OBIT: Percy SMITH, 1916, Bedford County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by JRB

Copyright 2008.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/bedford/
_________________________________________ 

YOUNG MAN KILLED BY FALL OF ROCK
Percy Smith Victim of Peculiar Accident on State Road Near Bedford

Special to the Tribune.
  Bedford, Dec. 14. - Percy Smith, aged 28, was fatally injured between 
5 and 5:30 last evening by a fall of rock on the state road from 
Bedford to Friend's cove.  The accident happened about two miles east 
of Bedford, at the Narrows, where the road is being constructed along 
the railroad.  Smith was engaged in digging down at bank when some of 
his companions saw that a slide was imminent.  They called to him to 
move out, but he became confused and instead of getting out of danger, 
he ran into it, a large stone striking him on the back.  Fellow workmen 
picked him up and Dr. Wilmot Ayers, of Bedford, was hastily summoned.  
It was found that the young man's back was badly crushed, one leg 
broken and his face bruised.  He was placed in an automobile to be 
taken to his home, a mile from the scene of the accident, but died on 
the way.
  At the place where the accident happened, the old road runs perhaps 
500 feet up the mountain side and the new one is being constructed on 
the level with the railroad.  The digging away of the steep bank 
evidently loosened the earth and rock which fell with the fatal result.
  Percy Smith was a son of Mrs. Myrtle Amick.  His stepfather is 
living, but his mother is dead and the young man had since childhood 
made his home with his grandmother, Mrs. Seth Smith, of Roxbury.

Altoona Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Friday Morning, December 15, 1916

1900 Bedford, Bedford County census -
Seth Smith, 58  
Margaret Smith, 56  
Sarah Smith, 24  
Lizzie Smith, 20  
Percy Smith, 11