by Laurel | August 21st, 2009
August 21, 1897, page 10
Mrs. Thomas Leonard Falls With an Earthenware Bowl and a Sharp Fragment Pierces Her Throat.
Katherine Leonard, wife of Thomas Leonard, a special police officer was killed last night at her home at 17 Oliver street by falling over an earthenware owl which broke as she fell. One piece of the bowl cut her throat, severing a large artery, so that she died almost instantly. No one saw the accident, but that is the only explanation that can be given. She was discovered about 9:30 by her husband, who had been out on the street for some time. She was lying in the kitchen in a pool of blood and water. Mr. Leonard called in a regular police officer when he saw his wife’s body, and Capt. Hastings and Medical Examiner Holyoke went to the place at once. Dr. Holyoke examined the body, and he extracted a large piece of the bowl from the woman’s chest. It was embedded about three inches, and had made a cut about 2 1/2 inches long. He said that such a cut would cause almost instantaneous death on account of the severing of the artery. Appearances indicated that Mrs. Leonard was carrying the bowl of water across the kitchen, evidently intending to place it in the refrigerator; she slipped on something as she walked. She was about 50 years old and leave a son of 19 and a daughter of 17.
From The Springfield Republican.
