This Day in History: 1926-07-14

Peter Kyle of Suffern was electrocuted while working with a crew from the Rockland Electric Company to relocate some electric wires in Saddle River. Officials of the Company surmised that his rubber gloves might have had a tiny hole in them and his hand and arm were burned. In trying to avoid further pain he seemed to have leaned against the high tension wires and received 4,000 volts through his side. The other members of his crew did all they could to save him. One of them risked his own life to bring him down from the pole where he was working. Although they performed artificial respiration on him for over two hours they were not able to save him. The Suffern resident left a wife and three children. He was about 45 years old and had worked for the company for about thirty years. (Bristow)