This Week in History ~ 100 years ago: Mrs. P.W. Sword cook at the Payne and Hewett Road Construction Camp suffered a fracture of her right forearm last Saturday when the Ford car she was cranking backfired and the crank was hurled against her arm. Drs. Fry and Bowell state that this is the fifth accident of the kind in this county the past year.
The ignition system in the Model T did not need a starting battery. A proper hand-cranking would generate enough current for starting the auto. The engine could backfire causing the crank to spin the opposite direction. In some instances it would break a finger hand wrist or arm. It was a very common injury.
No parents did not send their children out to start the auto. However this is a 1916 photo of young Don Howe (right) and his friend playing with the hand-crank on a Model T.