WEBB

Posted by cathy gowdy on Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 07:45:54 :

The Marin Journal
Thursday, July 31, 1913
Page 1

Guard Killed By Machinery At San Quentin

George Webb, a guard at San Quentin, died on Wednesday as the result of an accident that occurred while on duty that day.

The main shaft in the jute room runs through the suspended cage in which the guard sits, in view of all the convicts at work in the mill. Occasionally, it gets very warm in t his cage, and Webb had invented a fan, small paddle wheels made of a tin can, and attached to a wheel which was fastened to that section of the main shaft that ran through his cage. He rose from his chair at about ten o’clock Wednesday morning, and is some way the fan wheel caught in his clothing about the shoulder; he raised his right hand to free himself, but the hand was caught, too, and pulled his whole body around with the swiftly revolving wheel.

He was mangled before the machinery could be stopped, but lived in an unconscious condition until 1 p.m. The injured man was attended by Dr. Wade Stone and Dr. L. L. Stanley.

In days gone by Mr. Webb was a well-known politician in San Francisco, and has been bailiff in nearly every court in the city. He was a guard at Folsom before coming to San Quentin, where he has been for five years. He was 55 years of age, and leaves a wife and three children: a son is assistant engineer on the steamer Sierra, plying between San Francisco and Honolulu.

The inquest was held by Dr. Sawyer on Wednesday afternoon.