When John Richards walked into the Oklahoma timber to chop wood, he was only a quarter of a mile from home. He likely expected to return before dark, carrying wood for the fire and thinking little of the sharp ax in his hands.
But darkness came, and Richards did not return.
His wife alerted the neighbors, and a search began through the woods near their home. They found him lying just thirty feet from where he had been working.
Bled To Death
VINITA, Oklahoma. — John Richards, a farmer who lived in the timber a few miles south of Grove, was found dead in the woods near his home.
Richards had gone about a quarter of a mile to chop some wood. When darkness came he had not returned, and his wife became alarmed and notified the neighbors, and a search was started.
The body was found on the ground about thirty feet from where Richards had been at work. There was a deep gash cut just above the shoe top, and it is believed that his ax slipped as he was cutting timber, severing an artery, from which he bled to death.
After the accident it appears that Richards started home and got a few steps away when he stopped, sat down, and tied a shoestring around his leg above the wound in an effort to stop the blood.
He leaves a widow and several children.
Source: Bryan Morning Eagle. Bryan, Tex. February 7, 1907.
