J. A. Brown of Decatur was instantly killed at Table Grove, Monday afternoon when the framework of a farmers’ elevator tower, 114 feet high on which he was working, collapsed, when struck by a gust of wind.
Walter Derbin, another workman was seriously injured.
Brown and Derbin were working near the top of the frame work, which was constructed of two-by-sixes and one-by-fours with three guy wires attached, about 50 feet from the ground.
The guy wires snapped and before the gaze of several spectators, including the father of the dead man, the scaffold fell to the ground. Brown was thrown clear of the debris and struck the ground on his chest. He died five minutes later. Derbin was working close to Brown but in some manner clung to the scaffold and swung his body to the upper side and was found lying on top of the scaffold on his back.