Charles Benton Hess

Jesse Green’s son-in-law, C. B. Hess, was an owner of the Hess, Williams & Hess company, makers of firebrick and drain tile. The business was housed in the old stone mill in Dayton. Despite the injury described here, C. B. lived another twenty-seven years, not dying until the age of seventy-nine.

C. B. Hess Sustains Some Serious Injuries At Dayton

Mr. C. B. Hess met with a very serious accident at his works in Dayton Tuesday afternoon. The bricks that are made on the top floor of the building are lowered to the drying room through a chute. Mr. Hess was standing close to the chute, talking to one of the workmen, and a brick fell from the chute and struck him on top of the head. The brick weighed seven pounds and fell a distance of twelve feet and fell with such force that it produced concussion of the brain. Mr. Hess was brought to his home in this city [Ottawa] in an unconscious condition, and Dr. Dyer was summoned.

He examined Mr. Hess’s injuries and found that he was not only suffering from concussion of the brain in serious form, but also neuralgia, which was greatly aggravated by the concussion of the brain. He was very restless and suffered intense pain last night, but today he rested very comfortably and is considered out of danger by his physician.¹

1. The Ottawa [Illinois} Free Trader, 13 Jun 1891, p 5, col 1