HALLMAN TRAGEDY
Crawfordsville , Arkansas
Memphis
5 TINY CASKETS TELL TRAGEDY IN FAMILY
$600 Already Donated From Mid-South
Five identical little
white caskets are lined up at Citizens Funeral Home in
They contain the bodies of
the five Hallman children, each dressed in white. They suffocated in an old unused icebox on
the porch of their farm cabin in
Residents of
Mr. Hallman, the father,
who had been working temporarily at
Mrs. Hallman and the two
older children, 11 and 9, had spent the day chopping cotton. When they returned, the five lively little
ones were missing – Edward, 8; Wesley, 7; twins Odie and Tommy, 4, and Barbara
Ann, 2. Later the little bodies were
found crowded into the old icebox.
Apparently they had played a game of follow leader, and the lid, which
had an outside lock, snapped shut on them.
Practically all the money
being contributed will go to the family, as they had burial policies on the
children. Tho they had made only one
payment on the new policies, they were in effect and take care of all expenses,
including the new clothing, except the burial lot, which is a nominal sum.
George H. Florida of
Osceola, Ark. started the fund yesterday morning with $25, and $128 was
collected among his associates in Continental Mortgage Co., Falls,
Building. This included $2 from Herbert
Delugach, not acknowledged yesterday.
Dr. Otto Sutton, pastor of
Trinity Baptist Church, 1144 E. McLemore, which is in the midst of a two-week
revival, traveled around in Crittenden County last night until he found the
Hallmans about midnight at the home of friends near their own home. He gave them $125.11 received in a special
collection at revival services last night.
J. A. Johnson of Citizens
Funeral Home said about $300 had been left at the funeral home by various
persons or received in the mail, for the Hallmans, largely from Crittenden
County citizens.
The Press-Scimitar today
received $25 from employees of Hull-Dobbs Co., $10 from Lee and Mose Karnowsky,
$10 from Dr. Gilbert J. Levy, $5 from June H. Rudisill and $2 anonymous.
Memphis Press Scimitar
HELP FOR BEREAVED – AND A PROMISE: NEVER AGAIN!
Campaign Against Icebox Death Traps, as 5 Victims Are Buried
By Clark Porteous, Press-Scimitar Staff Writer
Residents of Memphis and
the Mid-South today continued to open their hearts and pocketbooks to the J. A.
Hallman family. Meanwhile, officials
took steps in Memphis to see that death finds no more children to unused ice
boxes.
More
than $1000 has been given to the Hallman family, and contributions continue to
come to The Press-Scimitar and to Citizens Funeral Home in West Memphis.
Services
for the five Hallman children, ranging from 2 to 8, who suffocated in an old
ice box on the porch of their farm home in Crittenden County Wednesday, were
held at Citizens Funeral at 10:30 a.m. today, with burial in Crittenden
Memorial Park.
Between
4000 and 5000 persons, many from far away, went thru the funeral home to see
the little bodies in coffins. Some
contributed to the family.
With
11 children, including the five Hallmans, having died in old ice boxes
throughout the nation in two days, appliance and city officials are acting to
keep such a tragedy from happening in Memphis.
No
one recalls a Memphis child ever having died in an ice box, tho there was a
narrow escape a year or so ago. During
the last four years, there have been 10 in Arkansas who died in ice boxes,
including the Hallmans.
George
Bates, president of the Memphis Retail Appliance Association, said the
appliance dealers already have been trying to get rid of unused ice boxes, and
will double their efforts.
“Those
things usually happen to children in areas where they don’t have other things
to do,” Mr. Bates said. “We have never
lost a child in Memphis in an ice box, but of course, it could happen and we
don’t want it to happen.”
“We appliance dealers
always give something on an old ice box when a customer purchases a new one,
even tho the old box in worthless. We
usually give $5 or $10.”
“We are willing to go get
any ice box a citizen may have at this home, whether or not he is buying a new
one. We junk the old ice boxes, as a
rule. We usually get about 50 cents
apiece for them from junk dealers, who don’t particularly like to handle them,
because there isn’t too much metal and they have to be broken up.”
“We
send loads of 15 on a truck to junk dealers.
Some few we sell to plantations and farms, which still use ice. But these have to be clean and in good
condition.
“Anyone
who has an old ice box and doesn’t want to dispose of it, thinking they might
need it for a fish camp or something like that some day, should remove the
outside handles so that no child can be trapped inside.”
Memphis
appliance dealers report they are willing to pick up old ice boxes to have them
junked.
Dealers
brought out that old, unused electric or gas or oil refrigerators also could be
a hazard, and should be disposed of if not in use. Shelving makes them less
attractive as a play area for children.
Memphis
appliance dealers will call for old iceboxes of citizens who notify them. They will be hauled to a selected spot on a
city dump, and finally destroyed. A
watchman will keep children away from them until they are destroyed.
Commissioner
Williams said the city will co-operate, and “we are ready to assist in any way
we can to end this peril.”
HALLMANS TO MOVE FROM HOUSE OF TRAGEDY
Money Gifts Will Help New Start
Mrs.
Hallman, mother of the five children who died, said nothing has been done about
the old box on the Hallman porch, as they have been away, “but we are going to
get rid of it right away.”
