ASTORIA CLERGYMAN KILLED BY TAXICAB

The New York Times
November 23, 1922

The Rev. Dr. David Wills's Body Lies in Police Station Till Wife Reports Him Missing.

The Rev. Dr. David Wills, 62 years old, for the last eleven years pastor of the Astoria Presbyterian Church, on Fourth Avenue, Astoria, was struck by a taxicab and instantly killed at 5:30 o'clock last night. He was crossing Second Avenue, south of Broadway, Astoria, on his way to his home at 553 Academy Street from the law office of his son, David Wills, Jr., in Manhattan.

Picked up and taken to the Astoria Police Station, the body remained there until shortly after midnight when identification was made. Early this morning a cousin of Dr. Wills, Walter G. Frey, of 205 Grand Avenue, Astoria, went to the Police Station to report Dr. Wills missing, his wife having become alarmed at his failure to return home for dinner.

After listening to a description of the missing minister the desk Lieutenant took Mr. Frey into the rear of the station house, where he almost collapsed when he saw the lifeless body. Arrangements were made for the immediate removal of the body.

The taxicab which struck Dr. Wills was owned by the Fay Taxicab Company of 515 West Thirty-sixth Street, and driven by William Purdy of 348 West 118th Street. The driver was arrested and locked up in the Astoria Police Station on a charge of homicide preferred by Patrolman Emmanuel Hurbant of the Astoria station.

Dr. Wills is survived by his widow, Mrs. Ella Louise McNair Baker Wills, a daughter, Mrs. Virginia McNair Gotherman, of East Orange, N. J., and a son, David Wills, Jr., a lawyer, of Astoria. Dr. Wills was born in Macon, Ga., July 20, 1860. His father, the late Dr. David Wills, was for some time chaplain in the United States Congress.

Graduating from Princeton in 1881, Dr. Wills took the theological course and was graduated in theology three years later. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by Hamilton College, of which he was a trustee, in 1908. For seventeen years prior to going to Astoria he was at Oswego, N. Y. Before that he was for eight years pastor of a Presbyterian Church at Bennington, N. J.