JAMES BARTON FOSTER, Jr.

FOSTER

Posted By: Mary Durr (email)
Date: 11/24/2002 at 21:29:33

JAMES BARTON FOSTER, Jr.

KILLED NEAR HAWKEYE AS RESULT OF FAST DRIVING

Ill-fated as a stretch of road where many accidents have occurred, the county highway south of Hawkeye near the J. F. Ungerer farm became a thoroughfare of death last night (Tuesday).

Driving his high-powered Lincoln sportster at top speed, James Barton Foster, Jr., wealthy young resident of Chandler, Okla., apparently lost control of the machine on a road made rutty by recent rains. The car turned over, pinning the occupant beneath it and causing almost instant death. The tragedy occurred at 6:25 o'clock.

Good looking, well dressed, carrying valuable jewelry and a large amount of money, the young man, known as Bart, apparently was on his way south from Rochester, Minn.

The Lincoln was seen going through town at break-neck speed. Clair Campbell, son of Mr. and Mrs. L. R. Campbell, Fred Ungerer, Jr., and Robert Swain, Cedar Rapids, were the first to reach the accident. The man then appeared to be dead.

The car was on its side pointing east when it came to rest. The top was badly smashed, but the windshield was unbroken and chassis apparently little damaged.

L. H. Hauth and Edwin Walsh were first called from town to the wreck. The body was taken to Fritz's undertaking parlors.

Coroner J. M. Smittle was called immediately from Waucoma. An inquest was held at 9 o'clock with M. F. Olafson, Waucoma, J. R. Bevins and Kenneth Henderson on the jury. Witnesses were Edwin Walsh, F. J. Campbell, Clair Campbell, Fred Ungerer, Jr., and Robert Swain.

The jury's verdict was accidental death.

Among the dead man's possessions was a clipping, apparently from a Chandler newspaper. It bore a Rochester, Minn., dateline of Feb. 2.

The clipping told of the death at Rochester, of Mrs. Ella Foster, 50, of Chandler, who had taken her son, Bart, to the Rochester hospital. She was not sick herself when going there and her death appeared to have been very sudden. The clipping continued: "Mrs. Foster is the widow of Bart Foster, Sr., and a member of a pioneer family here. She was a member of the supreme board of managers of the Royal Neighbors of America. Her son, Bart Foster, Jr., is a bachelor and the only son. The family was very wealthy."

A coincidence arises from the fact that Dr. Smittle had met Mrs. Foster at Des Moines where she had been in her capacity as an official of the Royal Neighbor lodge.

It was on this stretch of road that M. E. Geiser, New Hampton, and a party narrowly escaped being trapped in a burning car last summer after the machine tipped over. -- Hawkeye Beacon.

Postville Herald newspaper clipping, hand dated June 19, 1928, from my mother's obituary collection.