From The Eureka, December 17, 1891
About 9 o'clock Saturday morning an accident occurred at the Anamosa penitentiary which sent three men to sudden death. The roofing of the new building for the female convicts is nearly done. Saturday morning a force of men were doing work on the inside of the building for the support of the roof. A temporary platform had been erected in the northwest corner, near the roof, about fifty feet from the ground, to enable the men to put in a strut or brace.
There was some masonry work connected with it and a boatload of stone had been hoisted to the platform by the use of a derrick. The platform was rather a frail structure: the cross pieces, or joists, were 4x8-inch staff, the floor was of two layers of the same, or 2x12.
Five convicts were on the platform at the time of the accident: R. Curren, W. E. Graves, John Gilboy, F. M. Hull, and Dan. Tomlin.
The accident was in a large part due to carelessness. R. E. Sergent, the guard at the new building, told the men on the platform as he was leaving that part of the building that they must not pile any more stone on it. Curren, who was at the head of the gang, always noted for his obstinacy, manifested it on this occasion, and as soon as the guard was out of the way swung another boatload of stone on the platform, making a ton and a half weight, which proved to be too much for its floor, and it went down with a crash. The platform broke in the middle. The iron girders for the four floors beneath the platform were in place, and in their descent, the men were either crushed by the stone falling upon them, or they struck the girders in their headlong passage to the basement.
"Graves only lived an hour from the time he was hurt. A pardon for him to take effect Dec. 20, was received from Gov. Boles that morning. Had the train been on time the pardon would have been here before the fatal accident. That same day a letter was received from his mother, in which she expressed her happiness at the prospect of his early release from prison and his coming home for Christmas."
Curren, who was a man of massive build, lingered until 4:30 in the afternoon. Gilboy lived but two hours. Hull is getting well, though he suffered severe injuries; in March 1894, the Iowa House appropriated $240 per year for Fred Hull, who was crippled for life in the incident. Tomlin escaped with a few bruises by catching on an iron beam.
The ashes of Graves and Gilboy were taken by their friends. Curren's body was granted interment in St. Patrick's Catholic cemetery through the kind offices of Rev. Father Power, by whom the obsequies were solemnized on that occasion.