(died May 23, 1944)

Clarence Claffey, 65, employed by the village of Norwood, died instantly Tuesday afternoon shortly after 1 when he slipped and fell against an iron pump handle, fracturing his skull. Mr. Claffey and Francis Shepard, both employed by the village, were working on a broken water pipe in Spring street. The men had dug a deep hole in the street and had inserted a pump to drain out the water. Soon after the men had eaten lunch, Mr. Claffey took a pail and attempted to dip out some water from the hole. As he leaned over, his feel slipped in the mud surrounding the hole, it was said, and he fell against the iron handle of the pump, fracturing the right temple back of his eye.

(From the Tuesday, May 30, 1944 edition of the Canton Commercial Advertiser, page two. Courtesy of the Northern New York Library Network @ news.nnyln.net).