Death at the Fair

Though the security was quite good at the 1904 World's Fair, there were a few unfortunate deaths during the Exposition.

On August 13, Frances Reid Miller Jones, the wife of Breckenridge Jones- one of the wealthiest St. Louisiana and supporter of the Fair), and her two children were on a carriage ride (A two-seated trap), near the Boer War reenactment. The horses were spooked upon hearing a shot from the attraction, and all the occupants were tossed out of the carriage, and down a 20 foot embankment. Jones' wife died that night in the tent of Captain Blakley, at the War War attraction.

Performer W. H. Green, known as `Monsieur Leon.' Green wrapped his long hair around a fifty foot pole and slid down. He performed this feat at the Old St. Louis attraction on the Pike three times a day, until the wire snapped and he was killed on August 2.

After having a nervous breakdown (due to her son's wife dying), author Kate Chopin, was healthy enough to visit the Fair. On a particularly hot day, she collapsed, and suffered cerebral hemmorage and died two days later on August 22.

On May 16, assistant engineer, Hugh Meier was killed at the power plant that provided energy to the Tyrolean Alps. An overloaded compressed air pipe burst and caused his death.

On July 3, the Wabash Limited train near Litchfield Illinois wrecked, when a train slammed into an open switch, causing the locomotive to explode. Twenty-one people on their way to the Fair and the National Democratic Convention died.

Jefferson Guard, Gerald Doyle, was killed while unloading barrels at Palace of Agriculture on Flag Day- June 14.

A huge steel pin fell off the Observation Wheel and hit John Goll on May 10. Though workers tried to warn him by yelling, the pin fell 200 feet and instantly killed him.

On August 28, the Louisiana Purchase trophy automobile race held at a dust-winded Fairgrounds Race Track, famed racer Barney Oldfield crashed into a fence during the 10 mile race and killed two spectators.

From July to September at the Phillipine Exhibition, twelve members died. Three Bagobos and an American died at the St. Louis Quarentine Station of smallpox, two Moros and one Igorot and two Constabulary soldiers died of beriberi, one Igorot died of pneumonia, one American died of liver abscess, and one Constabulary soldier from a suicide gunshot wound. Also a Visayan teacher and a six month infant died of pneumonia on the way to the Fair.

Ariel Serena Hedges Bowen, wife of the multitalented scholar, J. W. E. Bowen, (he helped to shape African American culture through his service as seminary administrator, minister, writer, and lecturer). She was a writer, temperance movement activist, and professor of music at Clark University. She died in 1904 while visiting the World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.

In May, John Reynolds fell from the axel of the huge Observation Wheel in the early morning. He was oiling the axel and lost his balance, falling 150 feet. He was 35 years old.