Bruner Friend Dies from Loss of Blood Suffered from Wound in Leg

Funeral services for Bruner Friend, 52, of Crellin, who died from

a gun-shot wound while hunting in nearby West Virginia woodlands,

were conducted last Wednesday in the Pine Grove Church of the

Brethren by Rev. Jonas Sines. Interment was in Bray cemetery.

Friend, who had been missing from his home in Crellin since

Saturday at noon when he left to go hunting, was not found until

Monday afternoon by a Garrett County boy who was picking berries

about two miles above Crellin on the West Virginia side. West

Virginia authorities, who investigated, said death resulted from

a wound in the calf of the left leg just below the knee, and

placed the time of death at approximately 4:30 Saturday

afternoon.

R. Doyle Halbriter, assistant prosecuting attorney, of Preston

county, said Friend apparently shot himself in the leg while

walking and was unable to get first aid in time to save his life.

He said Friend was carrying a peculiar type of twelve-gauge

shotgun with a very short barrel, which could have been

discharged by the man while he was walking and the load strike

him in the leg. Also aiding in the investigation was Charles

Edwards, deputy sheriff of Preston county.

Mr. Friend, a coal miner in Turner-Douglas mine, is survived by

his widow and five sons and three daughters.

They are Garland, Clarence, Delbert, Stanley and Donald Edward,

all near Oakland; Mrs. Dorothy Matthews, Hazelton, W. Va.; and

Ruby and Alice Friend, at home.

Mr. Friend was a veteran of the first World War and a member of

the George D. Jackson Post No. 56, American Legion, Preston

County.