REED, Alfred R. 1910-1941

REED, COOLEY

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 1/23/2022 at 08:39:30

3 Morrison Men Die When Car Crashes Into Train

Men Out on Joyride Crash Into Northwestern Freight Engine at Dike Crossing. Two Killed Instantly; the Third Dies in Hospital.

Arthur Collings, Alfred Roy Reed and Edward Dingle from Morrison are dead as the result of an automobile collision with a freight locomotive on the Chicago & Northwestern at a railway crossing at Dike last Friday night. Collings and Reed were killed instantly; Dingle was alive and conscious after the crash and he was taken to the University hospital at Iowa City where he died early Monday morning. The collision took place about 10:45 Friday night. The men were out for a joyride.

Bodies Thrown Through Rear End of Car
The three men were riding in Edward Dingle's car, a coupe. Reed was driving and Dingle was sitting between the other two men. They were going north on a graveled road. They came to the Northwestern railroad crossing at the west edge of Dike at the same time an engine and caboose were passing and going west. The front end of the car struck the engine of the locomotive near the cab steps. The momentum of the locomotive whirled the car around and the rear end of the car struck the caboose. The car was deposited in a heap along the railroad right of way. The bodies of the three men seemed to have been thrown through the rear end of the car. The three were lying close together. Reed's body was on top of Collings and Dingle lay only a few feet away.

Death for Collings and Reed was instantaneous as they never moved after they were thrown in a heap. Dingle was conscious but he was unable to move. The bodies lay only a short distance from the car and about 50 feet from the highway.

Collings head was crushed in and his jaw was broken. County Coroner L. D. Coffman who took care of the bodies said that every bone in the upper part of Collings' body was broken. Reed's injuries were much the same as those of Collings. He had a deeper gash in the side of his head, extending to one eye, than Collings. The coroner believes both men were dead before they hit the ground.

The bodies of Collings and Reed were left where they were thrown until the arrival of County Coroner Coffman. He brought the bodies to the Coffman funeral home in Grundy Center. Dingle was picked up by people from Dike who heard the crash and was taken to a doctor's office where he was given first aid. He was conscious. An examination showed the Dingle's backbone was crushed and doctors who looked him over didn't give him much of a chance. He was taken to the University hospital at Iowa City where specialists were unable to do anything to save him.

Men Had Been Drinking
Dingle told officers that all three of them had been drinking. He said that he got two bottles of liquor at the Grundy liquor store the same evening and that they had been drinking some of it. He said he thought they were driving from 50 to 55 miles an hour. He saw the train coming shortly before they came to the crossing and he told the driver, who he said put his foot on the brake but the car didn't stop. There was a heavy fog Friday night and the visibility was bad and driving anywhere on the highway was dangerous. The engineer and fireman on the locomotive saw the car approaching but they could do nothing to stop it other than to blow the locomotive whistle, which they did. The train stopped as soon as possible and the crew remained until the arrival of the coroner.

Left Morrison About 15 Minutes Before
Mrs. Reed, wife of one of the dead men, said her husband came to their home at 10:30 and told her that he and the other two were going for a short ride to Grundy Center and that they would be back soon. She urged her husband not to go. Instead of going to Grundy Center they drove towards Dike and reached there at the moment that was the last of their lives.

No Inquest Necessary
County Coroner Coffman after he viewed the bodies and saw what happened regarded an inquest unnecessary.

Reed Leaves Wife and Four Children
Reed was 31 years old. He was born February 9, 1910, at Orangville, Ill. He was married to Mariam Cooley at Morrison Dec. 9, 1935. The couple have four living children. The children are Evelyn, John, Marie and Ann. His mother also survives. She lives at Orangville. The mother was twice married. Other survivors are two half-sisters and four half-brothers.

Funeral services for Reed were held at the Presbyterian church at Morrison Monday afternoon. The services were conducted by the local pastor of the church. Burial was in the Washington township cemetery.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 23 October 1941, pg 1, 10