Strange Accident
Simon Brazek, Saved from Asphyxiation, Falls Downs Stairs and Is Killed
– Milwaukee Journal | October 28, 1901

Simon Brazek, a farmer at Independence, went into a smokehouse and fell asleep. Live coals were still in the house and he was taken to the house of a neighbor and resuscitated. He thought he was well enough to walk about, and, arising from bed, attempted to come down-stairs. He fell headlong down the stairs, sustaining injuries from which he died a few moments later.

Chad's Take: Have you been to Hollywood Wisconsin? 

The town of Independence sits just a few miles south of the Chippewa Valley. However the small rural town could easily have been featured in the movie Final Destination. The premise of the movie was that we all have a specific time where death pays us a visit, and if you are clever enough to cheat death, it will simply circle around and come back for another try at your soul.   Yet this type of bizarre scenario only happens in Hollywood right?  Well someone should have told that to Mr. Brazek. As you can see from the above article Mr. Brazek was barely saved from asphyxiation only to die moments later when he tumbled down the stairs. Stories like this were plentiful in the newspapers of this time. My favorite newspaper story featured a man who was hell-bent on killing himself so he guzzled down a jar of poison, then torched barn, and while the flames were closing in on him he took his life at the end of a rope. Cases like that certainly save the Grim Reaper a lot of work.