OBITUARY

Name:    Horace Phiney Hopkins

From:  The Great Bend Tribune, Great Bend, Kansas
Date:  Monday, May 7, 1923

AGED MAN KILLED -- STRUCK BY AUTO
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H. P. HOPKINS VICTIM OF FATAL AUTO ACCIDENT LAST NIGHT
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PARKED CARS OBSCURED VIEW
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Attempted to Cross Street Near Christian Church and Stepped in Front of Car

H. P. Hopkins, aged 72 years, died at the hospital in this city shortly after midnight last night as the result of an auto accident which occurred in front of the Christian Church on Broadway at about 9:15 o'clock.

Mr. Hopkins and his wife had attended services at the church and when they left the building, instead of going to the corner to cross the street, they started directly across Broadway from the church entrance, about 75 feet west of the street corner.  Mrs. Hopkins was slightly in advance of her husband, and Maurice Duncan, who was driving the car which struck Mr. Hopkins, noticed the woman crossing the street and sounded his horn and at the same time applied the brakes in order to give the woman time to cross the street.

On account of the large number of cars parked along the street in front of the church, the passage-way is very narrow and there is only sufficient room for the passage of a single car, and while Duncan was watching the woman, the husband stepped out from between two of the parked cars and directly in front of the approaching machine.  Evidently, he did not see the car until it was directly upon him and, as Duncan was watching to see that the woman was safely out of his way, he did not see Mr. Hopkins, and he was struck by the right front fender and knocked under the car, sustaining some broken limbs and internal injuries which resulted in his death three hours later.

Mr. Duncan visited the Tribune office and gave out a statement, which is substantially as follows:  "I was going west on Broadway and driving at about ten miles per hour.  There was a large number of cars parked in front of the Christian church but I saw no people until I had passed the corner when a woman started to cross the street right in front of the car.  I sounded my horn and at the same time still further slacked the speed of the car.  I did not see the man until just as the car struck him and he must have stepped out from between two of the parked cars directly in front of my machine.  I stopped the car almost instantly.  I cannot say for certain but do not believe that the machine ran over him, but he was evidently rolled under the machine for a few feet."

A. C. Ford, who for several years has been night Marshall here, was standing with his son and some other men on the sidewalk, almost directly opposite the spot where the accident occurred, and they state that the story told by Mr. Duncan is correct.  That the car was moving at a rate of not more than ten or twelve mile per hour and that Mr. Hopkins stepped right in front of the machine and that the accident appeared to be entirely unavoidable from the standpoint of the driver.

The deceased was a native of Pennsylvania, being born in Ulysses county [sic] in that state September 11, 1854.  With his family, he moved to Great Bend from Hoisington about ten years ago and since that time has been employed in the Moses Bros. mills of the city, and was highly regarded by his employers and all who knew him.

For years he has been one of the most faithful and most active members of the Christian church of this city, and the pastor and friends of the church will feel a distinct loss in his death. The funeral services will be held at the church Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock and interment made in Great Bend cemetery.

The immediate relatives who are left to mourn his loss are his wife and three children, two daughters and one son.  The children are Mrs. George Hoffmeister [sic] and Mrs. George Dunn and Otto Hopkins, all of this city.

Mr. Hopkins never lost consciousness from the time of the accident until his death and bore his sufferings with courage and fortitude that was indeed inspiring.  He told Mr. Duncan and others at his bedside that the tragedy was entirely accidental and stated that he was ready to die.  The accident was a deplorable one, but one for which it seems no one was responsible.