1883-11-12is

John Knapman was a popular man in the Hamilton of 1883. Well-known on many accounts, including his skills as a master carpenter. At a time when Hamilton’s telephone network was expending rapidly, he was pressured to finish the task he was hired for by working on a Sunday, so that the upgrades to the system could go public on the following Monday:

 “Another name has been added to the list of those fatal accidents that seem to be connected with the telephone company’s existence in this city. For some days past the company have been having new poles put up, and the wires changed from the old to the new. As a consequence business has been nearly suspended, or rather, the wires having been crossed, considerable confusion has been the result.

“The wires run from poles on the corner of King and Hughson streets up to the roof of the Hamilton Provident and Loan Company’s building, in which the company’s offices are situated. On the roof they enter into what is technically known as ‘the wire house,’ and from thence pass down through the roof into the office below. The ‘wire house’  that has always been there has got to be too small, and when the change was made to the poles, the powers that be thought it advisable to have the old house taken down and a larger one substituted. To this end they engaged Mr. John Knapman, a master carpenter, of No. 14 Emerald street. The job was almost finished Saturday night when Mr. Knapman left off work, and a couple of hours more would have seen it finished. Mr. Knapman left off with the intention of finishing off this morning, but the manager of the company not satisfied with this, pressed him to return Sunday morning early and do it. Mr. Knapman demurred, but at their earnest solicitation and to have everything in readiness for them to proceed with their business as usual this morning, he finally consented to do as they wished.

“Yesterday morning then, about 7 o’clock, Mr. Knapman proceeded to the roof of the building. The new house is immediately on the east side, and as the work to be done was right on that side of the house, he had put up a scaffolding to get at it.

“To get his scaffolding in shape was but a moment’s work, and he had a couple of boards across the projecting timbers but neglected, unfortunately, to nail them down. He got out on them, and had just commenced work when he stepped on the end of one of the boards, which, being unfastened, flew up, and he fell to the roof of Messrs. A. Harvey and company’s wholesale grocery, some 20 feet below. He lit on his head, and the force of the fall broke his skull. Assistance came promptly, and he was taken to his home, where he lingered for a couple of hours, unconscious to the last. He died quietly.

“Mr. Knapman was a member in good standing of Crescent Lodge, I.O.O.F., and was also a leading member of the St. George’s Benevolent Society. He leaves a wife and six children to mourn his loss. Mrs. Knapman has been an invalid for many years, and the news of the sad accident has had a very severe effect upon her; indeed, at the time of writing, it is feared that she will not recover the shock. Fortunately, the deceased leaves his family well provided for.

“He was an Englishman by birth, being born in Millbrook, Devonshire county, England, and was aged 46. He came to Canada some 14 years ago, and located at once in Hamilton, where he has been ever since. He was a warden in the John Street Wesley Church, and took a great deal of interest in church affairs. Possessed of a genial, kindly nature and pleasant manner, he made hosts of friends, and the bereaved family have the sympathy of all who knew him and them. He will be buried on Tuesday at 2 o’clock, the lodge of the Oddfellows to which he belonged attending the funeral.”¹

¹“A Fall From a Roof : John Knapman Tumbles From the Telephone Building : And Falls Twenty Feet, His Injuries Resulting Fatally – A Very Sad and Unfortunate Accident.”

Hamilton Spectator.   November  12, 1883