The Rural Voice, 1998-07, Page 24June 21 was Fathers
Day this year and that
made it particularly
difficult for Flo
Cartwright and her sons.
You see June 21 also
marked the 20th
anniversary of the death of
Norman Cartwright, her
husband and their father.
June 21, 1978 started
out like any other day for
the Cartwrights on their
cattle and hog farm in
Hullett Township in
Huron County. It had
rained through the night
and it was hot and sticky
in the morning (Flo thinks
the humidity contributed
to the problems that day).
Norman, 35, went to do
the chores at the hog barn
which had a liquid manure
system.
The first sign of trouble
for Flo was when she saw
the family dog running up
and down the hill to the
barn. At first she didn't
pay attention but when
Norm didn't arrive as
usual for a morning coffee
break, she got worried. "I
decided maybe the dog
was telling me that maybe
there was trouble."
About 9:45 a.m. Flo
went to the barn and found
Norm lying outside the
building. He had been
overcome by the fumes
from the liquid manure.
There is no smell, no kind
of warning, Flo says,
"You just go to sleep."
She never really knew
whether he had been
overcome outside the barn
or inside, and stumbled
out. A doctor told her
later Norm would only
have had about four
minutes to get help.
"You would really
have to be right there in
order to get them out
immediately if they were
overcome," she says.
"You can only smell
the characteristic rotten
egg odour for a short time
20 THE RURAL VOICE
Fighting to unmask
a silent killer
Flo Cartwright wants others to avoid
the fate that felled her husband 20
years ago
Story and photos by Keith Roulston
Flo Cartwright looks at a photo of her wedding to Norm,
who was asphyxiated by manure gas 20 years ago. Today
she's trying to make others aware of the dangers lurking in
their liquid manure tank.
before it overwhelms the
human nose," explains
Franklin Kains, OMAFRA
pork specialist. "This can
lead a person to think the
gas is gone, when in fact
they simply can no longer
smell it."
Liquid manure was still
relatively new at the time
and there wasn't much
publicity about the
dangers of manure gas,
Flo remembers. "I heard at
the time that he was the
first death attributed to it."
Given the shock of the
situation, Flo didn't talk
much, at the time, about
the accident and its cause.
But this Victoria Day
weekend at a church
service she met a farm
wife from the township
and was frightened by her
story. The woman said her
husband had been
overcome by fumes and
passed out but, because
she was working with him
in the barn, she was able
to get him out. Though he
survived, he was sick for
nearly two weeks from the
effects of the fumes.
"I kind of thought
maybe it's time to think
about educating people on
this," she recalls, and a
few days later called The
Rural Voice to express her
concerns.
"Twenty years ago I
wouldn't have been able
to do this," she says.
"Time does get better and
when I heard about this
other couple I thought 'I
think I can do it now'."
Coming forward, as
other victims of other
farm accidents have done
over the years, will help
give people an idea of
what really can happen,
Flo says. "Everything
happens so quickly out
there that you don't have
much time to think. And it
affects you for the rest of
your life."
She is coming forward
because she doesn't want
others to go through the
earth -shattering changes
that befell her family. She
was a young mother of 31
at the time. Looking back
she feels she might have
been able to continue to
farm on her own but at the
time, with two small boys
under nine, it seemed too
big a task to manage.
Franklin Kains explain-
ed in a recent press release
the dangers of agitation of
liquid manure, generally
during spring and fall
spreading. When the tank
is stirred up hydrogen
sulphide is released. The
release can be three times
as high if the stream of
agitated manure is allowed
to break the surface or hit