Today’s Reckless Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Some rim-falls at Grand Canyon are not merely suspected but known to have been alcohol related. Lawrence Jackson, 24, who fell off the rim above Badger Overlook on August 14, 1993, had been drinking “heavily.” So had Lana Virginia Smith, age 28, who fell off the wall (and the South Rim) behind the Bright Angel Lodge on May 11, 1997. It is unknown, however, to what degree, if any, alcohol may have contributed to the actions that led to the falls of other victims.
What are the truly big culprits leading to such a hideous death? At least ten of the first 50 falling victims—and possibly as many as 25 or more of them—had deliberately crossed the guard rails or walls to frolic, walk, stand on, or sit on the very edge. In short, before they fell over the edge, 20 to 50 percent of these victims were intentionally reckless.
Add to this snow and ice. At least five, and as many as seven, victims died due to slipping on ice and snow on the rim—often after passing the guard rail or wall.
A further risk factor, a glaring one, is being male. In contrast, while youth does seem to play a role, the average age of fall victims (excluding the two Qualls children innocently trapped in a parents’ car) was 34 years old. While many of these victims were young adults, when considered as a group they were all of a mature age. Of 50 falls, only thirteen were women. Even though only a quarter of accidental fatal rim falls have been women, this is the highest proportion of women victims in any group of people dying traumatically in any one way in Grand Canyon. In other words, for women at Grand Canyon, this is a very high level of representation. Women, it appears, are less careful of falls from the rims than they are of all other Canyon dangers except flying with male pilots.
Looked at another way, however, this also reveals that men take far more risks, even at the relatively “tame” lookout points on the rims, than women do. Again, glaringly, all eight victims who were rock-hopping and trying to appear fearless for an audience of friends, family, or even strangers—and often doing so for someone’s camera—when they slipped off bedrock to their long death plunges were men. All five victims who dropped off the South Rim in motor vehicles were male, and all died due to the actions of men. All five victims who died while rock-climbing or scrambling on the rims were also men.
Dumbassery on the Edge
Another glaring reality is clear among the rim falls. Excluding the two Qualls children trapped in the family car, none of the 48 other fatalities were of children. In short, as immature and reckless as children can be, none of them has killed himself or herself by falling into Grand Canyon. This may be due to the reality that children possess a more recent familiarity about the dangers, risks, and consequences of falling in the natural world (while many adults have been too long out of touch with vertical drops). Or, instead, the lack of children falling may be due to many parents exerting a double standard on their kids (“It’s okay for Daddy to stand this close because he’s taking a picture, but this is too dangerous for you.”) Either way, this holds some interesting ramifications. The first—one hard for many parents to swallow—is that children seem significantly smarter, when it comes to common sense, than many adults. Perhaps the NPS caution signs posted to warn visitors against the danger of falls would be far more efficacious if they specially admonished children:
“IF YOU ARE A CHILD, PLEASE KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON ANY ADULTS NEAR THE EDGE. ADULTS HAVE A TRAGIC TENDENCY TO BE CARELESS OR RECKLESS. DOZENS OF THEM HAVE DIED HERE DUE TO LACK OF ADEQUATE SUPERVISION BY CHILDREN.”
Culled from: Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon
Ohio Penitentiary Prisoner Du Jour!
This “of its time” excerpt is from “The Ohio Penitentiary – 1899” by Dan J. Morgan:
Patrick Hartnett
Patrick Hartnett was a fiend in which the brute creation was represented more than that of the human, as you will see. His crime was one of the most coldblooded on record. Hartnett’s home was in Cincinnati, Ohio, and he brutally murdered his wife with an axe on the morning of January 18, 1884. While she lay cold in death and covered with blood at the feet of her slayer, and five dependent children wailing their piteous cries for their dead mother, Hartnett danced a jig of fiendish joy around her body.
He was executed for this crime on the morning of Sept. 30, 1885, and by some mistake, his execution was a sickening sight, as the head was almost severed from the body and streams of blood poured from the severed arteries. But pitying angels could not weep, be his death one of horror, for his crime was so heartless that ages could not blot it out of the memory of man. At twenty-five minutes past one Patrick Hartnett entered through the gates of death to await his final sentence from the “higher courts,” the judge of which never errs, never has His judgment reversed.
Here’s an article about the execution from the October 1, 1885 issue of the Philadelphia Times:
THE ROPE CUT HIS HEAD OFF.
A Sickening Spectacle at the Execution of Patrick Harnett, Wife-Murderer.
COLUMBUS, September 30.
Patrick Harnett, the Cincinnati wife-murderer, was hanged at the Ohio Penitentiary this morning. The drop fell at twenty-five and a-half minutes after one o’clock and the murderer was pronounced dead one-half minute later. The fall resulted in almost total decapitation, the head hanging to the body only by a small strip of skin at the back of the neck. The scene was a most sickening one and it was with great difficulty that the executioners could summon courage to cut the body down.
Harnett killed his wife January 31, 1881, in Mount Auburn, a suburb of Cincinnati. Early on the morning of the deed, when she arose, he ordered her back to bed and charged her with unfaithfulness, which she denied. He secured an axe, made his wife get on her knees, say her prayers and kiss the floor, when he struck her two blows with the axe, one crushing her skull, in view of her five children. Officers found Harnett dancing a jig and playing a jew’s-harp around the body and had some trouble arresting him, owing to resistance. Harnett was twice tried and convicted by Hamilton county juries, was sentenced to be executed on September 4, but was reprieved by Governor Hoadly to this date, pending the hearing of a motion in the Supreme Court to grant a new trial, which was overruled early last week.
Andersonville Prisoner Diary Entry Du Jour!
This is the continuation of the 1864 diary of Andersonville prisoner Private George A. Hitchcock (see the archived version for all entries up until now).
Here’s today’s entry:
November 19th. Storm came on at night. Another change of sergeants, which caused another day’s starvation on a mouthful of beef. Another train load of sick went away at dark.
Culled from: Andersonville: Giving Up the Ghost