Daily Arizona Silver Belt

September 11, 1907

“September 9 Is His Unlucky Day.”

For Nine Consecutive Years Mike O’Byrne Has Met with Accident on this Fatal Date.

FATHER’S DEATH ON SAME DAY AN ODD OCCURRENCE.

Slipped into a Shallow Shaft at San Carlos on Monday and Broke His Arm - Full Diary of Nine Years of Hard Luck.

Mike O’Byrne, a miner employed on the San Carlos strip, is confined at his sister’s home on East Push street, suffering with a badly fractured arm, as the result of an accident which occurred on Monday, September 9. While descending the mountain side, O’Byrne slipped, falling into a shallow shaft, with the result as previously stated.

September 9 seems to be a hoodoo to O’Byrne, as for the past nine years on that date he has suffered an accident of a more or less serious nature on that date. He has kept a complete diary of his mishaps on September 9, and here is what the little book of accidents reveals:

1899 - Hip crushed and fractured.

1900 - Left leg broken.

1901 - Burned by gas explosion.

1902 - Toe ground off by tram car.

1903 - Skull fractured.

1904 - Back badly sprained.

1905 - Finger crushed off.

1906 - Bad scalp wound.

1907 - Right arm broken.

“A peculiar circumstance in connection with these accidents,” said Mr. O’Byrne last night, “rests in the fact that I have worked nearly every day during the past nine years and have never received as much as a scratch except on September 9 of the respective years. Of course, in late years I have been very cautious, especially while working underground, but bad luck proved victor before night fell. For instance, on Monday just a little loose round pebble threw me as I was going down the hillside and into the shaft I plunged. Last year I was caught by a cavein just as I was going off shift and the year previous while assisting a prospector to a lift bucket I got my hand caught in a windlass and off went my finger. You can bet next year I will take a vacation on September 9, and if a folding bed or something of that character don’t give me the worst of it I will decide that luck has returned. But I want to tell you something even more peculiar in connection with this series of September 9 accidents. My father was killed while working in a stone quarry three months before I was born, on September 9, 1873.”

“Historic Oddity Headlines” showcases actual articles written about truly odd occurrences that took place and were published within United States newspapers back in the 1800s-1900s. The articles posted here are written exactly as they appeared during their original publishing date.

-The Pine Barrens Institute

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