110 Years Ago, 1916 transcribed as originally published in the Youngstown Vindicator:

“Blood curdling was the accident at the Valley mill of the Republic Co. The mad flight of a five ton fly wheel at the nine-inch department. Goes through the roof and big pieces are distributed all over Smokey Hollow — a narrow escape.”

“It makes their blood curdle whenever the men think of a big accident which occurred at 3 o’clock this morning down at the Valley mill of the Republic Iron & Steel company.

“That many of them were not killed, and others badly injured, is considered nothing short of a kindly interest taken in them by the hand of Providence….

“The accident this morning at the Valley, was the running away of the fly-wheel at the nine inch department. The wheel is a monster in magnitude, and its proportions can perhaps be more intelligently conceived when it is stated that its weight was five tons. While the mill was in operation as usual, the men working in close proximity to the engine suddenly heard a cracking noise and they immediately realized that something would be doing in a very short time. They all sought places of safety.

“Subsequent developments revealed that the pin in the governor belt had slipped, and that the governor had lost all control of the wheel. On went the wheel faster and faster without anything or anybody to control it. It finally went so fast, and its velocity was so great that it suddenly lost all control, its bearing and balance and was totally unable to retain its equilibrium any longer. The engineer tried hard to get to the engine to stop it, but suddenly, and in the twinkling of an eye, the wheel raised itself from everything that held it down, and went high up in the air, and plum through the tin roof, which covers the mill.

“Just after entering upon the rapid heavenward directed flight, the wheel broke into both big and small pieces, and they were distributed all over Smokey Hollow and mill yard, and the whereabouts of all was not discovered until daylight. The departure of the fly wheel from the mill was complete in every respect and detail and nothing was left behind to show that there ever was a wheel there, excepting the hub…. As an illustration of this terrible force, a portion of the wheel, while making its flight from the mill struck a piece of the carriage, and this piece of the said carriage went flying into the air, afterward taking a downward course, and it entered the shipping office at the warehouse. The piece of carriage entered through a window, and then took course the entire length of the building just clearing the desks, and making its exit through a light of glass in the extreme opposite end. The flying missile, had the accident occurred in day time, would have struck all the clerks who work at these desks, and would have afforded more work for the undertaker…

“If the wheel had gotten beyond control in the day time, there is not the least doubt but that a number of people would have been killed and others injured, as workmen and others are always about where the pieces of the wheel traveled.

“The nine inch mill is in charge of Roller Richard Ball, but when the wheel ran away this morning, the night roller, William Williams and his crew were working.

“The accident was caused by a pin in the governor belt slipping, and the blame cannot be fastened upon anyone. Under such conditions the wheel is bound to run wild, and nothing under heaven can stop it until it reaches the end of its mid-air flight.”

— Compiled by Dante Bernard, museum educator at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society