A sad incident occurred on Friday
morning at Mr Hann's mill. It had
become necessary to renew the wood-
work of the water-wheel, and for the
purpose of doing this, the wheel was
thrown out of gear and a 'stay' driven
in with the object of keeping it from
moving. A portable engine was
meanwhile employed to drive the mill
machinery. One of Mr Hann's workmen,
named George Litler, was engaged in
stripping the floats off the wheel, when
of a sudden it commenced to revolve,
and he was drawn in between the
floats and the fender and carried down
into the pit. The machinery was
immediately stopped, and Litler was got
out in a crushed and mangled condition
by Mr Hoare. It is supposed that Litler
accidentally gave the frame of the
water-wheel a shake, which put the
cog-wheels inside the mill 'in gear', and
thus started the wheel. He was placed
under the care of Dr O'Meara. His
injuries were very serious, and he lies in
critical condition
It is believed that George Litler was, in fact, George Littley who the preceding year was shown on the census as a Colyton-born saw mill worker, living in Church Street with his wife and three children, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law. Mr Hoare was probably Daniel Hoare the Colyton-born sawyer of Vicarage Street and Dr O'Meara, Frederick A O'Meara, the Irish GP living in Hill Head Square. George survived the ordeal and had reached the age of 72 when he died in the Jul-Sep quarter of 1923