Beckham Co. OK, Death of Jack Hart Submitted by Paulyne Taylor pingtiger@arn.net ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** 24 1927 Sayre Oklahoma JACK HART KILLED SATARDAY Young Man Run Over By The Rock Island Train Died Three Hours Later Jack Hart, living 12 miles northwest of this city, was run over by a Rock Island train about 7:30 Saturday evening, and died at an Elk City hospital a few hours later. How the accident happened is shrouded with a considerable element of doubt. Between 7:30 and 8:00 Saturday evening , a boy came to Sheriff Green on the street and told him there was a dead man in the ditch at the side of the railroad-----where the headstand. The Sheriff and other,immediately visited the scene,and found Jack Hart lying in the ditch with one arm and one foot badly mangled.While his body was also bruised in a manner to show that the train had rolled him along, but how it came to throw him into the ditch after passing over him is one of the mysterious things. Hart was rushed to Dr. Speed, and when it was found that he was out of town, an ambulance was called and the injured man was taken to Tisdale Hospital at Elk City, where his arm and foot were amputated, death followed a few minutes later. When found Hart was partially counscious, and able to tell Sheriff Green his name, but then lasped into a coma from which he never revived, thus no particulars were secured from him. However the officals and railroad representatives, have learned that Hart had run his auto into the ditch just South of the railroad crossing on the section line just east of the city, and apparently had started to this city to secure help to get it out, walking down the railroad tracks. A work train which had been working near Doxey backed into the yards in this city at 7:35 and investigation the next morning showed blood on the wheels of a dredge in that train, thus proving this had been the train that hit Hart. One mysterious feature is that there was no blood upon any of the other cars, although the dredge was in the second car in the train as it backed into the yard here. The conductor states that he stood on the rear platform of the caboose watching progress carefully, and saw nothing of Hart, but the fact that the caboose was in the middle of the train would explain his failure to see. Hart must have fallen crosswise of the track, as his hand had been cut on the north rail, fingers being found alongside, while the sole of his shoe was found wedged in the rail to the south. Funeral services for the young man were held at the Lone Oak Church on Monday Afternoon by Rev. J.L. Davis of this city. Jack Hart was the son of Melvina Ann McCommas Gage Hart and Arron McKinnley Hart. He had married Dora Lee Rutherford in 1924. They had a son Gene Carroll Hart, Gene was 2 years old when Jack was killed. Melvina was my grandmother Maggie Brown Gages mother. Dora Lee Rutherford was my father's, William Paul Rutherford born in Beckham in 1908, sister.