Assistant Superintendent of the Fire Alarm Victim.

DETAILS OF HIS DEATH

Was Attending to His Duties Near Pennsylvania Avenue and Hurst Street This Afternoon

J. A. Covington, assistant superintendent of the Dallas fire alarm system, was shocked to death by an electric wire this afternoon at the corner of Pennsylvania avenue and Hurst street about 3:20 o’clock.

News of the accident was immediately sent to the Central fire station and Chief Magee of the fire department and Henry Garrett, in charge of the fire alarm system, immediately went to the scene of the accident.

From what could be learned this afternoon, Covington was at work on a forty-foot pole , when he came in contact with a live wire. Several persons saw the accident and it was stated that he hung suspended for half a minute in mid-air before falling to the ground below. Those who saw the accident are satisfied that he was dead that he was dead however, before his body struck the ground.

Covington was well known in Dallas and had been connected with the city electrician’s department for many years. He was a Virginian by birth, but had resided in Texas many years. Mr. Covington was a widower, but is survived by two children, one a fifteen-year-old girl and the other a boy who is employed the Postal Telegraph company.

The deceased was known by his close friends as "Cap" Covington and was well and favorably known by all members of the fire department and other city officials. He was liked by that knew him and his many friends will be sorry to learn of the sad accident.

CHIEF MAGEE WILL NAME CAPABLE MAN

To Recommend Man for Covington’s Old Place in Department

Fire Chief H. F. Magee and Commissioner Seay had a conference this morning relative to the appointment of some man to the place in the fire department made vacant by the unfortunate death of J. A. Covington, who was killed by coming in contact with an electric wire carrying a high voltage, near Pennsylvania avenue and Hurst street on Tuesday.

Mr. Magee had no one to recommend for the place today, and Commissioner Seay had no one in view either. He, however, asked the fire chief to look about for a man whom he thought would be capable, and the man for the place, and make his recommendation. Temporarily, because there are several bits of work of an odd-and-end character to be done, the chief will employ a man by the day on the job.

Chief Magee spoke very highly of Mr. Covington. "There never was a more steady fellow," he said. "He had had his troubles, losing his wife, who left him with two little children. He formally lived in Tennessee, but came to Texas after the death of his wife. One of the children, a boy, has been in industrial school at Nashville for two or three years and came out a fine little fellow, who is now employed at a local establishment, where he is ‘making good.’

"I don’t expect to get a man like he was, but I should certainly like to. He was always on hand, as steady as a rock, he knew his business."

NO APPOINTEE FOR COVINGTON’S PLACE

Various Department Officials on Lookout for Suitable Man

Fire Chief H. F. Magee, City Electrician Graham and Superintendent of Fire Alarm Service Henry Garrett, are all on the lookout for a man whom they can recommend to Commissioner Seay as a successor to "Cap" Covington, whose unfortunate death occurred last week on Hurst street, as a result of coming in contact with a heavily charged electric light lead. So far, all of them say, none of them has a man in mind for the place.

Superintendent Garrett said this morning that there was a great deal of work demanding immediate attention. It is not being overlooked, however, the work on the placing of the additional fire alarm boxes, which Mr. Covington was engaged in when he met his death, being the first thing to be completed. Extra Fireman Allen is a lineman, and is being used in the work, starting in this afternoon on Hurst street.

Six New Boxes

Six new boxes are to be placed on the fire alarm system, the locations for all of which have already been decided. One will be at Pennsylvania and Hurst street; one at Gaston and Collett in Munger Place; one at Hill and Main; one at Cochran and Phelphs, another at Ross and Fitzhugh avenues, and the sixth at Porter and Henry streets or Porter and Walton streets, near the Munger gin plant – the exact location not having yet been decided.

"In addition to this work," said Mr. Garrett, "we must transfer the lead on Ross avenue where the telephone poles are being taken down, and the same kind of job awaits us on Akard street. For that reason we are all anxious to secure a permanent appointee to the place as soon as possible."