Injury from Toy Gun Kills 11-Year-Old, 1906

Boy Dies in Raleigh of Lockjaw After Being Wounded Christmas Day By Toy Pistol, 1906

From The Semi-Weekly Messenger, Wilmington, published January 9, 1906

Raleigh, N.C., January 1—A very sad death occurred here, due to the terrible toy pistol, the victim being Vance Hampton Harrell, aged 11 years, who died of lockjaw, having been wounded in the hand Christmas day while playing with a number of companions. He was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Julian Harrell of Portsmouth, Va., formerly of Raleigh, and was visiting relatives. The funeral will be held tomorrow. The body will be buried here. The body of the little brother of the dead boy will be brought from Portsmouth and will be buried here at the same time. One merchant here sold 55,000 toy pistol cartridges during the holidays.