KinSource - Tale of the Week - Shredder's Victims

KinSource

Minnesota Tales

The Fairfax Standard, November 4, 1909, p. 1

SHREDDER'S VICTIMS.

Andrew Borstad of Camp Township Loses Practically All of His Right Hand Saturday.

JOS. HACKER IS BADLY INJURED.

More Men Are Maimed Each Year by Corn Shredders Than by Any Other Device Used on the Farm.

During the past ten days the viscious corn shredder has badly maimed for life two young farmers who are well known to many Standard readers.

Saturday morning while visiting the crew with Torgenson Bros'. rig which was at work on the Olaus Dahl farm Camp, Andrew Borstad, started in to the feed the machine. Mr. Borstad is an experienced feeder, having worked with one for the past seven or eight falls. At the time he had a pair of canvass gloves on his hands, and the one on his right hand became entangled in the twine on the bundle, and before he could extricate it, his hand was drawn into snapping rollers and literally ground to pieces. The machine was stopped instantly, but the hand could not be removed until wrenches were used to loosen the rolls.

Mr. Borstad was brought to Fairfax at once where Drs. Lee and Crandall removed all of the fingers on the right hand and the thumb to the first joint.

The injured man is quartered at the Windsor hotel, Fairfax, and is resting as easily as possible under the circumstances.

Hundreds of farmers all over the Northwest are either killed outright or badly maimed for life each year by these viscious implements, and unless some safety device can be arranged to lessen the danger their use should be prohibited.

Joseph Hacker, son-in-law of Mrs. Voltin, residing west of Fairfax, was also a victim of the corn shredder Tuesday of last week. The injured man lives near Lafayette, and the following from the Lafayette Ledger tells the story of the accident:

The first victim this season of the much dreaded corn husker is Joe Hacker, an old and experienced thresher, who while running his corn shredder on the Frost farm Monday morning got his left hand pulled in between the snapping rollers of the husker and luckily got his machine out of gear or perhaps the whole arm would have been pulled into the machine. As it was the fingers and part of the hand were badly lacerated which necessitated an amputation.

Mr. Hacker was hurriedly taken to Lafayette and Dr. Stolpestad at once took his patient to the St. Alexander Hospital where he amputated the hand at the wrist.

Here is another warning to those who operate these dangerous machines. While feeding or tending a corn husker, a person has to be extremely careful and watchful or sooner or later he is caught. There has been a number of persons in this vicinity caught and as many more narrow escapes. It matters not how convenient the gear device is at hand it is always too late to switch out of gear when the hand is caught. But in most cases the hand is caught below in the husking rolls where the operator has no business whatever as some object except the hand can always be found to right things there.