OBIT: Anna C. HORNICK, 1937, of interest in Somerset County, PA

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ANNA HORNICK, 56, CRUSHED TO DEATH BY HEAVY ROLLER

Richland Twp. Woman Meets Tragic Death Doing Farm Work
RITES ON SATURDAY

Falling in front of a horse-drawn roller on the home farm in Richland 
Township, Miss Anna C. Hornick, 56, was crushed to death yesterday shortly 
after noon. The roller passed over her entire body, except her neck and head.

Theodore Hornick, a brother, told Coroner Cyrus W. Davis he had been working 
in an orchard during the morning while his sister rolled the field, recently 
plowed and seeded. The roller, he said, weighed between 500 and 600 pounds and 
additional weight had been given it by placing stones on it. On his way to 
noon lunch, Mr. Hornick said he went to the field to see what had been 
accomplished, when he sighted the roller, with the horses standing still, but 
no sign of his sister. On approaching the roller he saw her body under the 
heavy machinery. The roller rested on the woman's shoulders.

Fell in Front of Roller
Coroner Davis, viewing the body at the farm, located some four miles off Route 
53, on the Salix-Mt. Hope Church road, said he believed Miss Hornick fell 
forward from the driver's seat directly in front of the roller, which passed 
over her legs and torso slantwise. The horses evidently stopped of their own 
volition. Death was probably due to suffocation, the coroner believed, and 
while there was some evidence of cerebral hemorrhage it is thought that the 
condition may have resulted from crushing of the lungs. The body was not badly 
crushed because of the softness of the soil after plowing.

Parents Both Dead
Miss Anna C. Hornick was a daughter of Peter Hornick and Julia (Boyer) 
Hornick, both natives of this section. Peter Hornick died August 30, 1932, 
having been born and spent his entire life on the farm where yesterday's 
fatality occurred. Mrs. Hornick died on July 26, 1935. Beside the brother 
mentioned above, Miss Hornick is survived by the following sisters; Magdalene, 
who resided with her sister and brother on the farm; Mrs. Roman Erlinger of 
Maple Avenue, Woodvale; Barbara Hornick of Baltimore, Md., and Mrs. Adam Nitch 
of Conemaugh Township, Somerset County, near the Menoher Highway.

Funeral on Saturday
The body was prepared for burial by John R. Blimmel, local mortician. Funeral 
services will be held at 9 o'clock Saturday morning at St. Joseph's Catholic 
Church, Railroad Street, with interment in the family plot in the church 
cemetery, Geistown. The body was taken to the Hornick farm home this morning.

Johnstown Tribune Thurs. Sept. 30, 1937

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