OBIT: Joseph SINGLER, 1918, Tyrone, Blair County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Sharon Miller Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ _________________________________________ TYRONE LINEMAN IS ELECTROCUTED. Joseph Singler, an Employe of Home Electric Company Receiving an electric current of 2,350 volts through his body, Joseph Singler, of Tyrone, a lineman in the employ of the Home Electric Light Company, met his death at 3.30 o'clock Thursday afternoon at the transforming station of the Blair Electric Company at Bellwood. It was a most distressing accident, occurring so quickly that nothing could be done to avert it. Mr. Singler, with another workman, Robert? Snyder, also of Tyrone, had been working at the station all day. The Blair Electric company is owned by the Home Electric Light and Steam Heating company, of Tyrone, which in turn is owned by the Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway company, and Singler and Snyder worked at the Home company, in and about Tyrone. About a year ago, a transforming station and office building was erected at Main and Boyles streets, Bellwood, and at that time, the building was wired temporarily. The street arc lights in Bellwood are turned on and off in this building, and the current for the trolley wires is transformed from alternating current into direct current and fed into the trolley wires. Some time ago it was decided to make the wiring permanent, and the two men were engaged in cutting holes through the brick wall, through which the power lines were to have been run. The current that passes through the station is furnished from Tyrone. In the morning, the current that supplies the arc lights of the borough is turned off in the station, and then a switch, located on a pole just outside the building, is pulled, so that during the day the current does not enter the building. After the current passes through the building it is carried along several buss bars, or heavy copper plates, after which it enters a series of switches. Singler was working from a ladder placed in front of the buss bars and was engaged in cutting a hole through the wall about ten feet from the floor. Snyder was working near him and hence, when Singler stepped on a current breaker, Snyder warned him to be careful, but Singler responded that there was no danger, as the switch outside had been pulled. A moment later, he accidentally touched one of the naked bars. In a moment, he was drawn off the ladder, the 2,350 volts of alternating current drawing his body up tight. Snyder, terror-stricken, jumped from the ladder on which he was working and rushed to the business office. He shouted for the girl in charge, to telephone Tyrone to cut off the power, and about three minutes after the accident occurred, the current was shut off at Tyrone, and Singler's body fell to the floor. The flesh was burned from the palm of the hand where it came in contact with the bar. In the fall, he sustained a concussion of the brain, and a probable fracture of the skull, the combined shock proving too much for hope of resuscitation. Drs. Forrest and Wilson worked heroically to reclaim the life, but in vain. Coroner W. T. Blackburn was summoned and arrived on the scene before 5 o'clock. He viewed the surroundings, heard the story of Snyder and others and decided that an inquest was unnecessary, in which opinion, he was endorsed by all who were conversant with the facts. Joseph Adelbert Singler was the son of Joseph (deceased) and Sarah T. Singler, and was born at Vail, April 8, 1885. He moved to Tyrone about four years ago and was employed as brakeman on the middle division before he entered the service of the Home Electric Light and Steam Heating company as lineman just one year ago. The tragedy was made all the more on account of the fact that the young man's death occurred on the anniversary of his marriage. It was his sixth wedding anniversary. Just six years before, almost to the hour, on August 21, 1907, he was united in marriage at Huntingdon, with Miss Della Posten, of Tyrone. The grief-stricken wife and two little children, Virginia and Paul, survive. Besides his mother he leaves the following brothers and sisters: Mrs. John Miller, Patrick F. Singler, William L. and Mrs. H. J. Shimp, of Tyrone; Mrs. Martin Wallace, of Pittsburgh. He was held in high esteem by his friends and was an efficient and popular employee. Funeral services were held at the late home of the deceased on Bald Eagle avenue at 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon. Interment in Grandview cemetery. Tyrone Daily Herald, Tyrone, Pa., August 13, 1918, page 1