Married in 1907 to Susannah Pearl Barnum.

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Bisbee Daily Review
Bisbee, Arizona
Wednesday, April 26, 1922, page 8

ELKS WILL PAY LAST HONOR TO KEMPTON TODAY

Body of Former City Marshal Will Be Taken Tomorrow to Safford For Burial

Funeral services over the body of J. a. Kempton, former city marshal of Bisbee who was killed when his auto plunged from the Divide road monday evening, will be held at the Elks home, on Main Street, at 4 o'clock this afternoon.

The body will be taken to Safford, in Graham county, tomorrow, for burial. Milford Kempton, a brother, and F. E. Gilpin, brother-in-law of the deceased will probably accompany the body to the old Kempton home in Safford.

A coroner's inquest, held yesterday afternoon in Judge Craig's court, brought out but little information regarding the accident. Testimony of witnesses tended to confirm the theory in The Review yesterday morning that Kempton's car had probably plunged backward over the grade wile Kempton was trying to turn it around on the narrow road.

George Rockhill, of the Bisbee-Tombstone stage line, the first to reach the wrecked car and Kempton's body, told of seeing the car at the bottom of the ravine while returning from Tombstone, at about 6:10 Monday evening. He hurried on to Bisbee on finding that Kempton was dead, he said, a passenger on the stage remaining with the body.

Dr. Harry Reese testified that death resulted from a broken neck. There were several scalp wounds, he said, but these would not have caused his death.

Ellis Hunter, a mechanician at the Bisbee Auto Company, testified that he had passed Kempton on the Divide road twice between 4:30 and 5:00 Monday evening. Hunter, who was testing out a car, passed Kempton as he, Hunter, drove to the top of the Divide. Kempton, said hunter was standing about 20 feet from the point on the grade where it left the road. Hunter said he turned around at the top of the grade and passed Kempton again as he drove down the hill.

When Hunter slowed his car and asked if Kempton needed help, Kempton waived to him and answered in the negative, said Hunter. It is believed that Kempton had stopped his car on the grade to allow the motor to cool and, after waiting 10 or 15 minutes, had started to turn the car.

F. E. Gilpin, brother-in-law of Kempton, said last night after a careful examination of torn brush, dislocated rocks and other signs at the scene of the wreck, he was certain that the car had gone off the grade rear wheels foremost and that Kempton had probably been thrown clear of the car as it turned over.