Bronaugh - Doores Steam Thresher

Here is a scan of the Les Doores Threshing outfit. Susan Doores shared this photo. I am pretty sure that the church in the background is the Bronaugh Baptist Church. Its difficult to tell, but it appears to be taken from the northeast. If that is the case, then this old photo shows that the Baptist Church was once nearly on the edge of town.

Below is a close-up of the church and mule team. I have sharpened it as much as possible.

To the left is an account about a terrible accident involving the Doores threshing machine. It is from the July 5, 1904 Bronaugh Journal. That is an issue that I had not seen before. Stephanie Hays, whose ancestor (Earnest Weaver) was killed in the accident, shared this portion of a copy of a copy of the old newspaper. We hope that someone has a real copy of this issue so we can have the rest of the article. We hope to know who was injured.

Here is my best effort transcription of the article:

Frightful Accident

Doores Bro's Threshing Engine Blows Up.

One Man Dead, Another, Perhaps Fatally Injured.

**********

At eleven minutes past four o'clock Monday afternoon occurred one of the most distressing accidents the Journal has ever been called upon to chronicle. While Doores Bros. threshing for A. Renfer, three and one half miles east of town, the engine used to run the thresher exploded; while the explosion made very little noise, the damage it done was complete, scarcely any two parts of the engine being left together. The news of the accident reached town almost as soon as it happened and in a very short time all of the people who could get a conveyance were on their way to the scene of the accident, anxious to know the worst and to do what they could to help save the lives of those who were injured. On the engine at the time of the explosion were Engineer Earnest........

Benjamin Clark found a postcard in Texas of a steam engine explosion. He was researching the card on the internet and discovered that it was the Doores engine mentioned in this web site so he shared a scan of it. He also made close-up scans of the card to show more detail. See below for what is on the back of the card.

On the back of the card is written:

"Remains of engine that exploded July 14 killing Earnest Weaver & badly wounding several other men. July 1914. X shows where Weaver was pinned down and scalded."

NOTE: Raymond Townson reports that this explosion occurred east of Bronaugh, across the Road east from what became the John G. Saathoff farm and across the road south of the Townson home. He says that he recalls pieces of metal from the explosion in the field many years later.

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This page is designed and maintained by Lyndon Irwin.