Exposure to Cold

Richard Pickrell 77, a retired farmer who fell down a stairway at 711 Mill stree last Friday and lay in his unheated room until Saturday afternoon, died at 1:50 a.m. Sunday at the St Joseph Hospital.

Authorities said the death is believed to have resulted from exposure to teh cold and shock from a possible hip fracture.

Emergency ambulance attendants said he seemed to be suffering from frost bite. Neighbors told them that Pickrell fell on the outside steps Friday and that he was carried to his room. When his condition grew worse a call wa placed for the ambulance.

The som of William and Phoebe Pickrell, he was born July 19, 1873 in Wapello County. He had live in Ottumwa 25 years.

Survivors include a brother, William E. Pickrell, Ottumwa, route 6, and four sisters, Mrs Ada Newman, Oneida, S. D.,Mrs Annie Curtis, Kirksville, Mrs Estella Hackett, Albia and Mrs Nellie Breen, Ottumwa, route 2. He was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers and three sisters.

Funeral services will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Johnson funeral chapel, conducted by A. O. Smith. Burial will be in Shaul Cemetery.

The above is from the Ottumw Courier, hand dated Jan-7-1951. Found at the Wapello County Historical Society in Ottumwa, Iowa