Today I received a fax of the front page of the July 22, 1935 edition of the Pawhuska Daily Journal Capital from the Oklahoma Historical Society. The combination news article/obituary clears up the questions regarding Pete Hauser’s untimely demise.
Pete spent the evening of Saturday, July 20, 1935 at a baseball game in Bartlesville, Oklahoma with two friends. Pete, Chauncey Archiquette and George Frass were about 4 miles out of Pawhuska on the Bartlesville Road when their car had a flat tire. For reasons unstated, they parked Archiquette’s car in the middle of the road. A good guess might be that at 3:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning in rural Oklahoma in 1935, they didn’t expect any traffic. As Pete was tightening the lug nuts, Archiquette stood in front of the car and waved at an oncoming vehicle to pass it on the left because there was more room. Miss Violet Stuart of Bartlesville was driving the oncoming car which was owned by her passenger, A. C. Applegate of Dewey. She attempted to pass the stopped car on its right and clipped its left front fender and killed Hauser by breaking his neck.
Pete and Chauncey were long-time friends as both had attended and played football at Haskell Institute and Carlisle Indian School. Pete was living with Chauncey at the time of the accident and was employed by a Depression-era government program, the Indian Emergency Conservation Work, a division of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
Pete was active in the American Legion after serving at Fort McArthur, Texas during WWI. His Legion Funeral Rites were held at Johnson Chapel. A Legion quartet sang at his funeral and a rifle squad fired a salute at graveside. Honorary pallbearers included old football chums Pop Warner, Jim Thorpe, Albert Exendine, Walter Mathews and Archiquette.
Carolyn Williams was essentially correct in her understanding of the accident.
Tags: Bartlesville, Chauncey Archiquette, George Frass, Pawhuska
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