Jimmy Hudgens was a first baseman who played in 26 major
league game, spread over three seasons, with the 1923 Cardinals and the 1925
and 1926 Reds. Again it looks like it’s up to me to write his biography.
James Price Hudgens was born in Newburg, Missouri, on August
24, 1902. In the 1910 census his family was living at 1132 Talmadge Avenue in
St. Louis—his father Frederick, an iron laborer, his mother Martha, three older
siblings, and seven-year-old James. I can’t find them in the 1920 census, and
in fact I can’t find any other mention of Jimmy until the September 20, 1923,
issue of The Sporting News, in which
he is said to be one of two newcomers getting a chance to play first base for
the St. Louis Cardinals in the absence of Jim Bottomley. All I can fill in
about his baseball career before that is that he played on the sandlots of St.
Louis, then began as a professional with the Fairbury Jeffersons of the Class D
Nebraska State League in 1922. He began 1923 with Fairbury and hit .321 with 13
homers in 95 games, then moved up to the Fort Smith Twins in the Class C
Western Association, where he hit .354 in 21 games before his six-game stint
with the Cardinals.
All the 1924 info I have about him comes from his page at
baseballreference.com, which shows him again playing for three teams: 36 games
for the Marshall Indians of the Class D East Texas League (.362 with ten
doubles and six homers), 90 games back with Fort Smith (.302 with 19 doubles
and five homers), and ten games with the Houston Buffaloes of the Class A Texas
League (where he managed just two singles in 29 at-bats).
In 1925 Jimmy played the full season back with Fort Smith,
and led the league in batting average (.389), runs (168), hits (230), total
bases (388), and doubles (63), and hit 25 home runs, stole 21 bases, and walked
71 times while striking out 23. After the season he was sold to the Cincinnati
Reds for $9000, “one of the largest deals ever swung for an individual player
in the history of the league,” stated the Kansas
City Star, speaking of the Western Association. He batted eight times in
three games for the Reds at the end of their season, with a single, a double, a
triple, and a walk.
During the off-season there was speculation in the
newspapers that Jimmy was the Reds’ first baseman of the future, though
possibly not in 1926. The Columbia Record
said “Hudgens is a left handed clouter, not overly graceful around first nor
overly fast afield—but sweet mama! How he peels that old onion!”
In January the
Reds obtained veteran first baseman Wally Pipp and the two competed for the
job. There were compliments on Jimmy’s fielding in the press, but Pipp won the
job, and the Reds went looking for a minor league team to option him to,
insisting on a stipulation that he could be recalled with ten days notice.
Reds’ president Garry Herrmann was quoted by the Cincinnati Post as saying “If we can’t place him under those
conditions we will keep him ourselves. He’s the only high-class young first
baseman we’ve had in a long time and we are not going to let him get away.” The
details of the deal vary, but on April 13 Jimmy was sent to the Seattle Indians
of the Class AA Pacific Coast League.
On May 5, the Portland Oregonian
reported that Seattle manager Wade Killefer was not happy with his options at
first base, saying “Jimmy Hudgens, the boy shipped out from Cincinnati by Garry
Herrmann, seems to be a good hitter, but is rather thick above the ears.” On
the other hand, from the Seattle Times
of May 10, 1926:
It’s a long way from St. Louis and Kerry Patch for a
22-year-old youngster who is naturally bashful but Jimmy Hudgens, the big boy
who is playing first base for Seattle part of the time these days, is gradually
accustoming himself to a new situation and is apt to break loose any day now
and show Seattle fans what a really good ball player he is. Jimmy can hit.
Every move he makes when he isn’t conscious of it shows it. But he’s realized
that he was breaking in before the home fans all week and his work has suffered
because of it. Also Jimmy can field. He’s deathly sure of everything that comes
his way. He wears a glove with an extraordinarily broad thumb and when a ball
gets into that glove it is there to stay. If you don’t think so, just look at
the photograph (2) above. What chance has that ball of getting out
unintentionally? The photographs also show Jimmy in a hitting pose (1) and
close up (3).
