The  Shelbyville  Republican
Tuesday January 9, 1917
Page 1 column 3
----------
MORRISTOWN  MAN
GROUND  TO  DEATH
----------------------
William Bravard, 45, Fell Into Machinery
In Patten & Zike Elevator Shaft, This Afternoon
-----------------------------
EVERY  BONE  IN  HIS
BODY  BROKEN
------------------
Had Been an Engineer at the Elevator for Past 25 Years
Five Sisters and Four Brothers Survive
------------------

        William Bravard, 45 years old, who for the past 25 years or more had been engineer at the Patten & Zike elevator in Morristown, was instantly killed shortly after one o’clock this afternoon, when his clothes became entangled in the machinery of the elevator shaft and he was ground to death.  Mr. Bravard was unmarried and had been making his home in a hotel at Morristown.
        While hoisting a load of corn into the elevator something became wrong about the machinery in the tower above the elevator shaft.  Mr. Bravard took his oil can and set about to repair the machinery.  After he had righted the wrong, he oiled the machinery and stood about two feet from a large belt leading to the shaft machinery.  While standing there it is thought he slipped and fell onto the belt, his clothes became entangled and he was ground to death before assistance could be rendered.  Men present at the elevator when the accident occurred could not tell a lucid story of the occurrence. 
Practically every bone in the body was broken, the legs were ground off, his head crushed and his body was torn beyond recognition.  The body was taken to the home of the sister, Mrs. Henry C. Gordon, of Morristown, following the accident, and County Coroner George I. Inlow was called.
        Mr. Bravard is survived by the sister, Mrs. Gordon, at Morristown, three sisters in Indianapolis,  Martha,  Mary  and  Margaret, a sister,  Mrs. Ella Kinsley, of California, and four brothers,  Dudley, of Anderson;  Demosthenes,  of near Greenfield;  Ben  and  John, of Oklahoma.

-------------------------------------

Ibid.
Thursday January 11, 1917
Page 1 column 6
----------
BRAVARD  FUNERAL
------------------

        The funeral services of  William Bravard, who was killed instantly Tuesday afternoon when his clothes became entangled in the line shaft at the Patten & Zike elevator at Morristown, was held this afternoon at the home of his sister, Mrs. Henry C. Gordon, of Morristown.  Burial was made in the Hanover cemetery.  The accident was one of the most horrible imaginable, the body being torn almost beyond recognition.
Contributed by Barb Huff

Obituary Index       Main Page