Rural Safety 



By C. M. Seagraves 



Cranks - — Ralph Robinson and 

 Henry MeflFert, Champaign county, 

 were injuried while attempting to 

 crank their tractors. Ralph was hit 

 in the mouth when the crank became 

 disengaged, knocking out several 

 teeth. Henry received a fracture of his 

 right arm. 



Corn Picker — Herman Mathesius, 

 La Salle county, lost his left hand in 

 a corn picker. He was held prisoner 

 until picker parts could be loosened 

 to release him. 



Buzz Saw — Ray Landon, Jersey 

 county, was throwing wood away from 

 a saw. He was bumped by his helper 

 and fell toward the spinning blade. 

 His hand was severely lacerated. 



Elevator — H. M. Bunn, McLean 

 county, was helping to move the der- 

 rick of a corn elevator on the D. M. 

 Stutzman farm when the heavy ma- 

 chine fell, gashing his hand. Several 

 stitches were requried. 



Backfire — A nearby water tank 

 saved the life of Andrew W. Ander- 

 son. Ford county, when his tractor back- 

 fired and ignited his clothing. He was 

 treated at the hospital for severe burns 

 of the hands and arms. 



Com Crib — Abby Witt, 55, Mc- 

 Lean county, was killed when a corn 

 crib on which he was working toppled 

 over crushing him. 



Runaway — Andrew Ehrecke, 59, 

 Ford county, was found dead at his 

 home. A neighbor, in' passing Ehrecke's 

 farm early in the morning, noticed a 

 team standing in the field on opposite 

 sides of the fence hitched to a grain 

 wagon. Investigation showed Mr. 



ECUS VAUGHAH 

 He husked the biggest load — 32.6 

 bushels — in the national contest at 

 Lawrence, Kansas, this iall, but he lost 

 428.95 lbs. in penalties and finished third 

 with 26.51 bu. Lawrence "Slim" Pitzer 

 of Indiana was first with 28.39 bu. net 

 husked in 80 minutes. Leland Klein of 

 Metamora, Woodford county. 111., placed 

 sixth with 26.29 bu. 



Ehrecke had been crushed between a 

 building and the wagon when the 

 team ran away the night before. 



Tumbling Rod — Theodore Tarman, 

 36, Livingston county, was severely 

 beaten when he became entangled with 

 a tumbling rod while elevating corn. 



Courage — Stanley Jones, Will coun- 

 ty, was picking corn alone when his 

 arm caught in the machinery. He re- 

 leased himself, made a tournequet of 

 his handkerchief, unhitched the tractor 

 from the picker and drove a mile and 

 a half into Manhattan for aid. He 

 died a few days later. 



Showdown — Lloyd Roach, Mercer 

 county, was quickly relieved of his 

 clothes when his trouser leg caught 

 in the chain of the corn elevator. 



Illinois' nieinpioii 



Husker 



\ Kentucky Bo| 



Ecus Vaughan, winner of the Illinois 

 State Corn Husking Contest this year 

 was born in Kentucky. He came to 

 Illinois as a youngster and worked for 

 his half brother, John Roberts of Monti- 

 cello, a Piatt County Farm Bureau mem- 

 ber. 



Ecus is 23 years old, does not smoke, 

 drink liquor nor even coffee. He is six 

 feet tall, weighs 170 pounds, has dark 

 hair, hazel eyes and husks right-handed 

 with a thumb hook. Superstitious, he 

 has worn the same hook and the same 

 sports shirt in every contest. 



Although disappointed at not win- 

 ning the national contest this year, he 

 has plans for a comeback in 1940 and 

 1941. E. L. Johnston, Piatt county 

 farm adviser, says that everybody likes 

 Vaughan because he is unassuming and 

 has a ready smile. 



Holding to a wagon wheel for dear 

 life he watched all his clothing, includ- 

 ing his shoe strings, depart up the 

 elevator. 



1000 TO 1 — Roland Resslers mail- 

 box has been overflowing for weeks. 

 Roland is the Champaign county farm- 

 er who broke all records last month 

 when he harvested 171.4 bushels of 

 corn per acre from a six-acre field. 

 Folks from all states and foreign coun- 

 tries have written asking how it was 

 done. Many enclosed dollar bills for 

 samples of the seed. In desperation, 

 Roland finally had a form letter mime- 

 ographed saying the corn was a hy- 

 brid and could not be depended upon 

 to produce 1028 bushels for one of 

 seed. His yield was based on scale 

 weights with deductions for moisture. 



DECEMBEH 1939 



