He Heard the Timbers Creak and Almost Got Out
A snow-loaded barn roof gave way near Northport; the 14-year-old inside ran for the door, but a six-inch beam caught him. The leg could not be saved, and neither could the boy.
A 14-year-old boy living near Northport was killed last week by the collapsing of the roof of a barn caused by the heavy weight of snow. The boy heard the timbers creaking and endeavored to escape from the building, but was too late. He was pinned to the ground by a six-inch beam, and suffered such injuries that amputation of a leg was necessary, which proved fatal.
“"The boy heard the timbers creaking and endeavored to escape from the building, but was too late."”
Snow load still brings roofs down across the Inland Northwest every winter, and rural families still do the dangerous work of keeping stock through it. What lingers here is the plainness of the record: no name, no funeral notice, three sentences for a child — which is how much of rural childhood mortality was written down a century ago.
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