MOTORCYCLE COP WALDON KILLED IN LINE OF DUTY

The Scioto Gazette, Chillicothe OH; 13 Aug 1928

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Motorcycle Officer, J. Edwin Waldon, 28 was fatally injured Sunday afternoon at about 5:10 o'clock, when run down on the Richmondale Pike by a big Lincoln Touring car driven by C.Hadley Mayhugh 51, formerly of this city but now of Columbus.

Waldon died in the City Hospital at 8:45 P.M. with a broken back and internal injuries.

Mayhugh was arrested shortly after the accident and is being held at the City Jail on a charge of manslaughter. He was in a state of intoxication when brought into Police Headquarters after hitting four or five other cars on his way between Portsmouth and this city and one after he had crashed with Waldon. In a final statement made to Sergeant Homer Rinehart before he died Officer Waldon said "I saw him coming, weaving from side to side and tried every way to avoid him but couldn't."

The crash occurred near the Harry Blain residence at the first curve of the road on the Richmondale Pike, near the Renick farm. Waldon , according to witnesses, was on the extreme right of the road on the Police Department Henderson Motorcycle, when the racing Lincoln crashed into him.

His body was thrown about 20 feet in the air and landed on the right of way on the road. The motorcycle reduced to a tangled mass of wreckage, was taken to the West side garage.

In a truck from Cincinnati, Waldon was taken to the City Hospital, where he was attended to by Dr. Frank T. Marr. His back was broken and he was injured internally, besides having cuts all over his body.

Waldon was out to investigate a reported accident when the fatal crash came. The call had come to Police Headquarters a short time before and Sergeant Rinehart had started out , picking up Officer Charles Kelly on his way.

At Bridge and Second Street, Waldon saw them in the Police Car and followed them out Eastern Avenue to the N&W tracks. Here they stopped and Rinehart said that if the accident was farther out in the country they would send the sheriff. Waldon said he would ride down a little farther to see if he could see anything, and because of the noise of the motorcycle engine, did not hear the advice of Rinehart not to go. Rinehart and Kelly returned to the station and past Officer George McCord just starting out with the report that Waldon had been hit and was badly injured . They all returned to the scene of the accident.

Mayhugh was found in the car alone in a cornfield to the south of the road, several hundred yards this side of the scene of the accident. After hitting Waldon he had run into another car farther down the road and had been forced off the pike, over a four foot bank and into the cornfield.

Mayhugh left Chillicothe about 20 years ago. He was formerly chief clerk to the master mechanic of the B&O Railroad, when Phil Reeves occupied that position here. Mayhugh is married and has a family living in Columbus. W

Worley B. Rodehaver, 667 East Main street was responsible for stopping Mayhugh.

About 18 telephone pole lengths down the road toward Chillicothe , Mayhugh swerved into Rodehaver`s car, swerved back and then went up a six foot bank into a cornfield on Mayhugh`s left side of the road.

Rodehaver did not know of the Waldon accident ,but he did know that there had been another accident further down the road. He ran to the cornfield and leaped on the running board of the Lincoln, turning off the ignition. Mayhugh tried once to turn on the engine but Rodehaver stopped him with a warning and held him in the car till others arrived and it was impossible for him to escape.

Rodehaver`s car was damaged on the side, but the occupants were uninjured.

Mrs. Bryan Brown , 118 Douglas Avenue, was cut about the face and arms when the car driven by her husband was struck by Mayhugh before the crash with Waldon .Police said another car was hit near Death Span Bridge, one near Portsmouth and near the county bridge on this detour.

Prosecuting Attorney W.M. McKensie , with Sergeant John Burns and Sergeant Homer Rinehart were continuing the investigation this morning and had gathered names and testimony of a number of witnesses.

Waldon was taken to the hospital in a truck driven by Lawrence (Amsler ?) of the Cincinnati and Huntington Truck Company, which hauls motion picture films.

Dr. P.T. Marr said that Waldon was conscious until about 6:30 P.M. . His pelvic bone was shattered, stomach punctured, rectum split and he suffered internal hemorrhages.