On May 13 it was reported that Jimmy had won the job (over a
month into the season), and that the veteran player he beat out was being made
a scout. But on May 23, after hitting .362 in 28 games, he was badly spiked in
the first game of a doubleheader. He played in the second game, but then was
removed from the lineup. On June 3 it was reported that he may be out another
two weeks, but then on June 11 it was announced that he would report back to
Cincinnati within a week—the Seattle
Times reported later in the season that it had been because the Indians
couldn’t afford to keep him while he was on the mend. He appeared in 13 games
for the Reds between June 20 and July 27, mostly as a pinch-hitter, then was
loaned to the Minneapolis Millers of the Class AA American Association. It took
him a little while to get going with the Millers, but he hit for the cycle on
August 28 and ended up hitting .328 in 32 games, though with just three home
runs. On September 15 he was recalled by the Reds, and he got into four more
games. At this point though, the Reds apparently decided he was not in fact
their first baseman of the future, and in December they sold him outright to
Seattle, which as it turns out ended his major league career.
From the Seattle Times
of January 21, 1927:
James Hudgens, a big boy with a bashfulness complex, today
became a full fledged member of the Seattle Indians for 1927, when his signed
contract, the first to be received, came in with the morning mail.
Hudgens declared in a letter accompanying his contract that
he’d "show Seattle fans he could really play ball" and that he’d "rather be
with Wade Killefer in Seattle than with the major leaguers."
Hudgens was bought from the Cincinnati Reds this winter
after having spent a short time here on option last season. After playing
twenty-eight games, during which he hit .362, he was injured in Oakland, a bad
spike wound in the heel that refused to heal properly and was out of the game
for nearly three months. [Actually nearly one month.]
…Jimmy, a big Missourian, from the Wabash Avenue District in
St. Louis, deadly rivals of the Kerry Patchers, for the honor of being the "baseball-est loving" community in a baseball loving state, is a first sacker
and a good hitter who will have the honor of being the first out and out first base guardian Seattle has
had in years…
Hudgens may not be as brilliant on thrown balls [compared to
one-time Indian Babe Herman], but he is steady, can handle ground balls well
and should be a .340 hitter and a driving hitter as well.
There seems to have been some difference of opinion on the
location of his wound, as the Tacoma Daily News reported the following week
that “He was obtained on option from Cincinnati last spring, but was returned
when he was spiked and developed a rheumatic hand. He was bought outright by
Lockard this winter and appears okeh now.”
The Indians had no one at spring training competing with
Jimmy for the first base job, and he began the season hitting sixth in the
order, though fifth would be his most common spot. As of April 25th
he had hit eight home runs in 22 games, but batting average was everything in
those days and at .250 he was regarded as hitting poorly. On May 20 the Seattle Times ran an article with the
headline “HUDGENS’ MENTAL HAZARD”:
Jimmy Hudgens, the big first-sacker, who should be one of
the best hitters in the Coast League, needs only to be left alone to regain his
stride.
Hudgens is extremely popular with his mates. He’s a big,
good-natured youngster who hears everything that goes on.
He has been "kidded" unmercifully, all in fun, of course,
about his failure to hit his proper stride, with the result that he hasn’t once
been really relaxed when he went to the plate.
It all started in Bakersfield, when for three days he was
ridden about a proposed footrace. Finding that he chaffed under the teasing,
the players kept at it, and it is still going on.
Hudgens always has hit, and he will hit once he gets into
the proper stride. It wouldn’t hurt a bit if his mates forgot the kidding for a
while and helped him get going.
Jimmy finished the season with a .299 average and was
considered a disappointment despite his 25 home runs. The Oregonian reported on
October 18 that “Members of the Seattle baseball club were treated to some real
home-cooking the past season by Fuzzy Hufft, who picked up considerable
culinary knowledge while in the navy. Hufft was assisted in his kitchenette
apartment by his teammate and roomie, Jim Hudgens.”
During the 1927-28 off-season and 1928 spring training there
was a lot of speculation about Jimmy—would he be traded, would he beat out John
Sherlock, would he and Sherlock platoon, would Sherlock play second with Jimmy
remaining at first. In late March the Seattle Times reported that while Jimmy
had the first base job for now, his job was not secure due to the presence in
camp of a young first baseman named Bill Olney. Jimmy opened the season playing
regularly and hitting sixth in the lineup. In mid-April another first baseman,
Bob Knode, was purchased from the Southern League: “He should give Jim Hudgens
a battle for the first base job and may beat out the slow-moving veteran.”
(An aside—Jimmy has gone from “youngster” to “slow-moving
veteran” in a hurry. Early in his career he was listed as six feet tall, 178
pounds, and the websites have him as 6-0, 180. But later on he’ll be referred
to as 6-1, 205, and from around the current point in our story he is usually called
“Big Jim” or “Jim” rather than “Jimmy,” so I’m going to start using “Jim” now.)
