Halfmoon, Fred

Seeking the driver of a large black sedan which struck and killed Fred Halfmoon, 37-year-old hard rock lead and zinc miner whose home is in Vinita Oklahoma, as he was walking along the pavement between Fifth and Sixth Streets on Main Street at Picher Oklahoma at 9 o'clock last night, two deputy sheriffs were scouring the mining field this morning. Although Sheriff Dee T. Watters did not give out the name of the man believed to have been driving the automobile, he said this morning that he expected an arrest before night. A bent right fender and headlight seen on a car answering the description of the one that hit Halfmoon put the officers on what they believed is the right trail. Lee Warren, 16-year-old Picher boy, was the only witness to the hit-and-run killing of Halfmoon and he was not close enough to get a good look at the car. The machine was traveling at least 50 miles an hour, he said. Warren found Halfmoon lying in a ditch at the side of the road after seeing him tossed into the air when struck by the car. The miner was taken to the American hospital at Picher Oklahoma, in a Todd ambulance, where an examination showed death was instantaneous from a broken neck. Sheriff Watters said today that an examination of Halfmoon's clothes indicated that he had been struck from the rear as he was walking south on Main Street, the same direction the car was going. The Warren boy told officers that the car which struck Halfmoon swerved after striking him, but did not attempt to stop. Halfmoon, a shoveler at the New Chicago Mine No. 4, formerly known as the Premier Mine and who made his home at the Keystone Hotel at Picher, was returning to his rooms after spending several hours down town with friends. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Mary Halfmoon, six small children, a brother and a sister. No funeral arrangements have been made.

Obituary.

A charge of murder was to be filed this afternoon again St Louis Quapaw, and possibly against Douglas Keele as well, in connection with the "hit-and-run" killing of Fred Halfmoon on the Streets of Picher last Thursday night. Both 20-year-old Indians of the Promenade district, Keele and Quapaw have been held in the county jail since their arrest Friday. Quapaw has been identified as the driver of a large black sedan found in Baxter Springs Kansas Friday with a bent fender and headlight and bearing the impress of the weave of Halfmoon's clothing on the paint of the right fender. Keele was said to have been with Quapaw. The car belonged to Louis Quapaw's grandmother, Mrs. Mary Quapaw. Halfmoon's neck was broken when struck from the rear as he was walking south on Main Street in Picher about 9 o'clock Thursday night.