Broken Leg on the Offner Ranch
A routine day of breaking horses turns painful when a bookkeeper is struck by an iron-shod hoof.
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.
A vicious kick of an unbroken horse yesterday fractured the left leg of Arthur Thompson, bookkeeper for the Whitehouse-Crimmins company. The accident occurred on the Offner ranch, west of the city, while Mr. Thompson and Chester Offner were breaking a young horse. Something went wrong with one of the tugs and Mr. Thompson alighted to fix it. While engaged at the work the horse suddenly kicked out viciously, the iron-shod hoof catching him fairly on the left leg below the knee. The blow fractured the small bone of the leg and splintered the larger bone. Mr. Thompson was brought to the city where the fractures were attended to. By the accident Mr. Thompson will be compelled to lay off from his duties at the mill for several weeks.
“Something went wrong with one of the tugs and Mr. Thompson alighted to fix it. While engaged at the work the horse suddenly kicked out viciously.”
Handling unbroken horses remained a dangerous, high-stakes chore for ranch workers well into the 20th century. While the equipment of a modern ranch has shifted from tugs and harnesses to ATVs and trucks, the physical risks of working with large livestock remain a persistent reality of agricultural life in the Walla Walla Valley.
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