The son of two immigrants who came from Ireland near the end of the potato famine, he worked for a bridge-building firm. At the time of his death he was a foreman in charge of setting explosives. According to the newspaper articles, he "was putting a stick of dynamite in a hole which had just been drilled in the rock, and the stuff had lodged too high up. With a short pine stick he was gently working with it to dislodge it, when it exploded, throwing rock in every direction. The foreman was struck in the face with terrific force and hurled several yards away from the hole... The unfortunate foreman was fearfully injured, having an eye shot out, the flesh of his face badly lacerated, and several fingers on one hand shot off... He was one of the best foremen the company ever had in tis [sic] employ. His experience with the stuff which was responsible for his injuries had covered many years, and he was considered an expert along the line of using it. The accident appears to have been one of the unaccountable and unavoidable ones which must happen occasionally, and will continue to happen as long as high explosives are manufactured."

William died in a Kansas City Hospital about three weeks after the accident, leaving a widow and three children. He was buried in Sunset Hill Cemetery, Warrensburg, Missouri.

Death notices appeared in at least three different papers in 1905, plus news stories in others about the accident.

CAMERON DAILY OBSERVER, 30 Jan 1905, p. 3, col. 6; [with details added from] CAMERON MISSOURI SUN, 2 Feb 1905, p. 6; WARRENSBURG WEEKLY STANDARD-HERALD, 3 Feb 1905, p. 1, col. 3; CAMERON DAILY OBSERVER, 18 Feb 1905, p. 3, col. 4; WARRENSBURG JOURNAL-DEMOCRAT, 24 Feb 1905, p. 8, col. 5; WARRENSBURG WEEKLY STANDARD-HERALD, p. 1, col. 6; WARRENSBURG JOURNAL-DEMOCRAT, 10 [?] Feb 1905, p. 5, col. 4-5.