While looking up articles about Jack Barry, I came across this 1912 piece. Boston Daily GlobeSadie Ahern was Margaret Barry's twin sister. She would have been about 27 years old at the time of the accident. Did she survive the head injuries? The church mentioned in the piece - was that in Worcester or in Hartford? Does that bench still exist? How common was it for cars to just fall apart in 1912?
November 19, 1912
FATAL HURTS IN ACCIDENT
Mrs A. J. Ahern Dying in Hartford Hospital - Sister-in-Law of Jack Barry of Philadelphia Athletics.
WORCESTER, Nov 18 - According to information which reached Worcester today, Mrs. Albert J. Ahern of East Windsor Hill, Conn, who is known to a host of Worcester folks as Sadie McDonough, who was the first bride to be married in the new Church of the Ascension on Aug 18, is lying at the point of death in St. Francis Hospital, Hartford, as the result of an auto accident last night.
Her husband, Albert J. Ahern is in the same hospital suffering from a broken leg, a broken arm, a broken nose and two deep cuts across the face. Mrs Ahern's injury consists of a fracture of the skull at the base of the brain and the hospital physicians hold out no hope for her recovery.
Alfred Crickmore of East Windsor Hill suffored a broken leg and Miss Isabel Mulligan and Miss May Mulligan of Springfield escaped with body bruises in the same accident. The party had been to Hartford for dinner and was returning to the Ahern home when one of the front wheels of the auto snapped off, causing the rear wheel on the left side to break and overturning the heavy machine. The Mulligan girls were thrown clear of the machine but the others were caught under the wreckage.
Mrs Ahern is the daughter of Mr and Mrs Thomas McDonough of 1 View st and sister-in-law of "Jack" Barry, shortstop of the Philadelphia Athletics. Previously to her marriage to Mr Ahern she was a nurse in St Francis Hospital in Hartford. Her wedding, the first in the new Church of the Ascension, was a notable event and in recognition of it she and her husband presented the parish the sanctuary bench.
Labels: McDonough
This was very interesting. It was information I never had, although we were very close to Betty, Albert, and Francis when I was in Hartford with the old Conn. Gen. Here is an amplification: Ascension Church is still on Vernon St in Worcester. It was the home parish for 1 View St and Wabash ave. I served Mass there right through HC and my parents were buried from there. The bench you describe was still on the altar in 1985. I clearly remember an Ahern donor plaque on the bench. Justin.