William Flaharty Electrocuted Thursday Night

Accident In Basement Of His Home

Wlllam E. Flaharty, 28, chief maintenance man for the McGregor plant of the Colorado Utilities company, was electrocuted Thursday night while working on repairs to the water pump in the basement of his home there. His body was discovered by Mrs. Flaharty, who had been away from home at the time of the accident. Altho the respirator from Steamboat Springs was taken to McGregor, all attempts to revive Mr. Flaharty proved futile.

Mr. Flaharty had left the plant at McGregor after getting tools to make some repairs on a water pump in the basement of his house and had apparently grasped a water pipe which had been charged with electricity by a short circuit, not discovered until after the removal of Mr . Flaharty's body from the basement.

Workers at the plant, who went to the Flaharty home upon being notified of the accident, were convinced that there was some special cause for the accident as Mr. Flaharty was known to be very cautious in all of his work with electricity and they felt that there was no carelessness in his actions. Careful exploration of the basement resulted in locating the short circuit which had caused the accident.

Mr. Flaharty is survived by his wife, Margaret Flaharty, a five months old child, four brothers, Harry of Denver, Kenneth, who is at Camp Roberts, Calif.; Eugene and Myrl of Steamboat Springs; three sisters, Emma Cargile, Granby; Sarah Johnson, California, and Peggy Ferguson, Steamboat Springs, and his father, Clarence Flaharty. Funeral services were held on Sunday afternoon from the Heyer mortuary, with Rev. R. A. Dodd In charge. Ben Gilbert, accompanied by Mrs. Gilbert, sang and pallbearers were Bernice Morris, George Etzler, George Fick, Delbert Bostock, J . A . Nelson and Lavern Nelson. Burial was in the Steamboat Springs cemetery.

Mrs. Flaharty and the baby have gone to Denver with her parents for the present until she can make plans for the future .

(Published in The Steamboat Pilot (Steamboat Springs, CO), Thursday, October 1, 1942.)