In the summer of 1912, a quiet moment in the shade of a tree nearly turned fatal for a five-month-old baby in Union, Salt Lake County, Utah. While the child slept in a go-cart and its father worked nearby, a large hog running loose overturned the carriage and attacked.
The baby’s screams brought the father rushing back just in time. What followed was a terrifying struggle to drive off the animal before it could do even more harm.
The following article, published in the Iron County Record on June 28, 1912, tells the shocking story of the hog attack and the desperate effort to save the child from lifelong injury.
Hog Attacks Sleeping Baby
At Union, Salt Lake County, last week a shocking fate almost overtook a five-months-old baby. The child was saved from being devoured by a hog only by the timely arrival of its father.
Before the vicious animal could be driven off it had severely bitten the baby’s lips, one of its ears and one of its hands.
The victim of the attack was the child of Mr. And Mrs. P.W. Knutson.
The baby was left in the care of its father, while the mother went to the store to make some purchases. The baby was placed in a go-cart in the shade of a tree, where it lay peacefully sleeping. Knudson went to attend to some work in connection with his irrigating ditches.
While engaged in that work, Knudson heard his baby scream. Rushing with all possible speed to the place where the baby was, Knutson saw that a gigantic hog, which had been running at large, had overturned the baby’s go-cart and was ferociously attacking the child. Knudson succeeded in driving off the hog, but not without a show of fight on the beast’s part.
As quickly as possible the baby was taken to Murray, where its injuries were dressed by Dr. W.H. Rothwell. Dr. Rothwell hopes to be able to save the child from lifelong disfigurement.
Source: Iron County Record. Cedar City, Utah. June 28, 1912.
