Hutchins, C. D. "Dodd"

Dodd Hutchins, a carpenter was instantly killed and J. H. Klinefelter and Carl Bigley, narrowly escaped death at 9:30 this morning when a copper wire with which the men were taking measurements at the Central Lead and Zinc Company mine, a hard rock lead and zinc mine near Tar River Oklahoma came in contact with a 23,000 volt electric feed line. Hutchins was on the ground at one end of the wire and the other men were at the top of the shieve wheel on the mill derrick when the wire fell across the electric line. Hutchins, being on the ground received almost the full charge of the current and died instantly, the other men were knocked unconscious but were not seriously injured. The ambulance of the Todd undertaking company at Picher Oklahoma was rushed to the scene with a lung motor but was delayed by a blocked road and arrived too late to have any chance of reviving the man. The chief of the Miami Oklahoma fire department, who answered a call with the pulmotor of that city, did not arrive until two hours after the accident. Hutchins, who was 40 years old, was not married. He came to Tar River Oklahoma from Cassville Missouri. Where his mother and a brother reside.

The body was taken to the Todd undertaking company's establishment at Picher and will be shipped to Cassville for burial. The accident was the second death by electrocution in the mine field within a week. Oscar Seiptman, of Joplin Missouri, a lineman for the Empire District Electric Company, having been killed at Picher last week, when he came in contact with a live wire while working on a pole.

Laura Thompson, as guardian for Earl Hutchens, Saturday filed suit in the Ottawa county Oklahoma district court at Miami for $15,000 damages from the Logan Mine No. 1 Mining Company and the Empire District Electric Company for the death, July 14, this year of C. D. Hutchens, father of Earl Hutchens. It is alleged in the petition that the death of the father was a result of the negligence of the two companies. While working in the mine, Hutchins caught hold of a loose wire which was charged with high voltage of electricity and was electrocuted. Note: Two spellings of last name, Hutchins and Hutchens