OBIT: Charles PIPER, 1907, Duncansville, Blair County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Michael S. Caldwell

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QUIETLY PASSED TO THE BEYOND
Lying on a Couch in the Kitchen Charles Piper Takes His Last Sleep.
 
  Lying down on a couch near the kitchen stove at his home to get an 
hour or two of sleep before starting on an early morning trip to 
Williamsburg, Charles Piper, a well known resident of Duncansville, 
died at about 1 o'clock this morning alone, his wife and children, who 
slept on the second story of the house, not reaching his side until 
life was extinct.
  Piper is employed as a teamster in and about Duncansville. He made 
preparations yesterday afternoon to haul some household goods from his 
home to Williamsburg. In order to get an early start he planned to 
leave Duncansville about 1 o'clock in the morning. When the time came 
for retiring last night about 11 o'clock he told his wife and three 
children that he would not go to bed but that he would sleep an hour or 
two on the couch in the kitchen. He made an improvised bed near the 
stove and the remainder of the family retired to the second floor of 
the house.
  About 1 o'clock Mrs. Piper became awakened and not hearing her 
husband, decided that he had overslept himself and came down stairs to 
awaken him. She first called him and upon receiving no answer walked 
over to the couch to rouse him from sleep. What was her horror in 
touching his body to find that he was dead. She ran to the man's 
brother next door, Adie Piper, who is employed in the Twelfth street 
shops in this city, and awakened the family. Adie Piper as soon as 
being roused went to his brother's home and found that the story of the 
wife was true. While the body was yet warm life had departed. Dr. 
Confer was at once summoned and upon an examination stated that the man 
had probably died of heart failure and that death had not occurred more 
than fifteen or twenty minutes previous to his being found. The 
position of his body denoted that he died without a struggle and he 
evidently passed away in his sleep. While the general condition of his 
health was good he was afflicted with a weak heart for some years and 
often predicted that he would die suddenly from this ailment.
  Charles Piper was born in Carson Valley 31 years ago. He was a 
resident of Duncansville the greater part of his life. Besides his wife 
and three children he is survived by his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Piper 
and the following brothers and sisters:  Adie of Duncansville, Elmer of 
Altoona, Frank of Hollidaysburg, Jesse, an employe of the boiler shop 
and residing at Duncansville with his mother, Howard and Ira of Three 
Rivers, Michigan, Mrs. Lloyd Cornelius of Altoona, Mrs. Agnes Deryman 
of Hollidaysburg and Mrs. Alice Merritz of Martinsburg. He was an 
attendant of the Lutheran church. The coroner was notified, but after 
hearing of the circumstances of the death decided that an inquest was 
unnecessary. The body was given in charge of Undertaker Rollins of this 
city. The funeral will be held Thursday afternoon with services at the 
Duncansville Lutheran church at 2 o'clock.

Altoona Mirror, Altoona, Pa., Tuesday, October 15, 1907, p. 12, col. 5