Auto Slips From Jack, Kills Man

Auto Slips From Jack, Kills Man Victim Crushed While Installing Spring on Car A 78-year-old auto repairman was killed Tuesday when a car fell from a jack on his head and chest in the shop he had operated for 30 years. Clarence G. Watson, of 2903 High st., was pronounced dead on arrival at Cooper Hospital. The body was found at 5.30 p. m. by a son, Thomas W., 33, who went to the shop at 2922 Saunders st. when he came home from work and missed his father. Detective Martin Nelson said the elder Watson had raised the automobile, his own, on a bumper jack, and removed a wheel. He was lying on his back apparently trying to install a new spring when the machine fell. Police said a small hydraulic jack used on the spring had apparently jarred the car off the bumper jack. The son, employed at a Camden auto body repair shop, said he expected to find his father preparing dinner as usual when he arrived home. The two lived alone since the death of Mrs. Watson three years ago, the father continuing to work in his shop and keeping house. Kitchen implements indicated Watson had prepared his lunch at home, the son said. The accident would thus have occurred sometime in the afternoon. Coroner Robert J. Blake said the death was apparently accidental, and ordered an autopsy today. Surviving also are another son, Horace C., of Moorestown, and two daughters, Mrs. Mary Hart and Mrs. Reba Rogers, both of Pennsauken.