The copper era and Morenci leader., 1916-03-03
TWO KILLED
 ON MORENC| HIGH W A '
Four Others Injured As Auto Driven by Morgan Merrill Piunges Over Embankment Above Shannon Rail way Tracks.
MORRISON AND HECK DEAD
.After Leaving Road Car Turned Over Three. Times in It's Plunge Down the Mountain Side.


 Three, Times in It's Plunge Down
 the Mountain Side.
 As a result of an automobile acci- dent on the highway between Clifton and Morenci Sunday last, between fur and five o'clock in the afternoon, Archie Morrison, superintendent of the concentrator at Clifton for the Ariona Copper Company, Ltd., and E. c. Heck, superintendent of the Clifton Water & Improvement Co.,, were killed outright and Morgan Mer- Till, owner of the car, l.. V. Hoyt, his partner, Wm. O'Brien and Ben c. Fehrman were injured. Three of the injured men are still, confined in the A. G. hospital as the result of their injuries. Morgan Merrill is badly bruised about the face and body in addition to having two ribs and an arm broken Wm O'Brien suffered a broken leg and L. V. Hoyt has a sprained back and broken wist. Ben Fehrman was only slightly cut anc bruised.
 w. R. Hutchins and S. F. Await who had been riding in the car earlier in the afternoon fortunately alighted from the car before the stat to Mo renci was made.
 Early Sunday afternoon Mir. Mer- Till invited Messrs. Morrison, Hutch ins, Await and Hoyt for a ride and after driving about the city a trip was made to the new smelter. On returning the car stopped at the New Mess and Messrs. Heck, Fehrmaq and O'Brien joined the party Com ing up town Messrs. Await and
 
 continued the ride to Morenci. MT. Merrill was at the wheel and next to him sat Archie Morrison. MT. OiBrien was riding on a small seat in the center and Messrs. Fehrman Heck and Hoyt occupied the back seat. The ride was made to Morenci without mishap and after a short stay there the party started on the return to Clifton where a dinner party had been arranged at the New Mess.
 On the return trip the car had reached a point about half way be- tween Clifton and Morenci, when the accident occurred. It is estimated that the car was running not less than twenty-five miles an hour when it left the road way and plunged down the rocky hill side. One ac- count of the accident is that Merrill at this point turned his head to speak to the occupants in the rear seat and momentarily lost control of the wheel. Another account is that in making a turn in the road Merrill pulled the car over to the upper bank of the cut and in right ing the steering wheel threw the down the hill. ;~&8 --
 Az k6e. xxybo A embankment the big car turned a somersault in the air, end for end .. Plunging down the hill it turned com pletely- over twice more, struck on it's wheels and took zig gag course, running backwards, until it landed upside down in an open cut about 12 feet deep on the Shannon Railway tracks, approximately two hundred yards below where the car left the highway.
 The occupants of the car were thrown out when it turned ovt the first time. Archie Morrison and E. c. Heck evidently struck head foremost as their skulls were fractur- ed. Morrison was killed instantly but Heck was still breathing when Buck Crabtree and Scott Erode, two men riding horses from Morenci, and who witnessed the accident, reached the scene. The bodies were strewn down the hill side for a distance of fifty feet from the road.
 A car driven by Spezia Brothers was short distance behind the fatal car coming to Clifton and following the Spezia car was the Laney car. The occupants of these two cars as sisted the dying and injured into their cars and hurried them to the A. C.. hospital at Clifton. Morrison was pronounced dead upon his arrival at the hospital and Heck only lived a few minutes. Their bodies were taken to the Pascoe Undertaking Par lors during the evennig and the in- jured were given every attention by the hospital staff.
 News of the accident spread like wild fire over the community and the townspeople were appalled, at the terrible catastrophe. Knots of citi- zens were gathered here and there expressing their sorrow and regret over the loss of two of the prominent citizens in our midst.
 At the morgue the Masonic and Elks Lodges detailed two of their members to watch over the remains of their dead and relatives were noti- fed A brother of E. c. Heck, MT. w. B. Heck, of Kansas City, Mo-, arrived in Clifton on Tuesday after noon and started back to MT. Hecks