Marion, IN Obituary Lesson: He was Just Holding the Wires [1899]

To day if ye will hear His voice,
harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.
For what is your life? It is even a vapor,
that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Hebrews 3:15/James 4:14

Q: When the 18 year old got dressed that morning for work on that fateful day in 1899---did he know he wouldn't make it home again?

"WILLIAM CRITES
Killed by a Live Wire. MARION, Ind., July 24
William Crites, the eighteen-year-old son of John Crites of this city,

was killed this morning while at work for the Union Traction Company on South Washington street. 

--He was employed in resetting poles and constructing new span wires from pole to pole. 

--A leak is supposed to have been in the hangers today as, when the electrician Curtis White, attached the new span wire to the top of one of the poles, it in some manner touched the span wire already up and this formed a connection with the ground. 

--Crites had hold of the other end of the wire held by White and died almost instantly.
Date: July 26, 1899 Location: Indiana Paper: Indiana State Journal."