Area Rancher Wounded

Recoil of heavily loaded shotgun nearly knocks his head off.

Three deep stitches required to put his nose in place.

This shocking headline appeared in the Dec. 29, 1904 issue of “The Saratoga Sun.” Details of the incident were reported as thus:

Yesterday afternoon Albert Nixon had an accident with a shotgun that came near resulting fatally. The gun was an old muzzleloader, which species of weapon Albert was not familiar, and in loading it, he put in an extra large charge. When he undertook to shoot the gun, the recoil crushed the stock, and the breech plowed into his face. Beginning at the upper lip, it nearly tore off the nose and made an ugly wound that stopped just in time to save the right eye.

Dr. Price was called to the house of William Lee, on the Hugus Ranch, where the accident occurred, and found it necessary to take three deep stitches and to use a great deal of adhesive plaster to get the nose back in place. Dr. Price says the wound is an ugly and painful one but does not anticipate any serious consequences from it.

The after Christmas issue of the paper also noted:

Took corrosive sublimate

Bertha (last name omitted by writer), an inmate of a Rawlins house of ill repute, attempted to commit suicide Saturday by chewing up six tablets composed of corrosive sublimate. Her mouth and throat were severely burned, but she will recover.

However, all the news that week wasn’t bad. An article in the hometown weekly newspaper states:

Went coon hunting

W.B. and James Harden, accompanied by several boys, were up the river hunting Sunday and bagged three coons, all fairly good-sized animals. Mr. Harden had run across the tracks the morning before and the following day took the dogs and captured the coons. These animals are rather scarce in this country, only having made their appearance a few years ago.