JOHNSON, Harriett Maxine 1911-1933

JOHNSON

Posted By: K.L. Kittleson
Date: 3/28/2013 at 23:35:39

#1:

NO INQUEST INTO DEATH
OF MAXINE JOHNSON PLANNED

Funeral Services for Girl Killed
By Auto Will Be Tuesday Afternoon.

After making an investigation Monday into causes of the auto accident that late Saturday night took the life of Miss Harriet Maxine Johnson, 22, 235 Columbia Street, and injured five others, coroner Sidney D. Smith announced that no Inquest, will be held unless relatives request such action.

Miss Johnson, daughter of Patrolman and Mrs. Harry E. Johnson, same address, was killed when struck by an automobile driven by Bernard Pint, 21, of 324 Seventh Street West, in the 800 block on Conger Street about 11 p.m. Saturday. Others in the accident suffered only minor injuries.

She and a companion, Howard Ward, 22, 228 Ricker Street, were walking in the dirt street because of the slippery condition of the sidewalks following Saturday night's storm.

Funeral Tuesday.

Funeral services for Miss Johnson Will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Grace Methodist Episcopal church by Rev. Harvey C. Travis, pastor. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery. The Waterloo Police Wives' auxiliary will meet at the church at 2:15 p.m.

Investigation by the coroner Monday revealed that Pint, driving east on Conger Street, had struck the two pedestrians walking in the same direction, from the rear. His car then had struck a tree to the left or north side of the street, and had continued, to stop on the parking at Ashland Avenue near Conger Street.

After his injuries about the head and legs had been dressed, Pint reported the accident early Sunday to police.

He had pulled to the left, he told police, in an attempt to miss the pedestrians. He had sounded his horn when he was about 25 feet away, he stated. There was some hesitation on the part of the two pedestrians in deciding to which side of the road they would run, Pint stated.

Police investigation later Sunday verified Pint's statement that he first had hit the pedestrians and then the tree, as a pool of blood was found in front of the residence at 810 Conger Street, and the tree in question is nearly in front of 808 Conger Street.

As Miss Johnson's head was nearly severed, It is believed that death was almost instantaneous, occurring possibly before she was taken into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Carl, 808 Conger Street.

The body that R. D. Hicks, 802 Conger street, said he saw from his bedroom window, flying thru the air to alight on the parking at the intersection of Conger Street and Ashland Avenue, might have been one of the occupants of the Pint car, although Hicks, when questioned by a reporter shortly after the accident, was sure it was Miss Johnson. Hicks lives in the corner house at the intersection of Ashland Avenue and Conger Street. He said he heard a crash and looked out of the window in time to see the body thrown thru the air about five feet above ground.

Previous Theory Changed.

Inference shortly after the accident was that Pint's car had struck the tree and then Miss Johnson. The point where Hicks thought he saw Miss Johnson's body alight was too far removed from the tree to assume the car had struck her before striking the tree.

Neither Pint nor Wahl would discuss the accident following the crash. Both were much upset over the accident.

The young couple was bound for Miss Johnson's home from Carl's place, 1105 Conger Street, sandwich shop, operated by Wahl's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carl C. Wahl.

Source: Waterloo Courier, Sunday, November 26, 1933
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#2:

COUPLE WALKING IN
CENTER OF ROADWAY

Auto Swerves Into Trees,
Caromes Into Street,
Hits Walkers.

As an indirect result of the sleet and snow storm that struck Waterloo Saturday night, one woman was killed and five persons injured in an automobile accident in the 800 block on Conger Street.

The dead: Miss Harriet Maxine Johnson, 22, 235 Columbia Street; skull fracture, jugular vein severed.

The injured: Bernard Pint, 21, 324 Seventh Street West, driver of the death car; gash over right eye, right knee badly cut, other facial injuries, Howard Wahl, 22, 228 Ricker Street; cuts and bruises about head. Theodore Costello, 27, 308 Third Street East; minor cuts about face. Miss Helen Thompson, 23, 424 Second Street East; severe cut on right ankle. Miss Florence Patton, 23, 204 Riehl Street; both knees and legs bruised and lacerated.

The accident occurred about 10:55 p.m. as Miss Johnson and Wahl, walking in the center of the road in the 800 block, Conger Street, were struck from the rear by the car driven by Pint. Both pedestrians and automobile were going east on Conger Street.

As told by Pint, Miss Johnson was struck shortly after he sounded his horn warning the pedestrians of the approach of the car. Miss Johnson apparently wished to go to one side of the street and her companion, Wahl, attempted to go to the other, he said.

Wheel marks in the dirt street show that Pint was traveling on the left or north side of the street, and that his car had struck two trees on this side of the road. A considerable sized, piece of wood was torn from the last tree with which his car collided.

Apparently the automobile caromed off the tree into the pedestrians. Miss Johnson was thrown about 30 feet across a concrete intersection walk that crosses the dirt street. Marks in the snow indicated where her body lay in the parking at the southwest corner of the intersection of Ashland Avenue and Conger Street. The body lay at about the curb line. It was believed that death occurred within a few minutes after the accident.

The wooden framework of the top of Pint's light sedan was badly damaged from contact with the trees. He turned his car sharply to the right and stopped on the parking at Ashland Avenue.

Both Pint and his companion, Miss Patton, were thrown from the. front doors of the sedan, they stated. Costello and Miss Thompson, riding in the rear seat, were not thrown from the automobile.

Those involved in the accident took Miss Johnson to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Carl, 808 Conger Street, and an ambulance was summoned. Miss Johnson was taken to St. Francis hospital, but death had occurred before the injured woman arrived. It was believed she died in Carl's residence.

Pint and Miss Patton were taken to a physician's office where their hurts were treated. The others were able to go to their homes.

Eyewitness Tells Story.

R. D. Hicks, 802 Conger Street, was an eyewitness, from his bedroom, of part of the accident. "I heard a crash and I looked out of the window in time to see the woman's body (Miss Johnson) flying through the air," he stated. "The car must have struck her just about in front of my home."
How Wahl escaped without more serious injury is a mystery to those investigating causes of the accident. Wahl was grief stricken and appeared in a partial daze after the accident. "I don't know how it happened," he repeated over and over.

Feared Slippery Sidewalks.

When calmer, he stated that he and Miss Johnson had chosen to walk on the dirt road rather than on the slippery sidewalks because they feared falling. "I heard a noise and all at once we were hit," Wahl said. Wahl and Miss Johnson were returning from Carl's place, beverage parlor, 1105 Conger Street. Pint and his companions were returning from a walkathon contest in the Dairy Cattle Congress hippodrome," which they had just attended.

Pint declined to discuss the accident beyond insisting that Wahl and Miss Johnson were in the center of the road. He said he was driving at a "legal rate of speed."

Miss Johnson is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry E. Johnson 523 Columbia Street. Her father is a driver of the police scout car during the day shift.

Harriett Maxine Johnson was born August 9, 1911, in DeWitt, Iowa. She had lived nearly all her lifetime in Waterloo, and was a graduate of East High school. She was a member of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, and was affiliated with the Ben Hur Life association.

Surviving besides her parents are a sister, Mrs. Cecil Taber, 405 Center Street, and her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. T. F. Johnson, 1003 Fourth Street East.

Source: Waterloo Sunday Courier, Nov. 26, 1933, page 1

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