Dallas Morning News 8/31/1936
(C. Avis Catalog entry #998)
p. 3
Spouse, Dying Near By, Unnoticed as Wreckers Remove Wife's Coupe
WICHITA FALLS, Texas: Aug. 31 (AP).— A wrecking crew working in darkness to haul in the demolished coupe of his wife failed to see the torn coupe of S. Houston Hodges, 48, of Wichita Falls, 200 yards away in the same ravine where both cars had run off a county road northwest of here early Wednesday.
Hodge's body was found near the wreckage of the second machine several hours after dawn. His wife, driving back of him, was blinded by dust and did not see her husband's car leave the road on a curve an instant before her car plunged into the ditch, officers said.
Mrs. Hodges, unaware of her husband's fate, crawled to the road and summoned aid. She was taken to a hospital, where it was found she suffered head, body and internal injuries and was in a serious condition.
Officers talked with Mrs. Hodges at the hospital, but the location of the accidents was not inspected until Hodges' son, Frank, and a son-in-law, Odell Ballard, began a search for Hodges.