OBITUARY: Olen Adkins, 10 September 1937 - Coke County, TX Copied from the Josephine Bird Collection, West Texas Collection, Angelo State University - 2 September 2003 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/txfiles.htm *********************************************************************** The Observer/Enterprise, Coke County, TX, 1937 OLEN ADKINS Funeral services for Olen Adkins conducted by Horace Bloodworth, were held in the Baptist church at Sanco and burial was in Sanco cemetery, Thursday afternoon. Mr. Adkins, an employee of the Pure Oil Company was working on a derrick in in the company's oil field at Olny, Ill., where he was injured through the breaking of a hoisting chain. The victim sustained breaks in one leg and both arms and several cuts about the head and died in a Noble, Ill., hospital Monday afternoon 30 hours after the accident. The body was accompained by a brother-in-law, W. E. Bullard, who came by train to Sweetwater where he was met by a W. K. Simpson funeral coach. Survivors are his wife and a small son, his mother, Mrs. Tom Adkins, Hatch, N. M; six brothers, Jenus, Sanco; Henry, Deming, N. M; Jack, Hatelt! N. M; David, Robert Lee; Louis, Deming, N. M; James, Hatch, N.M.; three -sisters, Mrs. Ardie Philips, Kerrville; Mrs. Jodie Lackey, Eden: Mrs. Ozella Harris, Junction. All these were here for the funeral except his mother and; brother, Jack, who were unable to attend because of illness. Others here for the funeral included his father-in-law Lee Bullard and Mrs. Bullard of Van, Texas; H.L. Bullard, W.E. Bullard and Miss Verda Bullard, all of Loraine. Mr. Adkins was born near Sanco March 19, 1903 and grew to manhood in this country. NOTE: Death Date was taken from "Coke County Cemeteries Epitaphs and Dates." Permission granted by the Observer-Enterprise for publication in the Coke County TXGenWeb Archives. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Source Unknown Sibede Olen Adkins, age 35, passed away at the Olney Sanitarium yesterday from injuries received while working Sunday morning at the Pure Oil company's Ashmore No. 2-A1 oil well in Decker township An inquest was held this morning at the Olney Funeral Home by Coroner, Ralph King, the jury returning a verdict of accidental death. According to Homer England and Roy Thomson, who were working with Adkins at the time of the accident, the crew was pulling the tubing at the Ashmore well, using a tractor anchored to a "dead man" by a heavy duty binder chain. The chain broke on the fourth joint and the tractor was dragged through the derrick by the weight of the tubing. The other two men jumped aside, but Adkins was unable to get out of the way, and was apparently hit by the tractor the two men stated. Adkins was found uncounscious about 15 feet away. He was rushed to the Olney Sanitarium and passed away Monday evening without regaining conciousness. He had suffered from a fractured skull, fractured ribs, right arm and forearm, left forearm and left femur. He is survived by his wife and young son, Charles. Adkins came to the Illinois oil fields a little over a year ago from Texas, where other relatives reside.