“For several days past, the
Board of Works has been employing a gang in grading Main street west, near
Beasley’s Hollow. One of these men met a sudden and horrible death on Saturday
at 2 o’clock”
Hamilton Weekly Times. February
25, 1884.
Even though it was a Saturday afternoon in the deep winter, the City of
Hamilton had a gang of workers deployed to the western edge of the city.
Main Street West, just west of the Garth (now
Dundurn) street intersection was the
scene of the accident :
“The men employed by the city council to grade the
street in that portion of the city had just started work after dinner when one
of the labourers stepped back to the side of the embankment to allow a team of
horses to back into the cut. As he did so, the embankment gave way and the
labourer was crushed against a wagon by the loose earth.”1
1 “Killed While at Work : An Embankment on Main
Street Falls and Crushes a Worker”
Hamilton Spectator. February 25,
1884.
The other men on the gang immediately tried to rescue their co-worker,
William McCallum:
“His fellow-laborers set to work with all the desperate energy that men
will do under such circumstances to rescue him from the superincumbent mass.
“Fully four feet of solid, frozen earth were removed before he could be
got at.
“He was drawn out dead, his skull crushed in and his shoulders and arms
jammed into a shapeless mass.
“Death must have been instanteous.”2
2 “Crushed to Death : A Corporation Laborer Killed
By a Falling Embankment : Another Man Badly Injured”
Hamilton Weekly Times. February 25, 1884.
Another worker at the scene, Ed. Tompkins was also knocked down and badly
bruised by the falling earth. Tompkins lived near the scene of the incident .
Dr. Stark had been summoned to the accident site. As there was nothing he could
do to aid McCallum, Dr. Stark rushed to Tompkins’ home to help him.
The Hamilton Spectator reporter on duty happened to be at Hamilton City
Hall when Hamilton Police Chief Stewart, who had an office in the building, was
told about the fatal accident :
“One of the workmen came into the city hall and informed the police of
the sad affair. Chief Stewart and a Spectator reporter went out in a cab, and
an express wagon was sent out to bring in the body. At the place where the
accident occurred, the soil is sandy and is extremely difficult to handle.
“The sight of the dead man,
lying a bruised and bleeding mass upon the earth was one that could not fail to
move the hardest heart.”2
William McCallum had recently been a resident in the rural area of
Wentworth County but had fallen on hard times. To support his wife and four
children, he had come to the city looking for work:
“He resided near the corner of Catherine and Barton streets. He was about
50 years of age, and leaves a wife and family.
“He
was formerly a well-to-do farmer, and has not been working on the corporation
long .McCallum was a sober, hard-working man, liked and respected by all who
knew him. He had been endeavouring to get changed from his work in the gully to
some place nearer his home, but is efforts had been unsuccessful.”2
Chief Stewart had telephoned the central station to order one of his
detectives to inform McCallum’s wife about the fatality:
“Detective Reid broke the sad news gently to Mrs. McCallum. It was a
terrible shock to the poor woman.”1
The chief also made provisions for McCallum’s remains :
“He secured a light wagon and gave directions for the removal of the body
to McCallum’s late residence.”1
The reporter for the Hamilton Spectator was saddened at how McCallum’s
body had been taken from the scene :
“He was put upon a wagon and taken to his home, followed by a crowd of
itinerant small boys who gathered around the scene of the accident, heaven knows
how or why.
“The necessity for an ambulance was never more apparent than Saturday.
“The sight of the body of the dead man being carried along on a lorry not
shielded from the gaze of the curios passersby was one revolting to
civilisation. In a city like Hamilton, a police wagon, as the Spectator has
frequently urged, is a necessity, and no delay should be had in procuring one.”2
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