A walk through the woods turned disastrous for a Pennsylvania hunter in December 1920 when he stumbled across a hidden wire stretched across a path.
The wire was connected to a crude homemade trap gun tied to a tree, and when Lon Beach tripped it, the weapon fired into his thigh.
The blast caused devastating injuries and left the hunter fighting for his life.
Hunter Shot By Trap Gun
SCRANTON, Pennsylvania. — In tripping over a small wire that crossed the path on a runway in the woods in Pike County, Lon Beach, of Hawley, caused a trap gun, tied to a tree to explode.
The contents of the gun struck the hunter in the thigh and some of the shot perforated the intestines, inflicting injuries that probably will prove fatal.
The gun was a homemade affair, fourteen inches long and made of three-quarter-inch iron pipe.
Source: Evening Public Ledger. Philadelphia, Pa. December 7, 1920.