On April 26 the game story in the Seattle Times bore the
headline “HUDGENS KICKS AWAY GAME FOR INDIANS, 9 TO 6.”
Do not be a bit surprised today if you see a revamped inner
defense offered to San Francisco Missions by the Seattle Indians. The present
one isn’t functioning right, and skipper Jimmy Middleton becomes more dissatisfied
daily as costly hits go leaking through.
Jim Hudgens, the giant good-natured fellow who is holding
down first base now, is apt to take a spell of bench riding while a speedier
fellow who will have more hustle around the bag gets a chance. Hudgens was the
hole yesterday that the Missions drove through to victory, 9 to 6…
Hudgens was unquestionably the weak spot yesterday. Three
times after the fourth inning Evar Swanson, Missions speed merchant, pushed or
bunted balls at him. Twice Swanson’s efforts were turned into base hits because
Jim was too slow in fielding them, and the third time Hudgens kicked it. And
every time Swanson scored, making up the three-run margin between the two clubs
at the end of nine innings.
On April 28 it was announced that Jim had been sold to the
Memphis Chicks of the Class A Southern Association. For Seattle he had hit .337
with three homers in 24 games. For Memphis he played 110 games, batting just
.279 with ten home runs. The September 10, 1928, Oregonian reported:
Jim Hudgens is another who is having an awful time. Jim
played good ball last year for Red Killefer at Seattle, and Bill Klepper was
sure he had a real first baseman when he bought the Suds. But Hudgens couldn’t
do anything right. Klepper sold him to Prothro, who had seen Hudgens play in
’27. Well, Hudgens is having a terrible year. He can’t hit Southern league
pitching and at present is on the bench. His batting mark is .272.
During spring training 1929 it was reported that Jim was
still on the Memphis roster “but it is not likely that Hudgens will be at first
when the season starts.” In late March he was sent to the Knoxville Smokies of
the Class B Sally League, where he was received enthusiastically. The Knoxville News-Sentinel reported in
mid-April that “Big Jim Hudgens, the larruping first sacker, is cleanup man.
Jim has been knocking first basemen sky-winding in exhibition games. He is a
neat fielder and should add much punch to the club.” On April 19 he hit the
first Knoxville home run of the season, and on April 25, in a game account, the
Macon Telegraph referred to him as
“Hudgens, the big blonde first baseman with the smooth, easy batting swing” and
“Mr. Hudgens of the vicious swing and a propensity for throwing his mitt at
balls.” I’m not sure how his swing could be smooth and easy and also vicious, or
whether the part about throwing his mitt at balls was meant literally.
The stats printed on May 5 showed Jim hitting .310 with just
the one homer, but on May 14 he hit his sixth, and on May 25 he hit
his tenth, leading the league, and had his average up to .352; on the 22nd
he had sat out a doubleheader due to “a cold in his shoulder.” On May 28 the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported “Jim
Hudgens, the Smokies’ classy first baseman, performed in a most august manner
yesterday. He rightfully deserves to be called the Smokies’ hero. Jim dug
throws out of the dirt and chased all over the park snagging foul flies. He
clapped the climax by his terrific hitting.” On June 12 the same newspaper proposed
that “Jim Hudgens, still a very young man, is almost a certain bet to go to
faster company, if he keeps on hitting home runs and fielding as he has in the
past,” and the following day the Macon
Telegraph described him as “big and powerful enough to go bear-hunting with
a cap pistol.”
On June 18 Jim left the team to go home to St. Louis, where
his father was seriously ill. He rejoined the team on the 24th,
believing Frederick was on the road to recovery, but left the team again on the 28th
after getting a message that he was dying. Frederick died on the 29th
at age 52; his death certificate showed his occupation as stable man for a
dairy company, his address was 4310A Gibson Avenue, the cause of death was
given as chronic interstitial nephritis, and contributory causes were uremic coma
and operation for Ludwig’s angina.
