Recently married worker dies in electrical accident
Edward Albert Smith and his twin brother Alvin were born in Power Glen in 1902. Smith lived in the Niagara region his entire life, attending school in Fonthill.
In August 1928 he was hired as a lineman for the Department of
Railways and Canals.
He married Flora Hart on April 17, 1930, and had been married for only two months when tragedy struck.
On the morning of June 19, 1930, Smith and two other men were moving an extension ladder at the transformer of the Guard Gate substation near Bridge No. 9 in Thorold. The men had spent the week relocating high tension wires from wooden poles to new steel towers. Moving the ladder was necessary in order to complete the final task in the project. While the men were in contact with the ladder a strong gust of wind blew it directly into a live electrical switch carrying 22,000 volts of electricity. The three men instantly fell unconscious to the ground.
Another canal employee witnessed the accident and immediately called for help to “open” the switch that was feeding the lines. The Standard reported that “as soon as the switches were pulled, the lock and bridge machinery in the vicinity went dead and traffic on the canal came to a stop.”
Doctors rushed to the site of the accident and began resuscitation efforts. Family members, including Smith’s wife and twin brother, also hurried to the scene. The doctors and others took turns trying for more than five hours to resuscitate the men while family members looked on. The Toronto Daily Star wrote: “A bride of two months knelt beside rescue workers encouraging them to restore life to her lifeless husband [Edward Smith].”
Ultimately, the attempts to save the men were unsuccessful. The official pronouncement of death came at 4:30 p.m.
Smith, Lloyd Tice and Sheldon Hansler — all considered expert linesmen — died in the accident.
The safety of the steel-reinforced wooden ladders had been called into question many times previous to this accident.
A jury was empanelled that evening by coroner Dr. John Herod and then adjourned until July 3 when the inquest continued at Thorold Township Hall. After a thorough investigation, the jury declared that the ladder was the cause of the deaths and that the use of such ladders around electrical wires was unsafe.
Smith’s funeral was held the Sunday after the accident from the home of his parents, James and Edna (Barnhart) Smith. He was buried that same day in Fonthill Cemetery. In addition to his parents, he was also survived by five siblings (Melvin, Stella, Florence, Alvin and Norman) and was predeceased by two others (Frank and an unknown infant).
At the time of his death, Smith’s wife was expecting their first child. In February of the following year she gave birth to their daughter Shirley Ruth Smith. Flora never remarried.
— This article is part of a series remembering the men whose lives were lost in construction of the Welland Ship Canal. The Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial was unveiled in November 2017 at Lock 3 next to St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre. www.stcatharines.ca/canalworkersmemorial