I’m
real proud the children are laid out so pretty,” she said. The family gave
consent for visitors to see the little bodies in open coffins. The coffins were closed just before the
services. Mrs. Hallman expressed
gratitude to the citizens who are giving money to help them get a new start.
We
plan to move to another house in about two weeks,” she said.
All
of the money given to the Hallmans will be used by them to get a new start with
their surviving children. Burial
policies took care of $150 funerals for each of the five children.
Kar-Hill,
Inc., 282 N. Cleveland, wholesale beauty supplies, took care of the burial lot
and the opening and closing fees, a total of $150, and gave $7, which was left
over, to the family. Mrs. Richard
Stevens, manager, said the money was given by the company and employees. When Mrs. Stevens learned the funeral
expenses were taken care of, she decided to use $150 of the money to take care
of the cemetery expenses.
A
total of $605 was acknowledged yesterday, of which $300 was given at Citizens
Funeral Home. Today $115 more had been
received there, much of it in $1 contributions.
The
Press-Scimitar this morning had received $141 more. This, plus the money received at Citizens and
the $157 from Kar-Hill, totals $1018, all of which went to the family except
the $150 cemetery expenses.
Contributions
for the Hallmans received by the Press-Scimitar today included:
Dewey
W. Lamkin, 1508 Madison, $5; F. S. Miller, 1299 Carr, $25; Mrs. Henry Odeen,
$10; W. K. Barrett, Shrine Building, $5; Lee Hunt, 81 Madison Building, $1;
Mrs. Ben Melvin, 4926 Shady Grove Road, $25.
Mrs.
Mary J. Abele, $10; Kelley & Jamison, $10; J. E. Rainey, 2161 Court, $5;
James P. Gavin, 99 Clark Place, $5; Anonymous, $2; Anonymous, $5; Garner Bros.
funeral directors, Grenada, Miss., $1; Dr. Hugh Wyatt, $5; Mr. and Mrs. J. R.
Trower, 3643 Douglas, $25; Bessie Strong, 323 S. Pauline, $5; John J. Welsh,
694 Anderson Place, $3; Marie Schaut, 716 Avalon, $2; and Mr. and Mrs. Carl
Marsh, $5.
MAKERS STUDY PROBLEM
Deaths
of the five children in Crittenden County, Ark., four in Richmond, Va., and two
in Haverhill, Mass., this week has focused attention of the nation on the
danger of unused iceboxes.
In
Washington, President C. W. Phillips of Refrigeration Trade Association, warned
that abandoned refrigerators will take a heavy toll of child lives in the next
several years unless certain simples prevention measures are adopted.
In
Charleston, W. Va., State Labor Commissioner Charles Sattlers ordered his
inspectors today to remove or break the locks on abandoned or stored iceboxes
and refrigerators.
In
Dayton, Ohio, the Refrigeration Engineers’ Society offered to remove doors from
any unused box without charge.
Spokesman
for Crosley and Bendix (manufacturers) said owners have an “obligation” to
break locks (on any old refrigerator) not in use. “Any other course is sheer negligence,” one
spokesman said.
Phillips
has called a meeting of industry representatives in Washington for Tuesday
night at which safety latches will be discussed. At the same time, a public education program
will be launched to prevent icebox tragedies.
In the last five years, according to the newspaper records alone, more
than 100 children have suffocated in locked iceboxes, Phillips said.
“Engineers
have exhaustively studied the latch problem,” Phillips said, “and have
concluded the most feasible solution, one which would not add greatly to the
cost, or interfere with the functioning, would be a device that must be set or
turned by hand before the door can lock.”
“For
engineering and physiological reasons, a door that could be opened from the
inside by pressure or by built-in safety device would not be feasible.”
Memphis Press Scimitar
A THIRD TRAGEDY – TWO BOYS DEAD
Butchy Ferguson, Michael Rogers (United Press Telephotos)
Bodies Found in Abandoned Icebox in
The United Press
HAVERHILL,
Mass. – Two small boys were found suffocated inside an abandoned ice box here
late last night, the third tragedy if its kind in 36 hours.
In a day and half unused ice boxes have lured 11
curious children to their death.
The
latest victims, whose bodies were found just before midnight, were Edward P.
(Butchy) Ferguson, 3, and Michael T. Rogers, 4.
A posse of 200 police, firemen and volunteers had searched for four
hours before one searcher, Lucien Duvall, 33, happed to look in the ice box in
a Haverhill dump.
Earlier
yesterday an abandoned refrigerator at Richmond, Va., yielded the bodies of
four barefoot boys. On Wednesday night,
the bodies of five youngsters were found in an ice box at
In
Washington, the Refrigeration Trade Association of America called an
industry-wide conference for next Tuesday to consider ways of preventing old
ice boxes from becoming death traps.
Safety
officials urged families to remove hinges and latches from any ice box or other
air-tight container left where children might play.
Return to Burials in Section 8 (including Baby Land)
Crittenden Memorial Park Introduction Page
Cemeteries Index Home Page Links Index
© Deborah Lunsford Yates, 2000 – 2004
Last Updated Wednesday, March 31, 2004, 8:11:09 PM CST