Towanda Masonic Butler County Kansas

BUTLER COUNTY, KANSAS

BOYS’ BODIES FOUND

Two young Wichita boys were found dead today in a small office building on the ranch of the prominent E.H. Adair estate west of Augusta.

The youths, who had gone to the ranch Friday afternoon for an outing, were believed to have been asphyxiated, according to Butler County sheriff’s officers.

One of the bodies was identified as that of the late Mr. Adair’s son.

Dead are Edgar Harvey Adair, 13, and a friend, James Frederick Ritchie, 14-year-old son of a well-known Wichita construction man.

Their bodies were found at about 9:30 a.m. today in a frame office building by Jerry Bardot, ranch manager, who lives on the ranch.

Bardot told officers he was unable to awaken the boys who apparently had entered the building to sleep.

A gas stove was burning. A radio was still playing.

There was no ventilation in the building.

One ranch employee said a window usually was left slightly open, but it was found closed. He said the boys may have become cold and shut the window.

Mr. and Mrs. Bardot said the Adair youth and his friends often had come to the ranch to camp. Young Adair and Ritchie reportedly went to the ranch between 2 and 3 p.m. Friday.

Bardot and his wife, who were numbed by the tragedy, live in a two-story frame house a short distance east of the building where the bodies were discovered.

The ranch, owned by a wealthy Wichita oil man, E.H. Adair, until his death approximately a year ago, is located two miles west, one mile north and half a mile west of Augusta. The sprawling property lies west of Lily Lake School.

Bardot’s excitement in reporting his grim discovery to sheriff’s officers may have been the reason for an earlier rumor that two boys who had been sleeping in Lily Lake School had been found dead in the school.

The school apparently entered into the tragedy only as a landmark near which the Adair estate and ranch are located.

One report indicated that the boys were last seen around the ranch at about 6 p.m. Friday. Some of their belongings were found on the ranch today.

Sheriff Hobart Auer, Jr., said a thorough investigation, routine in such matters, is being made.

Bodies of the two boys were taken to Gill Mortuary, Wichita.

Survivors of the Adair boy include his mother, Mrs. E.H. Adair, Wichita. He was born June 13, 1952.

The Ritchie boy’s parents are Mr. and Mrs. H. Dean Ritchie. He was born August 14, 1951.

(El Dorado Times ~ Saturday, 26 March 1966 ~ Transcribed by Lori DeWinkler)

CAMP TRIP ENDS IN DEATH FOR TWO WICHITA BOYS

Spring’s first camping trip for two inseparable teenage companions, sons of prominent Wichita families, ended in death Saturday.

The boys, Edgar Harvey Adair, Jr., 13, son of Mrs. E. H. Adair, 235 N. Roosevelt and Jim Ritchie, 14, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dean Ritchie, 8600 Kilarney Place, were found slumped together on a farm one mile west of Augusta.

Young Adair’s father, a longtime Wichita oil operator, investor and ranch operator, died in 1964. The Ritchie youth’s father is an executive in Ritchie Bros. Construction Co.

An autopsy Saturday afternoon showed the boys to be victims of carbon monoxide poisoning leaking from an unvented heating stove.

For years they had been like brothers and often went to the farm owned by Mrs. Adair to hunt, fish and camp.

Both of the close friends were students at Wichita Collegiate School and shared a curiosity about nature and other sciences.

To the two youngsters the multi-acre farm was a haven. They would leap onto a farm jeep with shotguns and fishing tackle and would not be seen again until sunset when the returned with the day’s bag.

Friday’s trip was special. The boys were on a survival hike. They hoped to prove they could provide their board for the weekend from their outdoor prowess and knowledge of nature.

Adair called his mother Friday night to tell her of their first day’s success. Excitedly he related shooting several squirrels, rabbits and a dove, then cooking and eating the game.

When they were found Saturday morning remnants of their meal were still on the table. Bits of rabbit and dove were on plates they never were able to wash.

The only hint that they were city boys who loved the country was the electric hot plate which they had used to prepare dinner.

Jerry Bardot, who operates the farm and found the bodies, said they told him Friday night they would sleep in a hay barn.

Apparently they ate their dinner in the scale house and carried their sleeping bags to the barn. Bardot said he saw the jeep stop in front of the house about midnight.

Sheriff’s officers believe they became cold and headed for the scale house to light the stove and get warm.

Apparently the boys lighted the stove, pulled off their boots and sat in the chairs talking. As the deadly carbon monoxide filled the room, the boys grew drowsy and moved to a couch on the other side of the room, it is assumed.

Slouching onto the couch, the pair fell asleep and died, apparently without realizing what was happening.

Bardot said when he saw them Saturday morning he thought they were asleep. He shook them several times. They did not respond and he called Augusta police.

The stove was still burning when officers arrived. They said Bardot related it had caused trouble before and generally a window was left open to vent it.

Double services for the youths will be at 4 p.m. Monday at St. James Episcopal Church.

Communion services for both youths will be at 10 a.m. Monday morning in St. James Episcopal Church.

Ritchie is survived by his parents, two brothers, Hale D., Jr. and Edward Charles, both of the home; three sisters, Mrs. Janet M. Amend, Wichita, and Devon and Mary, both at home, and his grandmother, Mrs. Violet Crowley, Brighton, England.

A Wichita native, the Ritchie youth was in ninth grade. He was born in Wichita. He was a member of St. James Church.

The body will be cremated.

The Adair youth is survived by his mother, a half brother John David Austin of the home, and grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Young, Kingman, Kan., and D. W. Adair, Wichita.

He was in eighth grade, and was a member of Plymouth Congregational Church. He was born in Wichita.

Entombment will be in Old Mission Mausoleum.

Memorials have been established at Wichita Collegiate School, 9115 E. 13th.

Cochran Mortuary has charge.

(The Wichita Beacon ~ Sunday, 27 March 1966 ~ Transcribed by Peggy Luce)

DOUBLE SERVICES FOR TWO YOUTHS

Double services for Edgar H. Adair, Jr., 13, and James Ritchie, 14, who were asphyxiated Saturday, were to be held this afternoon at St. James Episcopal Church. Communion services for the youths were held this morning in St. James Church.

Adair was the son of Mrs. E.H. Adair, and Ritchie was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Dean Ritchie, all of Wichita.

(El Dorado Times ~ Monday, 28 March 1966 ~ Transcribed by Lori DeWinkler)