Inc. 1967
Monday afternoon,December 21,1925,at 3:30 o'clock a hurried telephone call was telephoned to the Charleroi police station givng the startling announcement that Police Chief Samuel M. Childress at North Charleroi was in a dying condition,and invoking the sending of the ambulance immediately to convey him with all possible haste to the Charleroi-Monessen hospital,but when Ed Wilson,quickly as he responded to the call,arrived at the Charleroi-Monessen bridge,Mr. Childress had answered the summons in the Bras confectionary,whither he had been taken. A large crowd witnessed the man's collapse,and a number his subsequent dissolution. Mr. Childress was on duty at the time he was seized with his last and fatal illness,and was engaged in conversation with Davis Woodward,a Brother of Burgess-Elect S.L.Woodward,of Charleroi. He had been off duty,but had returned to his work recently,and it was thought he was recovering from his disposition. His trouble was heart affection,ever treacherous in its tendencies. He complained of feeling ill while talking with Mr. Woodward,and died in a very short time after being taken into the confectionery. He was 50 years old on November 29,and was one of the most popular and efficient minions of the law in the Monongahela Valley. He was a man of apparently robust physique,and his sudden passing is deplored. His services were so effective as an officer that,although he resigned his position in August last,the council of the borough refused to accept it,and persuaded him to remain as he was,the efficient guardian of public and private interests of the borough. Samuel M. Childress,born in Russell County,Va.,was a resident of 105 Prostect avenue,and had lived in Charleroi for a number of years. He was a member of the Washington Avenue Presbyterian Church,and a devoted adherent to the cause of the church and the tenets of religion. He was also a member of Valley Echo Commandery No. 379,Knights of Malta of Charleroi,to whose principles he was a worthy and esteemed exponent. Prior to accepting the position of chief of police in North Charleroi,which position was left vacant by the tragic death of William A.O. Cratty,he "was an engineer" in the Warner Coal mine. Mr. Childress is survived by his widow, Mrs. Anna Rose Childress,two sons, and two daughters; Mrs. B.J. Briscoe,Holliday's Cove, West Virginia,Mrs. Alexander Head of Charleroi;Fred Childress of Isabella,near Brownsville,and Clinton Childress,at home. Funeral services will be held at the late home on Thursday at 2 p.m.,Rev. Frank S. Montgomery officiating,with burial in the Belle Vernon Cemetery.
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