EHLERS, Dettlef

EHLERS

Posted By: Nettie Mae (email)
Date: 5/23/2021 at 17:43:30

From the Clinton Semi Weekly Herald, Jan. 4, 1868, Page 1
(This is very hard to read and has many ink splotches)

FATAL CASUALITY -- Christmas morning about two o'clock, as Mr. Curnan was coming into town, he discovered in the gully just this side of Mill Creek, a wagon overturned, and a team attached -- the lines being so entangled as to prevent the horses getting away. A light was procured, and with the assistance of others the wagon righted up, when under the box was discovered the dead body of the driver. The corpse was placed in the wagon and those coming to the city came on, and made inquiries. A description of the team proved that the unfortunate man was Dettlef Ehlers, a farmer living some twelve miles out. His friends immediately conducted the body home, meeting Mrs. Ehlers who had heard of the accident. Mr. Ehlers was a man of about thirty-five years of age; ?? hard drinker but ?? lasting him a couple of days. Monday night he had been on a spree and obtained no sleep. Tuesday afternoon he left Mr. G?? at that time sober. He did ?? town, however, until late in the evening, then it is said he was quite drunk, and of course must have been very sleepy. In the darkness, the team either mistaking the track, or falsely guided, overturned the wagon into the ditch, at a spot where the greatest care was required, and Ehlers was killed. Another strong argument in favor of the use of ??; and it is strange, considering the number of men leaving town in a condition unfit to handle their teams, that such accidents occur as seldom as they do. -- Lyons Mirror.