OBIT: George H. CURFMAN, 1874, Altoona, Blair County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by MS Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ _________________________________________ CURFMAN - FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT - On Saturday afternoon, a frightful accident occured in Altoona, in which George H. Curfman, a laboring man, was killed, and James Bradley, a machinist was badly injured. Engine No. 266, was standing over an ash pit, a short distance below the eastern round house, when James Kelley mounted the engine for the purpose of moving it a short distance, so as to draw the ash pan; when he seized hold of the lever, and the engine rushed backward, and came in contact with another engine, shattering the tool box of the 226, when he hooked her forward, and she plunged into the round house, at the rate of 35 miles an hour, and battered down doors, and smashed everything in her course. Kelley saved himself by jumping off. The engine ran about a quarter of a mile through the round house, machine shop and wheel shop, and although over five hundred men were at work it is providential that only one man was killed, and another badly injured, with several narrow escapes. The damage to property will amount to several thousand dollars. The Register, Hollidaysburg, Pa., Wednesday, March 18, 1874 Note: the engine numbers 266 and 226 are coped exactly as written.