Sprow, Charles (1877-1941)

SPROW, SWANSON, REDLING

Posted By: Debbie Greenfield (email)
Date: 4/7/2015 at 15:44:46

Daily Freeman Journal, Saturday, November 15, 1941

Kamrar Man Killed in Car Accident

CHARLES SPROW FATALLY HURT; CHEST CRUSHED

Automobile Overturns in Drainage Ditch Near Jewell

Charles Sprow, 65, farmer living near Kamrar, was fatally injured Friday night when the automobile in which he was riding left the road and overturned in a drainage ditch a mile north and three miles west of Jewell.

He was taken to Jewell for treatment and then rushed to the hospital here where he died at 12:15 a.m. Saturday. He suffered a crushed chest, according to Dr. E. W. Slater, Jewell.

Sprow's son, Gilbert, was driving the car when the accident occurred about 10:30 p.m. near the Aaron Golden farm, according to Sheriff E. R. Lear.

The youth was quoted as saying the lights on the car went out as he approached the bridge spanning the drainage ditch. He tried to stop the auto, but the machine hurtled off the road into the water where it overturned.

The boy and his mother were thrown clear of the car, but Sprow was pinned beneath the auto, it was said. Young Sprow prevented his father from drowning by holding the injured man's head out of the water until help arrived.

A neighbor, Albert Rahto, was summoned and rushed Sprow to Dr. Slater's office at Jewell.

The youth suffered only a minor cut on the head. Mrs. Sprow was not injured.

The family was returning home after spending the evening at the home of a daughter, Mrs. Henry Redling, living near Jewell.

Sprow's death was the sixth traffic fatality in Hamilton county thus far this year.

Mr. Sprow was widely known in Hamilton county for he had lived on his home farm, two and a half miles south and a half mile east of Kamrar for the past 37 years. Previous to that he lived in the Homer community. He was born at Eldora.

His wife, the former Sadie Swanson, of Kamrar, and six children survive him. They are Guy, Sofus, Thelma, Clarence and Gilbert, at home and Mrs. Redling (Myrtle).

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Jewell Lutheran church, with the Rev. Carl Opsahl officiating.