Jim got back to the team on July 8, by which point he had
been passed for the league’s home run lead by Frank Welch of Greenville. Jim
hit his 15th on July 11, putting him two behind Welch, then on the
24th he was traded to league rivals the Macon Peaches, straight up
for their first baseman, Clarence “Stuffy” McCrone. This came as a surprise to
fans of both teams, while the newspapers of each city defended the trade;
McCrone was supposed to be the best fielding first baseman in the league, and
the Knoxville News-Sentinel said that
“Hudgens’ poor work with the stick for the past month brought the deal to a
conclusion, altho it has been hanging fire for several weeks.” A story that
appeared in the Macon Telegraph during
the following off-season claimed that McCrone was traded because he “was
charged with creating dissension on the club.” The day after the trade Jim hit
a homer in his first game with Macon, while sportswriters named him the Sally
League All-Star first baseman. Macon columnist Jimmy Jones wrote on September
7:
As for Jim Hudgens, he would be a great ballplayer in an
average sized park. He would hit 50 home runs a season in Greenville’s park
with that swing of his. He is hitting .300 in Macon. Hudgens’ main weakness is
that he can’t field ground balls or pick up low throws with McCrone’s dexterity
and he isn’t as fast on the bases, but Jim isn’t a bad ball player. He has hit
some balls a mile at Macon’s new park that were caught off him. He is essentially
a long distance hitter and in Macon he has to shorten his swing to get singles
and doubles. This has hurt his batting eye. In a town with a medium-sized park,
Jim Hudgens would be a hero.
That was the last day of the season, which Jim finished
hitting .306 with 21 homers with the two teams combined, and the next day Jones
wrote:
Say what you may of Jim Hudgens, the big first baseman of
the Peaches has hustled day in and day out at his position for the Peaches.
When the team was down and out and wasn’t getting anywhere, Big Jim was out
there working hard and whooping it up. Before the fifth inning comes up, there
isn’t a dry thread in Hudgens’ uniform for he keeps on the go all the time and
perspires freely. Jim may not be with the Peaches next year but he has
certainly been a hard worker with Macon and nobody has any grounds to kick on
his playing since he came here for Stuffy McCrone. He has hit well over .300
and handled his position pretty well. Hudgens has a powerful cut at the ball
and in a smaller park than Macon’s they couldn’t get him out. He is a fairly
young man and has a good future.
Jones’ mention of Greenville proved prophetic, as during
spring training 1930 Jim was traded there, again for the other team’s first
baseman. On March 25 Jones wrote:
We had a talk with Jim Hudgens Sunday night and the big
boy, who reports to Greenville soon in the trade for Norman Sitts, is right
optimistic about the change of scenery. Jim, who likes to swing at the ball
from the end of the bat handle, is a good long distance hitter. In a small park
like Greenville’s, he will hit at least 45 home runs during the season, we
believe. But in Macon, even the mightiest drives are caught by the outfielders…Jim
Hudgens is a good ball player. But it is an injustice to a slugger like Jim to
have to play in a park the size of Macon’s. Hudgens is a hard worker and a nice
fellow. He will make Greenville a very popular player, unless we miss our
guess, and we wish Jim all the luck in the world over there. Macon is getting a
good man in Norman Sitts but Hudgens probably will do Greenville more good than
Sitts would in the same capacity.
On April 15 the Columbia
Record reported that “Jim is a little overweight just at present but will
reduce when hot weather hits the camp.” The season started about a week later,
with Jim hitting fifth in the order, and he quickly took the league lead in
home runs, with eleven in the first five weeks. Besides homers, the other
recurring story for Jim in the 1930 season seems to have been attention from
fans on the road. On June 15 in the game story the Macon Telegraph reported that Jim “has come in for quite a bit of
good natured razzing from the fans in this series about his batting average.”
On July 13 in the Charlotte Observer:
“With two gone in the ninth big Jim Hudgens, whom the bleacherites love to razz
for some reason, thumbed his nose at his scoffers after walloping the ball over
the right field palings.” On July 30, back to the Macon Telegraph:
The Macon fans, a little more rabid at present than they
have been in a good while, continued their good natured kidding of Jim Hudgens
and ‘Moose’ Hunter at all times during the game, but the former Maconites
didn’t seem to mind.
And
Jim Hudgens would like to meet the gentleman who whistles
that merry tune at him when he walks back from first every day. Jim boils over
when the whistling starts, especially if he has just hit a high fly to right.
And the next day:
Jim Hudgens, Greenville’s big first baseman, is glad this
series is over. Jim can still hear Bozo Rowlenson’s whistle as he walks back to
first. Jim is gunning for Bozo, no foolin’.
And again from the Telegraph,
from August 16:
Jim Hudgens, who has been the target for considerable
kidding by the fans, got the last laugh. After going to bat three times without
a hit, Jim finally connected for a single in the eighth to score Howell.
