Source, Rutland (Vt) Daily Herald--Fri. Aug. 27, 1943, Page 3. FARNSWORTH FUNERAL HERE Doctor Says Fall Suffered Last June May Have Caused Rutland Man's Death. HOLLYWOOD, Aug. 26--A fall that Arthur Farnsworth, husband of screen actress Bette Davis, suffered at their New Hampshire home in June was said by Dr. Paul Moore tonight to have been the probable cause of his death last night. Funeral services for Farnsworth, a former commercial airplane pilot, will be held next week at Rutland, Vt. Farnsworth, western representative of a Minneapolis aeronautical equipment firm, was found lying unconscious on a sidewalk Monday. He died without regaining consciousness. An autopsy today disclosed he had suffered a basal skull fracture on the right side of his head, possibly at some time prior to the time he was found unconscious on the sidewalk. Miss Davis told Dr. Moore that in June Farnsworth started down stairs in his stocking feet to answer the telephone. " He slipped on the first landing and slid the full length of the stairs," Miss Davis related. " He landed on his back, struck the back of his head and quite severely scraped his back. he suffered the usual lameness for several days, but not being the complaining kind, he said nothing more about it. And I thought no more about it. " I realize now that little things that happened since, which I thought nothing of at the time, were the result of that fall, all of which have been confirmed by Dr. Moore. " At least to find a reason for a seemingly ridiculous accident is a relief and comfort." WORK DESCRIBED . Friends in this city yesterday expressed grief at the untimely death of Arthur Farnsworth, and told of some of the work he has been doing for the war effort. He was one of the few men familiar with all phases of a new instrument designed to deal with ice formation on aircraft. It was Farnsworth, they said, who through Hollywood connections, was instrumental in selling to military chiefs the use of cartoon films for mass instruction of young flyers, and he acted as technical adviser when some of the films were made. The films are said to depict the dangers and methods of coping with ice, thunderstorms, fog and other hazards which a pilot encounters. A telegram from Miss Davis, through her secretary, to Dr. A. W. Farnsworth, retired dentist at Lincoln avenue, gave no details of the tragedy. Reports from Hollywood said Miss Davis was grief stricken and under the care of a physician. Arthur's mother and his brother, Dan, are in Hollywood with Miss Davis. Mrs. Barbara Farnsworth Briggs of Louisville, Ky., and Mrs. Lucille Farnsworth DeBesche of New York, were expected to arrive at their North street home on the sleeper early this morning. Mrs. O. J. Maigne of North street, whose favorite nephew was the 34 year old air enthusiast, is in the care of her physician, Dr. H. H. Hanrahan, who yesterday ordered that she was not to receive visitors because of the frail condition of her health. ARTHUR AUSTIN FARNSWORTH is buried in Evergreen cemetery in Pittsford, Vt. Transcribed by, Joan H. Bixby