BOY VICTIM OF SHOTGUN

Otto Boldt, a 14 year old boy, was seriously injured about noon Tuesday by the accidental discharge of a shotgun on the Backhaud farm one mile south of town. The large muscles of his right arm were torn away and a ragged wound made in the armpit.

With his father, Herman Boldt, the young man had driven with a water tank to the Backhaus farm, taking with him a double-barreled shotgun. He attempted to stick the gun through the hole in the top of the tank to save carrying it, when the hammer caught on the side of the opening and the weapon was discharged with the above result. The injured boy was brought to town at once and was very weak from loss of blood by the time the hospital was reached, some of the large blood vessels having been severed. Drs. Spottswood and Young dressed the wounds and it is thought the arm will be saved if blood poisoning can be prevented. He is doing well at this writing.

This should prove a lesson in the matter of allowing children to use firearms and the only wonder is that more accidents have not occurred in the past when the laxity of parents is considered.

Symptoms of blood poisoning developed yesterday afternoon and the arm was amputated this morning at the shoulder socket. The outcome of the operation can only be conjectured at best, but the patient's condition is causing his friends grave anxiety.

The boy was unable to withstand the shock of the operation and died at 3 p.m. this afternoon.

Hankinson News, 8/17/1905