Accident Near Vinton

NEWTON, STEPHENSON, LUDLOW

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 7/12/2009 at 09:22:44

Western College Advocate, Western College, Linn County, Iowa, July 1, 1860.

Mr. John Newton, late a resident of this place, met with an accident near Vinton, on the 16th of May, 1860, which resulted in his death on the 23rd.

He, in the company of Mr. A. Stephenson of this place, and another young man by the name of Ludlow, started on that day from the residence of Ludlow in Benton County for Pike’s Peak. About two o’clock p.m. when within about a mile of Vinton, Newton attempted to take his gun from the wagon, grasping it by the muzzle, when it accidentally discharged, lodging its contents (a ball) in his person. He was carried into Vinton where he lingered until the 23rd, when he died peacefully and in hope. A post mortem showed that the fatal missile had passed between the sixth and seventh ribs, lacerated the lower portion of the right lung, and the upper portion of the liver, and had lodged in the muscles of the back, near the spinal column. He leaves a wife and two children, who were unconscious of the sad disaster, spending the time with their relatives in Illinois.