----Source: CLARK COUNTY PRESS (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) 07/24/1874

St. Claire, Robert (1849? - 20 Jul 1874)

Another fatal accident occurred at Biter's Place, a mile east of the village (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.), on Monday evening. A man named Robert St. Claire was engaged in drawing hay into the barn. For some reason it was necessary to draw the wagon in backwards by hitching the team to the hind axletree. The sliding door in the back part of the barn was not pushed entirely back, and the unfortunate man, who was driving the team, in some way got his head between the door and the hayrack as the two came into collision. He was killed instantly, and when taken up his brain was oozing from the fractures in his skull. It is presumed that the team, having got considerable headway in drawing the load up the steep slide in front of the barn, pulled the driver along in his endeavors to check them and finally caught him in the way we have described. The man was evidently in the act of dodging to get under the rack, as it would have taken him somewhere in the breast had he been standing erect.

Mr. St. Clair was about 27 years of age. He leaves a wife, near confinement, and one child. He was a son-in-law of Mr. Bass, residing near where the accident occurred.