Grayson County TXGenWeb

The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, March 13, 1887
pg. 3

RAILROAD RUMBLINGS
Frank Paul, the man so seriously injured Saturday afternoon by falling to the bottom of the Houston and Texas Central water well, was reported Monday as still lingering upon the point of death, with but slight hopes for his recovery.
A gang of men were busy Monday morning pulling up the planks from the bottom of the Houston & Texas Central water well and reconstructing the platform, which Saturday night gave way letting Shelton and Paul down to death and mutilation.

DOWN TO DEATH
The Accident at the Houston & Texas Central Well
The accident referred to in the Gazetteer Extra of Saturday 5th inst., happened in this way:
The well which is 85 feet deep had been stoned fromt the bottom to within about 15 feet of the top, the men working upon a scaffold built across the entire opening, which, as is usual in such work, was shifted up higher at regular intervals, all the way from the bottom. Stone was lowered down to this platform by means of a windlass, worked by horse power. Four men were at work in the well at the time of the accident, and the first intimation they had of danger was the cracking of the platform under them.
There stands in the well a ladder, running from the bottom clear to the top, and upon hearing the noise two of the men, Henry Ligon and Tom Pugh, who were standing close to this ladder seized it, and saved themselves. At the same instant the platform gave way with a crash, letting A.W. Shelton and Frank Paul to the bottom, a distance of about 70 feet, and covering them with a mass of timbers and stone. Shelton was instantly killed and Paul so badly injured that little hope is entertained for his recovery. An inquest was held upon the remains Saturday and a verdict in accordance with the above facts rendered by the jury.
Mr. Shelton was buried on Sunday. Paul, whose injuries consist of numerous fractures of the limbs and a cut in the throat, is not expected to live, but at this writing, Tuesday, he continues to linger.

DEAD
The young man, Frank Paul, who was so seriously injured Saturday afternoon (5th inst.) by falling to the bottom of the Houston & Texas Central water well, died Wednesday, at his boarding house on south Armstrong avenue. His brother arrived from Kansas Wednesday afternoon and took charge of his remains, which were buried Wednesday afternoon, in Oakwood cemetery.