WILLIE PACK
OCCUPANTS OF CAR ARE HELD
Mitchel Wood, Willie
Pack Were on Call
Clarence Mitchel Wood, 25, an employee of the Cox Chevrolet Co., was
instantly killed, and Willie Pack, 35, a partner in the International
Truck Co., was fatally injured last Thursday night when they were
struck by an automobile on the Mayo Trail near Cannel Coal Gap. It
is alleged that the car belonged to Hasca Conley of Johnson County
and was being driven by Euhl Preston. Elmer Price also of Johnson
County was the other occupant of the car.
All three of the occupants of the car were taken into custody by
officers, and Preston was taken to the Paintsville Hospital where he
is suffering from injuries which he received in the fatal crash.
According to the story, both Mitchel Wood and Willie Pack had gone to
the scene of the accident to give a service to a truck which had
slipped over the bank. They were working with a wrecker from the Cox
Garage in an effort to haul the truck back on the road when they were
hit. It is also alleged that a man with a red lantern had been
placed several hundred feet from the accident to warn approaching
motorists.
At the coroner’s inquest, it was found that the two men came to their
deaths from wounds received when they were crushed between the car
occupied by the other three men and the wrecker with which they were
working. It was also alleged that the three men were under the
influence of liquor. Conley and Price were given an examining trial
before Magistrate Claude Buckinham, and Conley is being held to the
grand jury under bond of $10,000 while Price’s bond was fixed at
$1,000. Preston who, it is alleged, was driving the car will be
given an examining trial Tuesday of next week.
Young Wood was dead when he was picked up, but Pack lived until
Friday morning when he succumbed at 8:10 o’clock.
Clarence Wood was the son of B. F. Woods; his mother preceded him in
death in 1924. He was married to Ethel Pelphrey in 1933, and they had
one child who died in 1935. He is survived by his widow, his father;
one brother, Hansel Lee Wood, and one sister, Mrs. Tom Blair.
Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at the Freewill Baptist
Church, and burial was in the Mayo Cemetery. A large crowd of
relatives and friends attended the funeral, and there were many
beautiful floral offerings.
Young Wood was well known and popular. He had been employed by the
Cox Auto Parts and Chevrolet Company for several years and was an
expert mechanic. His family has the sympathy of the entire
community.
Willie Pack was 32 years old and the son of Mr. and Mrs. George W.
Pack of Williamsport. He is survived by his parents, his wife and
two children, Billy Lowell and Betty Delores. Six brothers,
Elbridge, Walter, Herbert, Gaylord, Dennis and Arnold Pack, and one
sister, Golda Pack, also survive.
He was associated with his brothers in the operation of the
International Truck Company and Garage in Bridgeford. He went with
one of his company’s trucks to unload the damaged truck and was
assisting in hauling the truck back to the road when the fatal
accident occurred.
Funeral services were held for him Sunday afternoon at the home of
his parents in Williamsport. Burial followed in the family cemetery
there.
Both these young men were highly regarded in Paintsville and Johnson
County. They were popular with all who knew them, and their untimely
deaths cast a pall of gloom over the entire community.
Paintsville Herald
Wednesday
January 23, 1936
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