By August 23 Jim had 31 home runs, nine more than the
runner-up. He finished the season with 39, added another in the championship
series in which the Spinners defeated Macon in six games, and another in a
series against the Southeastern League champion Selma Leafs, which Selma won in
five games. His regular-season batting average was .305, and he had 36 doubles
and eight triples.
The 1930 census shows Jim, occupation ballplayer, living at
4427 Norfolk Avenue in St. Louis with his wife Della and their three children.
In late January 1931 it was reported that the Jersey City
Skeeters of the Class AA International League had asked permission of
Greenville for Jim to try to make their team in spring training, and that
permission would be granted, but I found no more about this. At the end of
February it was announced that the Sally League had disbanded by vote of the
club owners after two of the teams folded. The remaining teams hoped to
reorganize as a Class C league specializing in developing young talent, so, it
was reported, Jim and two other Greenville veterans were sold off—Jim to the
Charlotte Hornets of the Class C Piedmont League. But the deal fell through, and
the Charlotte Observer reported on
March 6:
The Charlotte club owners have turned Jim Hudgens, the
Sally’s home run king last year, and ‘Red’ Brandes, back to Greenville. Hudgens
was a hard but not very consistent hitter. A .305 batting average isn’t anything
to write home about.
Hudgens was also the type of player managers do not like to
have on their club. He not only injured himself, but was a bad influence to the
younger and more susceptible athletes.
This seems like sour grapes, and it also seems to have been
forgotten four days later when the deal was back on. The same newspaper
reported “Two new deals were announced yesterday by the Charlotte club which it
is believed will give the Hornets a much more potent sting,” and the following
day the Greensboro Daily News said
“Charlotte announced trouble for all others yesterday, announcing the
signatures of Jim Hudgens…Brandes and Hudgens are known quantities. They are
real ball players.” Back to the Charlotte
Observer, March 15:
Big Jim Hudgens, the Sally league’s home run king last
season, has wired Charlotte club owners accepting terms, assuring fans here of
a goodly measure of their biggest thrill, the long wallop across the palings…
Big Jim is a colorful player, a frequent home run clouter
and a fair first sacker. The Bee moguls said they received more congratulations
over the acquisition of Hudgens and Brandes by the fans than any other player
this year.
On March 26 the Observer
reported that “Big Jim Hudgens was taking laps around the park to get some
weight off and some wind in,” and the next day printed a photo of Jim and said
“He has been hitting them all over the lot in training this year.” March 28’s
report on the first intrasquad practice game returned to a common theme: “The
fans gave Jim Hudgens a good-natured razzing each time he came to bat.” And the
April 18 paper contains this odd story:
A group of Hornets were standing around in front of the
Piedmont hotel headquarters getting an eyeful of passing feminine pulchritude.
Even Frank Packard’s plus-fours did not detract attention from a huge cotton
bandage on his throat.
"Holy Cow," roared Big Jim Hudgens, "What a break for the
heart crusher. What’s the matter with the pan, kid?"
"It’s a dermatopathis infection known to medical science as
a dermoid cyst which is a sac or gland containing fluid or semi-fluid morbid
matter abnormally developed either by inverted hirsute growth or—"
"Aw let it lay, let it lay," growled Big Jim, "I ain’t that
keen to know what’s wrong with you.”
The Hornets’ season began on April 29, with Jim hitting
cleanup. But on May 17 it was announced that the team had signed first baseman
Cy Anderson, with the Observer
observing “Anderson will likely replace Big Jim Hudgens if the latter fails to
snap out of the slump he has been in since the start of the season.” Anderson
played first on the 18th, but Jim was given another chance and
returned to the lineup. On May 24 the Observer
reported that “Big Jim Hudgens, who has been hitting in hard luck of late after
a season-slump, whaled the ball over the rightfield fence to score Packard
ahead of him with what proved to be the winning runs. Big Jim got a hand from
the fans, who seem to be with him solidly, despite his failure to get going.”
By the end of the month Anderson was gone, seemingly having served his purpose,
and Jim was hitting well. At his low point on May 25 he was 9 for 72, a .125
average, then from May 26 through July 8 he hit 67 for 183, .366, and moved
into the league lead in homers with 13. Charlotte manager Guy Lacy was quoted
on July 11 as saying “Did you know that Jim would be valuable to a ball club
even if he stayed in the slump he was in the early part of the season. He is a
wonderful tonic for the morale of a ball club, the kind of ball player that
inspires his mates.”
