Caught in the Shaft: A Miller's Close Call at Post's Mill

Last Wednesday morning George Hilbert, employed as assistant miller at Fred'k Post's flour mill, met with an accident that came within an ace of causing a vacancy in the pay roll of that establishment. The scene was frightful, and Mr. Hilbert can thank his stars that he got off as well as he did. On the second floor, in connection with the machinery that transmits power to run the interior movements of the mill, is an unboxed upright iron shaft of a couple of inches in diameter. This piece of iron revolves at the rate of fifty or sixty revolutions per minute. Mr. Hilbert was standing near the shaft when by some means the tail of his coat was caught by the shaft and in a moment the remorseless iron had him at its mercy. From the position he was in, Hilbert was as helpless as a baby to help himself, and he was spun around with cruel precision close to the shaft at two-forty revolutions, and at every turn the feet and legs of the unfortunate man came in contact with the sharp edge of the wood, bruising and indenting those members. There was nothing for him to do but use his voice, and he shouted lustily. Luckily someone was near the outer belt and the water was shut off, stopping the machinery. Gilbert was in this perilous position but a few moments. Yet in that time he was severely hurt, and had not his fellow workmen been prompt in stopping the machinery, his injuries would have very soon resulted fatally. As it was, the flesh was torn entirely from his feet, two bones of the right foot broken, some of the bones in the front part of the left foot fractured, the limbs skinned and bruised as high up as the knees, and one hand badly peeled. The sufferer was at once taken to Mr. Post's residence, where the family did all in their power for him. Dr. G. S. Allison was at once summoned, who skillfully dressed the hurts, and at present writing Mr. Hilbert is recovering rapidly, with every prospect of soon being able to be about, and with the happy knowledge that he will escape without being a cripple.