Schropfer, Winslow (1854-1932)

SCHROPFER, STARK, BIERNATZKI, WOODS, FAGAN, NEWTON

Posted By: Debbie Greenfield (email)
Date: 2/24/2016 at 13:02:08

Webster City Freeman, Monday, September 19, 1932

Winslow Schropfer Killed

ENGINE RAMS INTO HIS CAR AT CROSSING

Roar of Gravel Trucks May Have Drowned Out Whistle

NORTH OF THE CITY

All That Remains of Auto Is Twisted Mass of Wreckage

Winslow Schropfer, 78, was instantly killed when the car which he was driving was struck by a North Western freight train at the crossing a mile north of the city at 9:43 a.m. today. The aged bachelor was returning home and was alone in his car when the accident happened.

Funeral services will be at the Catholic church Thursday morning at 9:30 o'clock. Burial will be made in the Catholic cemetery. The family has requested no flowers be sent.

Mr. Schropfer was driving east toward his home when the tragedy occured. He drove directly onto the tracks as the freight train approached from the north. The engine crashed into the automobile reducing it to a mass of twisted wreckage before shunting it to the east side of the tracks about 60 feet from the crossing. The body of Mr. Schropfer was thrown 20 feet beyond the wrecked car. He was dead before anyone could reach him.

People who were in the vicinity of the accident said they had heard the train whistle for the crossing before the accident. It is believed that Mr. Schropfer failed to hear the warning, due to the fact that a number of gravel trucks had been passing back and forth along the road and the roar of the trucks probably drowned out the whistle.

Coroner E.W. Slater arrived on the scene of the accident shortly after it happened. He planned to hold a hearing later in the day, but was undecided whether to hold a formal inquest into the death. He obtained statements from various persons who knew of the accident.

S.C. Brace, of Eagle Grove, conductor of the train, was among those to be questioned by the coroner as well as other members of the train crew.

The body was taken to the Foster funeral home and later removed to the Schropfer home north of the city. The crossing is only a half mile west from the house.

Mr. Schropfer is survived by three sisters, Catherine, at home; Mrs. Anna Stark, living near this city, and Mrs. Charles Biernatzki, this city; two brothers, Frank and George, both at home, four nieces, Marie Biernatzki, this city; Mrs. Annetta Woods, living near here; Mrs. H. O. Fagan, Detroit, and Mrs. John B. Newton, of Hartford, Conn.; two nephews, Max Stark of Blairsburg and Winslow Stark, near this city.

Mr. Schropfer was born June 7, 1854 in Bohemia. He came to Illinois when 13 years of age and two years later to Hamilton county. The death marks the first in the family of six since two children died in infancy.