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ohland
08-30-2014, 04:16 PM
Fellow Booliteers, here is an odd way for a man such as Dr. Hudson to die, considering that he had a published book on toxic gasses encountered in mining.

The truth is out there... But you can't handle the truth!

ARMS AND THE MAN, page 8, VOL LXVIII, No. 7, November 15, 1920, 111 Woodward Building, Washington, D. C. Editor BRIG.-GEN. FRED H. PHILLIPS, JR., Secretary N. R. A.
Accessed with Google on 30 August 2014

WALTER GUY HUDSON

It is with the deepest regret that Arms and the Man announces to the riflemen of the country the passing of Walter Guy Hudson.

"Doc" Hudson as he was affectionately known to and honored by the shooting fraternity, died suddenly at his home in Yonkers, New York, on October 30; as the result of an accident tragic in all its circumstances. The Doctor, who had not recently enjoyed his usual good health, went to his garage to warm up the engine of the big touring car which was almost as familiar a sight around the Sea Girt Range as the famous shot himself; a few seconds later smoke was seen coming from the garage.

Mrs. Hudson, sensing that something was wrong hurried out to find her husband overcome by gas fumes. With rare presence of mind, she shut off the motor and with the aid of her brother, dragged the doctor into the open air. But the carbon monoxide had gotten in its deadly work, and Dr. Hudson died while on the way to the hospital. It was evident that the wind which was blowing strongly at the time, had closed the swinging doors of the garage, and this unnoted by the doctor, permitted the small building to fill rapidly with the poisonous fumes before the victim realized that anything was wrong. At the time of his death, Dr. Hudson was 52 years old.

The name of Walter Guy Hudson has been closely linked with the development of the shooting game for the past twenty years. The Hudson Bullet, and the Hudson Formula, will long stand as monuments of his memory. He was the first rifleman to successfully work out reduced loads for high power rifles, he was the author of one of the first books dealing with practice with high power military rifles, he was instrumental in the development of modern .22 calibre powders and powders for .30 calibre loads, and was a member of many famous rifle teams. Doctor Hudson, in the memories of many, will linger as the embodiment of everything that makes for the perfect rifleman. Possessed of a keen mind and trained to intelligently experiment and to conduct ballistic researches, his conclusions bore great weight in the councils of riflemen. His nerve in a tight place was proverbial, and while he rarely met defeat in his specialty-off-hand shooting -when he did, he was a splendid looser. He was one of the dominant figures in the older generation of riflemen, and the shooting game will feel the loss of him.



Walter Guy Hudson - MD
http://sandiegoschutzenguilde.org/bobtylershistory.htm
Accessed 29 August 2014

Walter G. Hudson, M.D. (1870-1920) was hired as DuPont's first in-house physician in 1904 at a time when America was paying increasing attention to health and safety issues in its expanding industries. Dr. Hudson organized a formal Medical Division at DuPont, including physicians assigned to individual plants, and published pamphlets such as "First Aid Treatment of Wounds" that were useful to all company personnel. In 1915 Hudson became DuPont's first medical director. He worked hard during the busy production years of World War I to insure safe working conditions for DuPont's newly hired munitions workers, many of whom had no prior experience in factory work.

Science and Corporate Strategy: Du Pont R and D, 1902-1980, page 556-557, By David A. Hounshell, Press Syndicate of Cambridge, 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211. ISBN: 0-521-32767-9

“Du Pont encountered its first toxicological problems when it began to manufacture dynamite in the 1880s. Nitric acid fumes destroyed lung tissue and caused numerous fatalities; nitroglycerin absorbed through the skin caused headaches. Concern for the health of its work force led Du Pont to hire physician Walter G. Hudson in 1904. While organizing a medical division, including plant physicians, Hudson spent his spare time investigating poisonous gases that were generated by the use of explosives in mines. In this period, Du Pont began to make new chemicals for use in explosives, and the toxicity of these compounds was not known. Because of Hudson’s efforts, Du Pont avoided some of the health problems that other manufacturers experienced making explosives during World War 1. (7)
...As Du Pont’s medical director, Hudson had responsibility for ensuring healthful working conditions in the company’s plants. Because of Du Pont’s experience with many hazardous chemicals, Hudson also served as chairman of the sub-committee on industrial diseases and poisons of the Council of National Defense. During the war, Hudson sponsored animal studies in New York laboratories to determine the toxicity of a large number of compounds. Apparently exhausted by his wartime efforts, Hudson died in 1920 at the age of fifty. (8)

