HAROLD G. TRAUPEL

TRAUPEL, SNYDER

Posted By: Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert (email)
Date: 7/20/2002 at 17:18:06

Leon Reporter, Leon, Iowa
Thursday, February 8, l923

The following account of the death of H.G. TRAUPEL, son of MR. and MRS. H.D. TRAUPEL, of near Van Wert, is taken from last Saturday's St. Joe, Mo., News-Press:

H.G. TRAUPEL, 24 years old, a conductor employed by the Street Railway Company, was almost instantly killed shortly after 7 o'clock Friday night at St. Joseph Avenue and Logan Street, when he was struck by an automobile driven by an unidentified man, thrown with great force to the pavement and then dragged about fifty feet.

TRAUPEL, whose home was at 3309 St. Joseph Avenue, had just alighted from a street car at that corner when he was struck, witnesses to the tragedy said. He received a fractured skull and died in the Fleeman-McNeill Ambulance that was taking him to St. Joseph's Hospital.

Mrs. Edgar Coleman, 3307 l/2 St. Joseph Avenue, living in the same apartment house with the TRAUPELS, declared she saw the car that struck him, and that it appeared to be a Ford Roadster with the side curtains on. She said the machine was running at a high rate of speed. Police who visited the scene said they learned a woman was in the machine with the driver.

TRAUPEL had barely taken two steps from the street car when he was hit. The automobile was running north and struck him in such manner as to hurl him violently to the ground. His head crashed against the pavement and one leg flew upward, catching against the radiator of the machine. In this manner he was dragged and inhumanely twisted for a fifty-foot stretch before his mangled body finally fell from the automobile.

His unconscious body was picked up and carried into the house he lived in, and was cared for by H.M. Andrews, 3307 St. Joseph Avenue, until the ambulance arrived. He was bleeding profusely, and when ambulance attendants carried him outside, witnesses said he coughed blood and gurgled in such a manner as to indicate many internal blood vessels had been broken. Death followed a few minutes after the ambulance started for the hospital.

Indignant over the killing of one of its members, the Street Car Men's Union, of which F.E. Wilson is President, immediately informed the police that it would offer $l00 in gold for information leading to the arrest of the driver of the machine that struck TRAUPEL. This offer was followed with an offer of the same amount by the Street Railway Company, ashamed and angry that people cannot even get off street cars in safety instead of being knocked down and dragged by reckless automobile drivers. "Something must be done. GEORGE was as fine a man as one could hope to meet. He had the cutest little 2-year-old boy a man could want. And now he's lying up there on a cold table in a morgue," said a member of the Street Car Men's organization.

MR. TRAUPEL had been in the employ of the Street Railway Company about three years. At the time of his death, he was working on a split run on the Wyatt Park Line. Many patrons of the Street Railway Company knew him personally.

He is survived by his wife, MRS. FERN TRAUPEL, and a son, 2 years old. The body will be sent to Van Wert, Iowa, at l0:05 o'clock this morning over the Burlington to the home of his parents, MR. and MRS. H.D. TRAUPEL, for burial.

Police were working on the case early this morning. TRAUPEL's body was viewed by Coroner A.R. Timerman at St. Joseph's Hospital and ordered to the Fleeman-McNeill Funeral Home.

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OBITUARY.

HAROLD G. TRAUPEL, only son of HARRY D. and OLIVE TRAUPEL, was born June ll, l898, near Van Wert, Iowa, and departed this life February 2, l923, at his home in St. Joseph, Missouri, at the age of 24 years, 7 months and 2l days.

HAROLD obtained his education in the Hawkeye District of Van Wert High Schools with one year in the Osceola High School and three months at Ames. At the latter place, he took officers training until his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army in which he had enlisted preparatory to participating in the World War, in response to his country's call.

HAROLD grew to manhood in Van Wert, and was always looked upon and respected as an exemplary, conscientious Christian young man, loved and esteemed by all who knew him, having united with the Christian Church at Van Wert early in life, where he served his Master as a real comrade in Christian service.

March 3l, l9l9, he was united in marriage to MISS FERN SNYDER and about a year later, moved to St. Joseph, Mo., where he entered the employ of the St. Joe Street Railway Company and was thus employed at the time of his tragic death on February 2nd. His death was due to an accident, in detail about as follows: His day's work was done and he was hurrying home to his family and at the street corner in sight of his home, he stepped off the street car as was his usual custom, but did not observe that an automobile was approaching from the rear at a high speed and struck him down, before his foot touched the ground, striking his head on the curbing and crushing his skull, causing instant death.

HAROLD was a member in good standing, of the Order of Eagles, M.B.A. Fraternity and Ku-Klux-Klan and representatives of these organizations from St. Joe were in attendance at his funeral services which were held February 5th, in Van Wert, at the Christian Church where he still held his membership. Services were conducted by his Pastor, Rev. B.F. Galloway in the presence of as large an assembly as Van Wert ever sees at such a time which gave personal evidence of the respect they bore him; and his body was laid to rest in the Van Wert Cemetery with Military honors, conferred by the comrades of the American Legion.

He leaves to mourn their loss; his wife and two-year-old son, father and mother, three grandparents and many other relatives and friends.
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Leon Reporter, Leon, Iowa
Thursday, February l5, l923

'Driver of Truck Which Killed HAROLD TRAUPEL Arrested.'

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Truman Smith, l9 years old, driver of a grocery truck, which struck and killed HAROLD TRAUPEL at St. Joe, Mo., a week ago last Saturday, is under arrest at St. Joe, charged with second degree murder, being released under $7,000 bonds. The boy was placed under arrest on information furnished by his parents, who said the boy told them he struck TRAUPEL, after having spent a sleepless night worrying over the accident. He said he started to pass the street car, and he applied the brakes, but the street car did not stop, only slowed down, and he started again to pass it, and just as he came to the front door of the car, it opened and a man stepped out, the radiator striking him and throwing his body over the hood. He said he did not know why he did not stop after striking him, but just lost his head and drove away, taking the truck to a garage. He stayed all night with a young friend, but could not sleep and then went home and told his parents about the accident.

Three rewards of $l00 each for the arrest of the driver of the car which killed TRAUPEL were offered by the Street Car Men's Union, the Street Car Company and the Ku Klux Klan, of which TRAUPEL was a member. The police who made the arrest say they do not want any of the rewards, but will insist that the money be turned over to MRS. TRAUPEL, as they say the wife and child will need the money worse than the Police Department.

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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
List Administrator; Decatur County, Iowa GenWeb
"With permission from the Leon Journal Reporter"
July l7, 2002