Alva Arthur Hayes (deceased).—The position, held by Mr. Hayes as freight auditor for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company came to him as the result of his years of faithful service with that great company, years in which he discharged every duty and obligation with fidelity to the trust imposed in him and with the aim to excel and to make that department a model of excellence. Mr. Hayes was born on a farm near Sardinia, Brown county, Ohio, Jan. 11, 1870, the son of Dr. Hamer Roswell Hayes and his wife, whose maiden name was Jennie Rebecca Harvey, the former, a physician by profession, born in Ohio, and the latter a native of Hillsboro, Ohio. The mother is still living and resides in Topeka, to which city the family had removed in May, 1875; the father passed away there on Aug. 13, 1887.

Mr. Hayes was reared in Topeka and lived there for thirty-five years. His education in the public schools of that city and the high school, in which he was graduated, was supplemented by a course in a Topeka business college. In 1889 he entered the employ of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company in the construction department. From 1890 to 1892 he was a clerk in the ticket auditor's office of the Santa Fe; from October, 1892, to February, 1893, he was the joint agent at Salina for four railroads, one of them being the Santa Fe; from February, 1893, to the date of his death, he was in the freight auditor's department in the general office building in Topeka. His first position in that department was as statistical clerk; was then a clerk in the claims department; in January, 1902, he was made assistant chief claim clerk; in May, 1907, he was promoted to the position of freight auditor. He was a member of the Association of American Railway Accounting Officers and for two years prior to his death was a member of the standing freight committee of that association. He was also a member of the Freight Claim Association. He was a Republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His fraternal relations were with the Masonic order, in which he had attained the Knight Templar degree; the Modern Woodmen of America and the Royal Arcanum. He was also a member of the Elks Club of Topeka. On Nov. 15, 1911, Mr. Hayes and a number of friends went to Belpre, Kan., to spend the following day hunting quail. On the morning of the 16th he and several others were out looking for quail on a farm near Belpre, when a covey arose almost in the midst of the hunting party, and in the excitement of the moment the gun of one of the men was accidently discharged, the entire charge striking Mr. Hayes in the calf of the right leg. He was taken to Belpre, seventeen miles in an automobile in twenty minutes, and there he received emergency treatment. The accident happened about 9:30 a. m. and at 6:25 p. m. he arrived in Topeka. He was at once taken to the Santa Fe Hospital, where everything possible was done to save his life. On the morning of the 19th the surgeons amputated his leg, as a last desperate effort to save his life, but in spite of all that could be done, he died on the evening of the 20th, and was buried in the Topeka cemetery on the 23d.