Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--BROCKMAN FARM SOLD--One of the biggest farm deals made in this vicinity in some time, was the purchase, Monday, by Postmaster May Spurling and brother, Walter Spurling, of east of town, of the Thos. Brockman farm of 139 1/2 acres five miles north-east of town, at $135 per acre. The deal was made by W. F. Jones. In the opinion of many this is one of the very best farms in the county. With land values rising in all sections of the state Messrs. Spurling will no doubt find their purchase a wise one and easily disposed of at a substantial increase. There are those who predict that when the hard-surfacing of the roads in the Moberly Special road District, now proposed, is completed to where the M. K. & T. crosses the six miles lane, a distance of about two miles from the farm, the latter will well be worth $200 per acre. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--RANDOLPH WOOD'S FATHER DEAD--Randolph Woods, who went to Memphis, Mo., last week for a visit with his parents, informs us that his father died Sunday within four hours after he had been stricken with paralysis, and that he never regained consciousness. He was 78 years old and is survived by his wife, six sons, two daughters and a foster daughter. Interment was made Tuesday at Memphis. Mr. Randolph informs us that his father had been almost totally deaf for twenty years or more and so nearly blind for the past several years that he had to be led about the farm. About two days before he was stricken with paralysis both sight and hearing were suddenly restored. He was seated in a chair in the yard the happiest and liveliest of all, when he suddenly fell back remarking that he was not feeling right. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--CARD OF THANKS--We wish to express our heartfelt thanks to our good friends and neighbors for their kindness and expressions of sympathy on the death of our beloved son, Joe Billy, and especially those who sent such beautiful floral offerings and all who furnished cars on the occasion of the funeral. That God may raise such friends for you in a similar hour is our prayer. Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Adams and Son. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--Mrs. John A. Woods who was called here from Dekalb, Ill., by the funeral of her nephew, Dan Mooney returned home Monday. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--Frank Cain left Monday morning for Sheridan, Wyo., where he may locate. He is followed by the best wishes of a host of friends. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--Born, on July 11th, to Mr. and Mrs. Bert Enochs, of Kirksville, a son. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--A FATAL ACCIDENT--Joe Billy Adams Electrocuted by Live Wire--One of the most distressing accidents ever to occur in Higbee, was the accidental death about 8 o'clock Sunday morning, July 13, of Joe Billy, the 11-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Blackford Adams, who was electrocuted in the south part of town near his home while making his delivery of the Sunday papers. Just how the accident happened is not known, no one witnessing it, so far as we have been able to learn. Several reports are in circulation, but are all based on supposition, so far as we know. One is to the effect that the wire was hanging down from the pole and lying on the ground and that as he passed he took hold of the wire and let it run through his hand as he walked along, being killed when he reached a section of the wire where the insulation had been burned off from the contact with the trees overhead. One or two claim to have seen the wire burning in the trees at about 3 a.m., and some think it was so nearly burned in two that it broke just as the child passed under it. Another story is that he took hold of the wire to remove it from the walk, and received only a slight shock, but sufficient to hold him to the wire, and that in attempting to remove the wire with his free hand caught hold of it where all of the insulation was gone. Something like this must have happened, or he took hold of the wire with both hands at the same time, as they were fearfully burned, fingers being burned off of each. He was also badly burned on the body near the region of his heart. Some say this burn was caused by a net wire fence which became charged when he was thrown against it, while others say he did not come in contact with the fence and that the burn was caused by the wire as he fell. Some say that he was heard to scream, but it is the opinion of T. J. Cooper, local manager of the company, that the child never knew what struck him, as the wire was carrying 2500 volts. The scream was perhaps of some person who realized what had happened. J. F. Caldwell, who was the first person to reach him, states that the child gave two gasps and that the wire was entirely free from the body when he arrived. Word was conveyed to the mother that Joe Billy had been badly hurt, and when she learned the awful truth she collapsed--still being in bed from the shock--and well she might, for the child was her baby, and was the ideal of her heart, as he was of his father's, and was all the dearer because he was not stout and had been threatened with blindness. The grief of the poor mother was all the harder to bear from the fact that a letter had been received the day before from Mr. Adams, who was in the Kansas harvest fields, advising her not to write until she heard from him, as he was changing locations, and did not know where he would go. A kind Providence, which perhaps controls our action more than we may suspect, caused him to change his mind and start for home, arriving Monday, coming by way of Moberly where he was met by his brother, Roy, who tried to break the news gently by asking him if he had received any telegrams, etc., finally telling him the boy had been hurt, and received the reply, "No, he isn't; he is dead." His arrival home seemed but to add to the grief and the scene would have melted a heart of stone. Funeral services were held at the home Tuesday afternoon by Rev. E. Y. Keiter of Moberly in the presence of an immense concourse, the citizens turning out en masse. Interment was made in the city cemetery. Joe Billy will not only be missed in the home, but by all who knew him and especially by his little playmates in his section of the town, with whom he was a great favorite. The heart broken parents have the profoundest sympathy of all. