DECEMBER 24
Dec. 24, 1899: The St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported, âDaniel Strickland, an employee of the Iron Furnace Company, at this place, today, while working on top of the furnace, fell in and, descending 16 feet, struck a half-molten crust of red hot iron. He was about to sink to a terrible death when he jumped to a red hot bracket on one side . In the meantime a ladder was lowered from above. He grabbed it and was pulled to the top in an unconscious condition.â The article concluded in saying, âHis hands are terribly burned, his left wrist twisted almost off and his body burned in several places. He will recover.â