grave import

Obituary

Charles O. Waddell, 55, 1200 Franklin street, street department employe, died from suffocation Monday afternoon as a ton of dirt fell upon him from the top of a tunnel he was excavating from a 10-foot sewer pipe ditch in the street at 1421 Thul. Waddell had been with the city street department since 1941. Leonard Rayer, 1429 Osborn, an eye-witness to the tragedy, said Waddell and 3 other street department employes were at work on the sewer pipe ditch. Waddell, according to the witness, had crawled back into the short tunnel to excavate when the roof fell. Since rescuers found the position of Waddell's head near the entrance of the tunnel, it was presumed he had been on his way ot of the tunnel when the roof collapsed. Immediately on the falling of the earth, Rayer ran to a telephone and called the local police department. The other 3 street department employes, Dale Rotter, 206 S. 4th street; Joe Fitzpatrick, 611 Franklin street and Ed Burger, 1308 Brick street, began immediately to dig for the trapped man. Both the police department and the fire department responded to the rescue call. Firemen worked strenuously to revive Waddell. His head was uncovered and the inhalator was applied. Ten minutes later the body was lifted from the excavation and firemen worked for approximately 2 hours in an attempt to save him. Fred Sander, superintendent of the Burlington streets department, said Tuesday morning that he would conduct an investigation into the cause of the accident. "The city of Burlington lost a very good man when we lost Charley Waddell," said Sander. "He was one of the most dependable workers I have ever had." Surviving the man are his widow, Della Waddell, 4 step-children, Mrs. Ruby Campbell, Mrs. Marie Cohoon, of Burlington; Ray Northup, West Burlington, and Walter Northup, Rural Route 2; 4 step-grandchildren; his father, Edwin Waddell, of Des Moines county; 2 sisters, Mrs. May Shaeffer, Oakland, Calif., and Mrs. Rose Schaeffer, Birmingham, Ia.; one brother, Merle E. Waddell, Los Angeles, 3 nieces and a nephew. His mother, one sister and a brother are dead. Waddell, a veteran of World War 1, had been a resident of Burlington for 25 years. He was born February 22, 1891 in Ringgold county, Iowa.