In yet another tragic turn of events, following other recent city tragedies, a fatal accident occurred with alarming suddenness earlier today. The unfortunate incident took place in the yard of Messrs. Spaight & Sons at Honan’s Quay. The victim of this unfortunate accident was a 45-year-old laborer named Joseph Hayes, a widower residing in the Abbey.

The incident unfolded just minutes before nine o’clock this morning when Hayes, along with other workers, was involved in stacking deals on end in one corner of the yard. Tragically, a pile of deals became dislodged and fell onto Hayes, resulting in his instant and gruesome demise as his skull was shattered upon impact with the ground.

It took rescuers a painstaking ten minutes to extricate his lifeless body from beneath the heavy lumber.

Limerick Echo – Tuesday 28 August 1906