The San Francisco call., 1908-08-04
CHAUFFEUR TELLS
! OF DESERT TRAGEDY
Thomas P. McCauley Brings
Body of Frank D. Spauld-
ing From Yuma
Says Oyerheating of Engine
Necessitated Work Which
Exhausted Both Men

Particulars of the desert tragedy in
Whlch Frank ID. Spaulding, the san
francisco automobilist and mine owner
lost his life from heat prostration on
the burning sands near Yuma, Ariz.
on FRIDAY last were brought to this
city yesterday by Thomas P. McCauley
the chauffeur who was with Spauldine
at the end and who barely escaped
sharing the fate of his employer.
An autopsy showed that Spaulding's
body had literally been scorched. The
tissues We're dried from the effect Of
the heat. McCauley's mouth was sc
sorely parched by the heat that he
still suffers from the effects of his
experience and his system was cruelty
weakened by the ordeal TO which II
was put in the desert.
McCauiey brought the body OF
Spaulding to this city and the funeral
will be held this morning from the
undertaking parlors of Bunker & Lunt
In Mission street near Twenty-second
The interment will be in Cypress Lawn
cemetery
McCauley was seen last evening al
the Spaulding residence, 1887 Vallejo
street. He told the following graphic
tale of the contest waged by the two
men with the forces of the sun, when
the thermometer registered 13S degrees
- hAhC oAd0C S1llQ lIlC AuluiQltJ VI LliS
atmosphere was 60.
I'VE left Yuma at l o'clock Friday
intending to make the Gunsight mine
ll6 miles away, that evening. That
was the mine In which Spaulding was
heavily interested. 1t was located Is
miles from ella bend. We were both
tired when we started, as we had
been up late the night before tinkering
with the car. Had we not been ia
lo6 hn u IL
CURED.
For two miles out of Yuma the
roads We're good and we had no diff
Guilty with the car, save that 1t heated
up frequently. The belt for the fan
was lost and that prevented the car
from cooling naturally. We had to get
out OF the car often and that tired us.
About IL miles from Yuma. while
going up slight grade, which made
it the more difficult to control the
steering gear, the car got stuck in the
sands. Had I been stronger l would
have been able to keep it in the road,
out my weakness made me helpless
! climbed out of the machine to tinker
with IT and as soon as l got into the
sun l felt nauseated and / fell over
the fender. That Is the last 1 remem-
Der until | was aroused by a Mexican
boy about z o'clock in the evening
lying in the sand. Evidently he had
got out of the car to try to pull me
back into the shade. | gave him some
brandy and some water and he be-
came partly aroused, but still was
dazed. The Mexican boy brought a
team from a nearby ranch and I put
Spaulding into the wagon and we drove
to Valzedall station on the railroad.
four miles away. He died on the
depot platform 10 minutes after we
placed him there. 1t was then about
$50 in the evening"
In the opinion Of Captain Harry P.
Donkersley and Under Sheriff w. d.
Riley of Yuma, according to a press
dispatch received last evening Spauld :
ing and McCauley were weakened by
the heat. because the canopy of their
touring car was drawn so tightly over
the machine that not a breath of air
could stir around them. They are said
to have been on the wrong road The
two Yuma men found the machine in
serious disorder when they went to
bring it into Yuma.