After suffering a hog bite that cost him a finger, a young boy is accidentally shot by a friend while target practicing.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Chas. Kirby, the son of Newt Kirby, was accidentally shot in the left ankle Sunday by a boy companion. The two boys were shooting at a mark with a .22 caliber rifle. Kirby's chum was handling the gun, which was cocked. In attempting to change his position, the boy slipped, discharging the gun; the bullet hitting Kirby's left leg at the ankle joint and lodging against the bone. Dr. MacLaughlin dressed the wound and reports the boy as doing nicely; he will probe for the bullet in a few days. Kirby seems to be in bad luck, as it is but a short time since he had the end of his little finger bitten off by a hog.
“Kirby seems to be in bad luck, as it is but a short time since he had the end of his little finger bitten off by a hog.”
Accidental shootings and domestic injuries were common fare for local columns in 1903. While the specific incident is a tragic curiosity, the era’s reporting style highlights how news was often consumed as a mix of personal tragedy and grim coincidence.
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