Jim finished the season with a .290 average, 40 doubles, 6
triples, and 20 homers, one short of the league leader (his teammate, the
aforementioned Frank Packard). The Hornets finished in first place and played a
championship series against the second-place Raleigh Capitals. They won in six
games, as Jim had 17 hits in 28 at-bats, including six doubles and three
homers. They then played a series against the Charleston Senators, the
champions of the Middle Atlantic League, and lost three games to two. Jim did
not play, and I found no explanation. At the end of the year, Jim was on the
list of nominees for the “Flaming Five” award, given to “Carolina’s outstanding
persons in sports during 1931.” He didn’t make the Five, but two of his
teammates did: Frank Packard and player/manager Guy Lacy. Jim got seven votes,
tying him for 45th place.
The Hornets retained Jim’s rights for the 1932 season,
though at the end of January they signed another first baseman, Lee Dunham. But
on February 28 the Observer reported:
That Big Jim Hudgens, popular home run slugger, will again
guard the initial sack for the Bees is assured with the outright release of Lee
Dunham, first sacker with Decatur last year.
Dunham is probably a better fielder than Hudgens, but he
lacks Big Jim’s punch at the bat and his drawing power at the gate. There was
no more popular Hornet last season than Big Jim, who never "cried" or took it
out on his mates or the scorers when a dreadful batting slump dropped his
average down to .123.
A few weeks later it was reported that two more first
baseman had been signed. On April 15 Jim reported to training camp, late, and
on the 25th it was said that he was expected to keep his job as the
regular. On April 28 the season began, but “Manager Lacy played the initial
sack in the place of Jim Hudgens, who was unable to walk because of an infected
foot.” On May 2 the Observer reported
that “Big Jim was taken to the Mercy hospital for treatment Saturday [the 30th].
His foot, infected last week, is badly swollen and Jim will be out a good
month.” Two days later it was reported that the Hornets’ two co-owners were
abruptly turning the team over to the league, putting pro baseball in Charlotte
in jeopardy, but the next day they changed their minds—apparently the two had
had a dispute, then settled it. From the May 10 Observer:
The woes of the owners were increased yesterday when Big
Jim Hudgens was sent back to the hospital for a long term of treatment. Jim was
released Saturday [7th], but this morning his leg was swollen to
nearly twice normal size and a quantity of water was drained from the knee.
It will be at least a month before Hudgens will be able to
don a uniform. Indeed, doubt exists in some quarters that he will be able to
play any more ball this season, if at all.
This was especially bad news for Jim because of a Piedmont
League rule that after twenty days of the season each team could only have four
players who had previously played at a higher level of pro ball. On May 14 one
of the Hornets’ owners died, putting team finances into disorder. It was
mentioned that Jim had been suspended, but no reason was given; perhaps it was
just that he was unable to play. At any rate, on the 18th, twenty
days after the start of the season, it was announced that he had been released.
The next mention of Jim I can find is from May 12, 1933,
when he was released by the Huntington Boosters of the Class C Middle Atlantic
League. I don’t know whether he played in any games for them. He was not yet
thirty-one years old. The Macon Telegraph of May 7, 1936, used Jim for a
comparison, saying that Columbia second baseman Ben Penski “walks with an
overbearing swagger and a goose step something like old Jim Hudgens, the
Greenville first baseman.”
In the 1940 census Jim and his family are residing at 4402A
Gibson Avenue in St. Louis. Jim’s occupation is given as butcher, but he has
been out of work for 14 weeks. Della is a chef in a hospital, and worked 54
hours the week of March 24-30. Daughter Dorothy, age 18, worked 52 hours as a
hospital elevator operator. Son James Jr., age 17, is listed as a block boy in
a wholesale shoe company who has been unemployed for 50 weeks. Daughter
Darlene, age 14, does not have an occupation.
Jim’s World War II draft registration card, dated February
15, 1942, gives the impression that he and Della are divorced, which is not
surprising given the picture we get from the 1940 census. Age 39, he lives alone,
daughter Dorothy is listed as his next of kin, and his employer is Swift and
Co. This is the last glimpse we have of Jim before his death certificate.
Jim died on August 25, 1955, after 23 days in the St. Louis City Hospital, of Laennec’s cirrhosis
of the liver. His address was 4113A Manchester Avenue. His marital status was
divorced, and his occupation was given as laborer, for the Magic Chef company.
The informant, the person who provided personal information about the deceased
to the funeral home, was given as Lela Morrison, also of 4113A Manchester
Avenue. It was the day after his 53rd birthday.
