Wagon Wheel Locks Just Before Bridge Disaster

On the return journey to Ohio in 1826, Lewis Barney's father fell from the wagon and was run over by both hind wheels. At the critical moment when the horses were running wildly and heading toward a bridge with the wagon wheel barely on the edge, a stake in the wagon's hind holster miraculously flew out. This allowed the wagon bed to slide around and lock the wheel, checking the horses' speed just as they were about to plunge over the bridge. One rod farther and the wagon would have overturned, likely killing all aboard. This perfectly-timed mechanical intervention saved their lives.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

On the 16th of July, 1826, father and myself started back to Ohio for the children and the property that we left with our relatives. The wagon ran over both his legs. I ran to the hind end of the wagon and saw him laying on the ground in the road. I supposed he was dead. Fortunately one of the stakes in the hind holster flew out and let the hind end of the wagon bed slide round and lock the wheel of the wagon. This checked the speed of the horses. I sprang out of the hind end of the wagon and ran around and caught the horses by the bits just as they were starting on a bridge with one wheel on and the other off. One rod farther and the wagon would have been bottom side up. After securing the horses I ran back to see what had become of father. He had gotten up and wandered off into the woods.