Flour mill accidents were, at one time, extremely common. Gears, shafts, and belts were exposed and there were no safety covers or emergency shut-offs for the machinery. It was only too easy for a person to lose limbs or life in the old mills.
Hands were often crushed such as in the case of Fred Heitman in 1899. As he was grinding a grindstone, his right hand got caught in a gear and was crushed.
In 1910, a young man from Minnesota got caught in one of the drive shafts at the flour mill. His legs were horribly mangled and had to be amputated.
The son of a former county judge worked at a flour mill in Missouri. In 1893, his hand got caught in one of the belts and was twisted off at the wrist.
There were also many brutal deaths, such as what happened to Hellen Gilmore in 1861. She had been inspecting the machinery when he clothing got caught in the machinery. Unable to free herself or stop the machinery, she was pulled into an upright shaft and was mangled to death.
