Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1916-11-02
spiritualistic association, Madison.
Killed by Gas

| Mr.. and Mrs. +. j. Utard, DOLn 81
years old, who went from Reedsburg
to Madison about ten days ago, were
found dead in bed in their room at
the home of Charles J. Lallier, 324
East Johnson street, by John Wallin
Saturday. Death was due to asphyx,
iation. The room was filled with
gas and an investigation made by
Wallin and Lallier disclosed that the
jet at the base of a gas pipe with
which a gas range is connected had
not been turned off.
Lallier notified the police station,
and all possible efforts were made to
revive the couple. Patrolman Sefe-
land and Theodore D. Abel, master
mechanic of the fire department,
rushed to the Lallier home with the
lungmotor. Abel operated the ma
chine on Mrs. Utard, but all signs Of
life had disappeared. The body of
Utard was cold and no attempt was
made to apply the lung motor to him.
Utard had been dead for several
hours.
An examination made by Coroner
NoIl of the room convinced him that
the deaths of the couple was purely
accidental. He learned that Mr.. and
Mrs Utard had been out AUTOMOBILE
ing Friday night with Otto Farber, a
cousin of Mrs. Utard, and his wife,
and that they returned home about
10 o'clock. A coffee pot was stand
ing on the gas range and on the ia
BILE stood two cups out of which cof-
fee had been drunk, and some rolls
The investigation led the coroner to
the conclusion that Mr.. and Mrs.
Utard had little lunch before re-
firing and that after they had heated
ed the coffee they turned off the jets
on the stove but forgot to shut off
the jet at the base of the pipe. A
rubber hose which connected the
stove with the pipe had dropped to
the floor. 1t is evident that the gas
blew the hose, which was not of the
standard kind, off the pipe. There
is absolutely no reason to suspect
that Mr.. and Mrs. Utard committed
suicide. The coroner learned that
they had lived happily together and
that they had planned on looking at
q place near the French Battery &
Carbon company with the intention
Of opening restaurant.
1t is believed that during the night
Utard made an effort to get out of
bed as he had one foot on the floor.
1t is evident that he had intended
shutting off the jet, but that he was
too dazed from the gas to leave bed.
Mr.. and Mrs. Utard were married
at Ogden, Utah, December "a, 1914.
Two months ago they came to Reeds
burg, where the father of Mrs. Utadr,
Albert Farber, and a sister and sew
eral brothers reside. Mrs. Utard had
two boys, aged four and seven years
respectively, by her first husband, and
she left them in charge of her sister
when she and her husband. came to
Madison. Utard found employment
as machinist at the Fuller & Johnson
company plant. They had planned on
going to Reedsburg Sunday with the
Otto Farber family, as Mrs. Utard
was homesick for her children. She
was planning on bringing the children
to Madison as soon as they had set
tied in the proposed new place.
A brother and sister and the two
children journeyed from Reedsburg
to Madison Saturday to make ar
rangements for the funeral. They
decided to take the remains to
Reedsburg for burial. They tele-
graphed to the parents of Utard at
Denver as to what disposition they
want made of the body of their son.
Mrs. Utard leaves, besides her IA
Their and two children, one sister and
five brothers. One brother Emil, is
in hospital in British Columbia
with a diseased leg and it probably
will be necessary to amputate it.