Names In The News

The Washington Gazette
12 November 1910

MAN GETS FALL AT LOOGOOTEE.

Loogootee, Nov. 7.—Some time during the early part of Saturday night, Jasper Devine, better known as "Doc" Devine, plunged from the second story window of his restaurant building and as the result he lies at his home in a condition that the five physicians in attendance say that death only can relieve.

Just what caused the mishap is not known.  Those familiar with the details will have nothing to say, but it is believed that it was the result of a Saturday-night-before-election Jamboree in which Devine ventured too near the window.  However, in the event of death, the coroner will bring out the facts.

In the fall from the window, just opposite the public square, Devine struck an awning which to some extent broke the force of the fall and perhaps avoided instant death.  His right leg from the knee to the hip is a mass of shattered bones, including the knee cap.  The bones are so badly mixed up that a portion of these forced a way out through the flesh, and the physicians say it would be impossible to save the leg by cast.  The left leg was broken in two places, once below the knee and the second near the hip joint.  The injured man was taken to his home and medical aid summoned.  Devine is well known in the western edge of Martin county, having been reared in Rutherford township.

Courtesy of Cathy Clark


The Washington Daviess County Democrat
12 November 1910

RESTAURANT KEEPER FALLS FROM WINDOW

Jasper Devine, age thirty-five years, walked out the front window of the second story of his lunch room on the north side of the square at Loogootee about 11 o'clock Saturday night, falling a distance of twenty feet to the pavement and sustaining injuries that will probably cause his death.  Devine was lying down and when he awoke from a short nap he mistook a light across the street for the light at the bottom of the stairway, and, walking towards it, stumbled out the window.  He started out the window headfirst but struck an awning frame on the way down which turned him over, causing him to alight on his feet.

Hig left knee cap was broken, his left thigh fractured and the bones of his right leg below the knee were badly crushed.   He sustained other injuries and five physicians who have been attending him say it is impossible for him to recover.  He was conscious all day Sunday but this morning he lapsed into a comatose state from which, it is feared, he will never recover.  Devine is a married man of family.

Courtesy of Cathy Clark


 The Jeffersonville Daily Reflector
14 November 1910

Death Resulted From Fall.

Washington, Ind., November 10.— James Devine died at Loogootee this morning as a result of a fall from the second story of his restaurant a week ago.  He is survived by a widow and a family of small children. Devine mistook a window for a door and fell through it to the pavement.

Courtesy of Cathy Clark