Clarence Butlett 1901-1931

BUTLETT, STREFF, FLECKENSTEIN, HILKEN

Posted By: Judi Nicks (email)
Date: 8/5/2007 at 18:34:51

Telegraph Herald
Dubuque, Iowa
November 5, 1931

MAN KILLED IN AUTO ACCIDENT NEAR MASSEY

Clarence Butlett Loses Life and Two Are Hurt When Car Turns Over

Clarence Butlett, 30, was instantly killed, and his younger brother Alfred and LeRoy Markus, 19, were ??? injured about 3 o’clock on Wednesday afternoon when an automobile in which they were riding left the roadway and turned over in a ditch at the side of the Massey station road.

The accident occurred less than 200 yards from the home of the parents of the Butlett brothers, and the crash was heard by their father and mother. The father, George Butlett, was one of those who helped lift the automobile which had pinned the men to the ground.

When the accident occurred the three men were enroute to Rockdale. They had just left the Butlett home and were riding in a light truck with a roadster body seat. The three men were seated in the one seat. Markus, who lives near the Massey station, was driving the car. Clarence Butlett was seated on the other side of the seat, and his brother sat between him and Markus.

Something Went Wrong

The car had just crossed the first bridge west of the Butlett home on the Massey road when, the two survivors of the accident told County Coroner Al Didesch, something apparently went wrong with the steering apparatus. The car, traveling about 25 miles an hour, swerved from the road, ran into the ditch, and overturned.

The cries of Alfred Butlett and Markus, as they lay with Butlett’s brother pinned beneath the car was heard by the elder Butlett and other farmers in the neighborhood. They rushed to where the car lay overturned in the ditch, and lifting it, found the elder Butlett boy dead. The others were but slightly injured.

Was Native of County

Clarence Butlett was born Oct. 8, 1901, at Rickardsville, and for the past 20 years had lived in Mosalem township, his parents having moved there from near Rickardsville when he was 10 years old. He was married Nov. 9, 1926 , to Agnes Streff, who, with a seven-months-old daughter, Mary Elizabeth, survives. Other survivors are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Butlett; one sister, Mrs. Allie Hilken, Mosalem township; two brothers, Melchoir and Alfred, both of Mosalem township, and his grandmother, Mrs. Theresa Butlett, Dubuque.

The body had been taken from the Hoffmann mortuary to the home of the accident victim’s parents in Mosalem township. The funeral will be held from his parents’ home at 8:30 o’clock Saturday morning to St. Catherine’s church, where a mass of requiem will be read at 9 o’clock. Burial will be made in St. Catherine’s cemetery.