Hutcheson Case Study
There are currently two places I can go online to get scans of the Tucson newspapers. GenealogyBank has older issues. And Newspaper Archive has issues from around the 50s. Several sources have text from the newer issues from this century.
So, Oril’s obituary is available at Newspaper Archive. And it implies an answer to one of the questions that I had when I first began this project. Why would he commit suicide?
Oril O. Hutcheson Services Planned
Arrangements will be announced by Bring’s funeral home for Oril O. Hutcheson, a longtime Southern Pacific employee who died of a self-inflicted bullet wound Friday. He was 69 years old.
Mr. Hutcheson, who had been in ill health since December, was found in a shed at the rear of his home, 337 S. Fourth ave. Unconscious, he was taken to the Pima county hospital where he died three hours later. He was found by a roomer, T. C. Fuller, who with Mrs. Hutcheson, heard the shot.
Surviving Mr. Hutcheson, who lived in Tucson 37 years, is his wife, Etta Mae, who is active in Pima county Democratic circles; a son, Frank; and a daughter, Mrs. Esther Herman, all of Tucson.1
Since the article mentions his bad health, it might be assumed that that was discussed as a contributing factor. Was it the only factor? Maybe, maybe not.
A funeral notice also ran two days later:
Rites for Oril O. Hutcheson, who died Friday, are set for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bring’s funeral home, with Rev. Wlllard A. Schurr of the First Methodist church officiating and Tucson lodge No.4 F&AM, officiating at graveside services in the Masonic plot in Evergreen cemetery.
Pallbearers are A. C Thayer, O. C. Boone, William Wisdom, A. W. League, John J. Ellis and Bert Menge.2
Additional details agree with the death certificate.
1. “Oril O. Hutcheson Services Planned,” Tucson Daily Citizen, 19 Feb 1949, p. 4, col. 6-8; digital images, Newspaper Archive (http://www.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 12 Oct 2010).
2. “Oril O. Hutcheson Rites To Be Tuesday,” Tucson Daily Citizen, 21 Feb 1949, p. 8, col. 3; digital images, Newspaper Archive (http://www.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 12 Oct 2010).