7. Walter Guy Hudson, Explosives – Industry Poisons (New York: William Wood and Co., 1917), reprinted from the Medical Record, Jan 20, 1917, Pamphlet collection, Hagley Museum and Library. On Hudson, see his obituary in Du Pont Magazine 14 (Jan 1921): 12
8. Hudson obituary.

ohland
08-30-2014, 05:26 PM
THE DU PONT MAGAZINE Vol. XIV JANUARY, 1921 No. I, page 89
Published monthly and copyrighted by E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & COMPANY, Inc. J. R. Schultz, Managing Editor

Accessed through The Hagley Digital Archives, http://digital.hagley.org/cdm/ on 30 Aug 2014

DR. HUDSON'S DEATH
In the sad death of Dr. Walter G. Hudson at his home in Yonkers, New York, the Du Pont Company lost one of its most valued members and one whose brilliant mind and loyal devotion to the Company's interests helped to make history in its trying days.

His first direct connection with the explosives industry came about through his skill in rifle shooting. He was one of the world's foremost marksmen. In 1898 the Laflin-Rand Powder Company engaged him to write a book on Rifle Shooting, and it was considered so good that it has since been used as a text-book at West Point and elsewhere. Soon after, Doctor Hudson was commissioned by the Du Pont Company to investigate health conditions at the Ashburn plant in Missouri. The recommendations contained in his report were carried out, and malaria as a labor factor was eliminated. From this time on he was employed in a consulting capacity until about 1904, when he gave up his medical practice in New York City and devoted his entire time to the service of the Du Pont Company.

Doctor Hudson rendered conspicuous service in connection with fume poisoning in mines and quarries, a subject about which little was known. Many times he exposed himself to the fumes of different explosives in tightly confined mines or shafts, in order to observe the effect upon himself and determine the nature of the poisoning. Sometimes he was made seriously ill by overdoses of fumes, but he succeeded in identifying a component of the fumes not previously suspected. His discoveries led to a revision of the formulas of high explosives, and were of lasting benefit to the Company. Under Doctor Hudson's direction the Company made its first physical examinations of employees, something common enough now, but quite novel in those days. The evolution of the Medical Department and the installation of plant physicians was also started by him at a time when this work was almost in the nature of industrial pioneering. At the outbreak of the world war, when the Company was called upon to expand so enormously and thousands of men were employed to build and operate new plants in places little more than a wilderness, Doctor Hudson devoted practically his entire time to solving the problems of sanitation and medicine connected with these new communities. At Hopewell and later at Old Hickory Doctor Hudson with his trunk of first-aid appliances and medicines arrived with the first engineers, and established headquarters for the medical staff. Throughout the period of the war he directed the medical work with exceptional ability and success. During these strenuous years, Doctor Hudson, never very robust, worked himself to the verge of nervous prostration. Several months' rest failed to bring him back to normal health, and as soon as he could organize his department to run efficiently in his absence, he retired from its active direction, devoting only such time to it as he could in a consulting capacity. His unique personality, clear-thinking mind, and intense application to problems before him resulted in achievements of great and lasting importance to the Du Pont Company, in whose interests he gave so freely of his energies. We shall miss him very much.

MT Gianni
09-01-2014, 10:10 PM
Interesting indeed. CO is odorless and tasteless, yet when generated by a man made device the aldahydes and combustion odors are not. The odor of exhaust should be noticeable in a garage by anyone in reasonably good shape. A Slight build and working while tired, alcohol consumption could allow someone less notice of oncoming disaster. Until the onset of electronic ignition engines engines put out a lot of CO especially when cold. If the wind was pushing toward the garage he could have gone quickly.
In mining one proceeds toward a pocket which may contain gas, he worked in a clean space with gas coming in. I don't think this is really a case of the shoemakers children going barefoot nor suicide.