A story from 1909 about the daughter of a prominent farmer, A. J. Spannuth, of Jackson Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, whose daughter while driving a milk wagon was forced to leap from the wagon just as it was about to go over a cliff. She avoided death but was seriously injured in the jump.
Girl Makes Life Leap at Chasm Edge
Escapes Runaway at Brink of Precipice Where Mule Is Killed
BADLY INJURED BY STRIKING TREE
Picked Up by Wood Cutters and Later Taken to Local Hospital
Seriously injured in a runaway accident along the county turnpike through the mountains between Elizabethville and Deitrich yesterday morning, Miss Carrie Spannuth, daughter of A. J. Spannuth, a prominent farmer near Deitrich, lies in the Harrisburg Hospital with a fractured tibia, which may be of a compound nature, a dislocated ankle and bruises and cuts of the entire body.
That Miss Spannuth escaped death is regarded as little short of a miracle. She is 19 years old and every morning drives a milk wagon for her father. Yesterday morning she had just started on the usual route, and was driving to Elizabethville. A heavy and fractious mule was pulling the milk wagon and on the road through the mountains the animal became frightened and started to run off.
Clinging desperately to the seat, Miss Spannuth faced death for five long minutes while the maddened animal tore curves and cliff, until finally it left the road and started across a hill toward a ravine beyond. Miss Spannuth knew that the sides were precipitous and felt that a fall with the wagon would be sure death. Just as the mule topped the rise and started over the edge the young girl leaped. Such was the speed of the runaway that she was hurled for several feet and struck against a tree.
Then the dash ended as mule and wagon went over the precipice in a final drop. The mule was killed and the wagon damaged beyond repair. The young girl lay where she fell, unconscious. Several men were nearby cutting timber and had seen the terrible end of the runaway. They hurried up and picked up the girl, carrying her to a nearby spring and quickly reviving her. from there she was taken to Dr. Stroup, in Elizabethville, who treated the cuts and bruises and advised sending her to the hospital here [Harrisburg]. Her father brought her to the Harrisburg hospital, where the injuries were found to be rather serious. She will recover.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, June 9, 1909, via Newspapers.com.
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