A Fourth of July Disaster at the Iron Works

Just as the sun was slowly creeping behind the Western hills, and a day which had been fraught with unalloyed pleasure was drawing to a close, an accident occurred which, to a certain extent, cast gloom over the joyousness of our Fourth of July celebration. The program of exercises for that day provided for the firing of a salute at sundown. Among those whose duty it was to fire this salute was our respected fellow-citizen L. H. Tenny, one of the stockholders of the Washington Iron Works, and foreman in the molding department of that prosperous establishment. It seems that Mr. L. H. Tenny was standing at the right of the cannon's muzzle when a premature discharge occurred, the force of which threw him a distance of twenty feet, lighting on his head and shoulder. His left hand, with the exception of the meta-carpal bone of the thumb, was blown off; the humerus of the same member sustained a comminuted fracture two inches above the elbow joint. The muscles of the right forearm were carried away, exposing the tendons, and the entire limb was severely burned and blown full of powder. The face, chest, abdomen, and extremities were blown full of powder and bruised by the force of the concussion. The wounded man was immediately put on a stretcher and carried to his house, where Drs. H. R. Hall and E. L. Smith were summoned, and together they performed the amputation of the mutilated member two inches above the wrist joint and dressed the other wounds. Mr. Tenny at the present time is doing well, and although the shock is still profound, with good care will likely recover, with but the loss of his left forearm.