A litany of accidents. 1898.

Sounds like it was a weekend of destruction and mishap in Perth in 1898.

The first thing I would like to know is, how did Thomas Coultas manage to get his foot stuck in the front wheel of his bike? He might have been well-known in cycling circles, but was he known for his excellent riding skills? This little accident would suggest not.

Next the fall of a flake of plaster at Mrs. Huxtable’s house. Since when is a 15ft piece of plaster a ‘flake’? That sounds like a whole ceiling to me! They ladies in the room were lucky that the only actual damage was the ruination of the bonnet. It must have had quite a sturdy head beneath it.

Epileptic fits, being run down by a cart and a man being smacked silly by a train door. It sounds like a weekend better spent at home! Even more so if you were intending on taking a stroll down Murray street on Saturday morning. In that case it was lucky the building only looked as if was going to fall, and didn’t actually fall. Several heavy beams were employed to prop it up and all was well. I suspect that if I was reporting a newly bricked building that was leaning heavily toward the street I would use stronger language than ‘a somewhat unfortunate mishap’ though.

The Inquirer and Commercial News 23 Sep 1898 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67031241