Horrible accident.
--In
St. Louis, on Saturday afternoon,
Washington Lynch, a tinner who was just finishing his week's work, was instantly killed by falling from the fifth story of the building on which he was employed.--The News says:
‘
Taking a board, he placed it obliquely out of the window, the farther end of it resting against the spot which he wished to reach.--To secure the plank in its place, he put an upright joist on the end that was inside the building, one extremity of the joist resting on the board, and the other against the upper floor.
With only this slight platform to separate him from the solid pavement that lay seventy feet beneath him, he walked out to his work.
The plank stood firm until he reached the end, which was some six feet from the building, when he leaned over to reach the pipe.
The weight of his body bearing against the oblique incline of the board, forced it back to a straight line, and flying in an instant from beneath his feet, it precipitated him head foremast to the pavement below.--He struck on the solid stone with a heavy thud, forcing his body into itself like the barrels of a telescope.
His skull was a shapeless mass of clotted brains and blood, and his arms and thighs were broken.
The body, as it lay there, surrounded by crowds of curious citizens, presented the appearance of a huge mass of flesh thrown hastily on to the pavement.
Not a movement or sign of life proclaimed that it had once been a human being.
His wife had already prepared supper, and was a waiting the arrival of her husband then informed of the occurrence.
Her agony on witnessing the mangled remains, moved all who beheld it to tears.
’
