John Truman Clark is the sixth child of Samuel and Matilda Hatcher Clark.
John Clark, 77, long time resident and Milwaukee roundhouse employee, smothered to death when his home caught on fire last night before neighbors discovered the fire and recovered his body from the burning building.
Mr. Clark is believed to be smoking in bed and set the bed on fire. There was no fire in the stove.
Some Laredo men saw the fire coming from the Clark home, which is located one block south of the drug store. They sent out the alarm and then rushed the fire wagon down the block to the four room frame house. The house was full of smoke with both the floor and walls on fire. Fire had burned through the bed and into the floor.
When the smoke cleared away, Mr. Clark's body was found in a corner of the room away from the bed. He was taken outside where artificial respiration was administered.
Fire climbed up the wall and set the attic on fire, firemen reported. The inside of the building was considerably damaged by fire, smoke and water. The exterior of the building was smoked but no ther apparent damage.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00 pm Friday at the E.J. Robertson Funeral Home in Laredo, Rev. Kenneth Peery, pastor of the Laredo Baptist Church, will officiate. Burial will be in the Humphreys Cemetery.
The casket will not be opened.
Mr. Clark was born Jan 28, 1885 at Humphrey's a son of Samuel L. & Tilda Hatcher Clark. He lived in Laredo for 44 years, and was a retired round house man.
He is survived by five children, Mrs. Jack Anderson, Chillicothe, Mo., Mrs. Russell Moore, Butler, Mo., Mrs. Dale Wilkerson, Bates City, Mo., Ivan Clark, Kansas City, and Victor Clark, Wichita, Kansas.
He is also survived by eight grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren, three sisters, Mrs. Charley Trask, Chillicothe, Mo., Mrs. Bertha Clark, Kansas Cith, and Mrs. Ollie Smith, Oakland, Calif.
He was preceded in death by three brothers, and five sisters.