Hotchkiss, Harry (? - 1943)

HOTCHKISS, YOKOM, NELSON, HERBERT

Posted By: Debbie Greenfield (email)
Date: 10/1/2014 at 12:09:22

Daily Freeman Journal, Monday, September 20, 1943

Harry Hotchkiss Killed in Auto Accident

First County Traffic Death For This Year

Jewell Cafe Owner Killed As Car Dove Off Dead-End Road

Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon at the Fleenor Funeral home in Jewell for Harry Hotchkiss, 66, instantly killed Saturday evening when his car in which he was traveling alone plunged off a dead-end road one mile north and three and one-half miles west of Jewell.

Hotchkiss' death was the first traffic fatality in Hamilton county for 1943, Sheriff E. R. Lear reported Monday.

Hotchkiss, owner of Chuck's Cafe in Jewell, was driving home from Webster City when the accident occurred about 10 p.m. He had just let Orlin Hanson out at a friend's home about three miles from the scene of the accident and it is thought he became confused and took the wrong road, according to Sheriff Lear.

Wheel tracks showed that he had applied his brakes about 76 feet from the end of the road but his car plunged into the ditch, hitting the opposite bank.

The accident was discovered not long afterward by Russell Bernsmeier and son, who live in that neighborhood. They notified authorities at Jewell and Sheriff Lear and Deputy George Drake were called from Webster City, but medical examination showed that Hotchkiss had apparently died instantly from a crushed chest suffered when he hit the steering wheel. He also suffered severe face and head bruises. The car was not badly damaged, and the motor was still running at the time the accident was discovered.

In the absence of Coroner M. B. Galloway, Claude V. Campbell, Jewell justice of the peace, was called and pronounced the death accidental.

Hotchkiss was widely known in Webster City having lived here some years ago. He was one of the original group of men to form the manufacturing company which evolved into the Monarch company. At one time he operated the U.S. cafe and later a dairy store in this city.

He was married in 1907 to Miss Blanche Yokom of Marshalltown, who died the next year. He was later married to Dr. Mary M. Nelson of Randall and the family moved to Webster City where Dr. Hotchkiss was widely known in medical circles. She died Dec. 3, 1935.

Hotchkiss lived for 25 years in Marshalltown but spent most of his life in Webster City except for one year in Colorado, one in Minneapolis and the past four years in Jewell.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m, Tuesday with the Rev. E. W. Nye in charge. The body will be taken to Marshalltown for burial, and the Elks lodge of that city will be in charge of services there.

Hotchkiss is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Joe Herbert, a grandson, two sisters and one brother, Bird L. Hotchkiss of Saginaw, Mich.