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--Mrs. Otis Cochran and son, Delbert, and niece, Miss Dollie Jennings, after a two-weeks' visit with Mrs. Cochran's sisters, Mrs. Thos. Owen and Mrs. Bert Hughes, left Wednesday for their home in Coffeyville, Kan. They will stop off at El Dorado Springs, for a visit with relatives and to take in the home-coming, which has been an annual event for thirty-eight years. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--Mrs. Wm. Walton received the sad intelligence Friday of the death that day in Ft. Dodge, Ia., of the youngest child of her nephew, the late Emerson Dawson, who was killed in a mine accident some eight years ago, it will be remembered. The little fellow, who was but eight years old, was riding a bicycle, we learn, and was run down by an automobile, dying from his injuries a day or two later. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--We printed bills this week for A. J. Kirby who will sell a small lot of personal property at his farm south of town tomorrow (Saturday, the 19th,) beginning at 2 p.m. A list of the property can be seen in this issue. Mr. Kirby is holding the sale on account of poor health and will leave the first of next week for Colorado. His many friends trust that his stay will be only temporary and that he will soon return as good as new. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--DANIEL JAMES MOONEY--Dan Mooney, brief mention of whose death was made in our last issue, died July 6, in Philadelphia, death being caused from heart failure. He had not been in the Navy, as stated last week, being rejected on account of his sight, but had worked in the shipyards until the armistice, being determined to do his part, and since that time had held a good position with the Curtis Publishing Co. With other employees he had gone to a private resort maintained by the company for them, and died in the swimming pool. He jumped in at the deepest place, and several who were near thought nothing of it when he did not come up, thinking he was swimming under the water. When his body neared the surface, however, it was seen that something was wrong and he was taken out at once, and doctors with a pulmotor worked with him for an hour or more, but to no avail. The verdict of the coroner's jury was that death was caused from heart failure, as his lungs did not contain enough water to have caused death. His heart had been in bad shape since his recovery from the flu early last fall. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Mooney and was born in Iowa on May 3, 1898, and was 20 years, 2 months and 3 days old. He came with his father to Higbee when fourteen months of age, and where he spent his life, save during the time he went to school in DeKalb, Ill, where he made his home with his aunt, Mrs. John A. Woods. Following funeral services from the church, of which he was a true Catholic member, in Philadelphia, the body was brought to Higbee, reaching here Sunday, and was conveyed to the home of Mrs. Fannie Barron, where a short service was held that afternoon by Eld. Wm. Kelso, in the presence of a very large crowd of sorrowing relatives and friends, and interment made in Tucker cemetery. He is survived by his parents, and one brother, of Henrietta, Okla., an aunt, Mrs. John A. Woods of DeKalb, Ill., two uncles, Wm. Mooney of this place and Jas. Mooney of Novinger, besides many friends, of whom he had a host wherever known. May his ashes rest in peace and his soul in the Paradise of God. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--FORMER HIGBEE LADY DEAD--Mrs. W. H. Chick, best remembered by Higbee folks as Miss Nicinda Andrews, died at a hospital in Dallas, Texas, Friday of last week from an operation for tumor. Interment was made at Fayette, her old home, Tuesday, the following from here attending: Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Andrews, Mrs. T. H. Dinwiddie, Mrs. John Ware and Miss Mattie Terrill. Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--Miss Gladys Andrews, who left last week with her sister, Miss Alberta, for Luddington, Mich., to take a special course in music, writes us under date of the 14th: "Sister and I are now in Epworth. we arrived in Chicago Thursday then took the "Missouri" over on lake Michigan to Luddington, which is only a few miles from Epworth. We find climatic conditions ideal here: always so cook, in fact so cool that a fire in the grate is quite welcome, often in the early morning. this is such an interesting place. Most everyone owns or rents cottages, and they are of the old pioneer type and have such clever names, as "Dewdrop Inn," "Linger Longer," "Happy Days," "As You Like It", etc. Then there is a real old Indian trail here and the Mary Woods Chase Conservatory is built directly on it. Miss Chase is very wonderful, indeed, and I am finding my work with her very interesting. Will you kindly send me The NEWS to Epworth Heights, Luddington, Mich., care of Highland cottage, because I know we shall enjoy reading it so much while here." Friday, 18 July 1919, Vol 33. No 13--J. H. Pattrick, who had been in France two years and more, and who had the honor of sailing on the same boat with Gen. Pershing and his expeditionary force, arrived home Monday, to the delight of his parents and many friends. Mrs. Pattrick was so anxious to see him that she went to St. Louis, to meet him. Mr. Pattrick was unable to make the trip. Kathy Bowlin, Additions, corrections, comments welcome.