Multiple traffic accidents

ANDERSON, BRUNNICARTY, FLYNN, GENEZER, JOHNSON, MORRIS, O’ROAKE, REYNOLDS, SHRIBER, STONE

Posted By: JCGS Volunteer
Date: 2/15/2014 at 21:24:32

Probe Death Of Woman Killed Near Colfax
One Man Riding With Her Given 30 Days – Drunk
Man Killed By Train Sunday Night Believed to Have Been Suicide
Many Accidents
Car Goes off Road East of Newton; Big Trailer Truck Upsets West of City Saturday Evening
The car that carried Mrs. Ruth Flynn of Des Moines to her death Saturday evening when it went off Highway No. 6 east of Colfax, was traveling “between 60 and 70 miles an hour,” William Hubbard, motorcyclist who narrowly escaped being hit by the swerving machine testified at a coroner’s inquest started at 2:30 p.m. today.
A jury composed of Guy Simpson, Charles Morgan and Emory Moore was hearing the case, directed by County Coroner E. A. McMurray and assisted by County Attorney Luther M. Carr.
Other witnesses called by 3:00 o’clock were Harve Jennings of Newton and his son Don Jennings, who came along at that time and helped pick up the injured people.
Authorities today were investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a woman Sunday morning as the result of injuries received in a highway accident and of a man who apparently lay down in front of an oncoming Rock Island train Sunday night.
The woman was Mrs. Ruth Flynn, 24, of Des Moines. The man was tentatively identified through papers he carried as “J. B. Stone.”
In Auto Crash
Mrs. Flynn died at Skiff Memorial hospital Sunday at 2 a.m. of injuries received when the automobile in which she was riding Saturday night left highway No. 6 and rolled down an embankment east of Colfax.
She was riding in a car driven by Harold Anderson of Des Moines, who escaped injury. Jack Reynolds, owner of the car, suffered hand cuts and shock.
Jailed for Drunkenness
Reynolds pleaded guilty in Justice Max Stouder’s court this morning on a charge of intoxication and was sent to jail for 30 days when he said he could not pay a $100 fine.
An inquest into the fatal accident was planned for this morning but was postponed until this afternoon when Coroner E. A. McMurray was called on a maternity case. Dr. McMurray said the inquest would probably begin at 3 p.m.
According to authorities, the Reynolds car got out of Anderson’s control on a curve two miles east of Colfax.
The body of Mrs. Flynn, whose injuries included a crushed chest and skull fracture, was taken to Morgan funeral home to await funeral arrangements.
Mrs. James Brunnicarty of St. Paul, Minn., mother of Mrs. Flynn, arrived in Newton this morning.
Man Decapitated
A man who authorities were unable to definitely identify was decapitated Sunday night on the railroad tracks west of the old southwest disposal plant, when he was struck by an eastbound passenger train. The scene of the apparent suicide was also near the new underpass at the west city limits.
Enginemen said they saw the man approach the tracks and lie down on the rails seconds before the locomotive ran over him. Police reported that the transient was struck on the head by the left corner of the engine’s “cow-catcher.”
The train was No. 6, bound for Chicago and due in Newton at 9:08 p.m. Railroad officials said the train was on time.
Authorities Busy
County authorities were kept busy over the week-end, checking up on accidents and making some arrests.
Wendell Morris, 21, who lives north of Kellogg, was arrested Sunday noon on highway No. 6 and waived to the grand jury when arraigned this morning on a charge of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.
Justice Stouder set Morris’ bond at $500. The case will probably come before the September grand jury.
Near Lambs Grove
No one was injured, authorities reported, when an automobile driven by Marvin Anderson, Des Moines, and a machine operated by Mary Genezer, also of Des Moines, came together on highway No. 6 Saturday evening. The accident occurred near lambs Grove addition west of Newton.
Robert P. Johnson, Newton, suffered an arm injury Saturday night when the automobile he was driving left highway No. 6 five miles east of Newton and mowed down several feet of fence on the Ed Miller farm.
Johnson was driving a car owned by J. P. O’Roake. He told officers he was transporting two kegs of beer from Grinnell to O’Roake’s tavern here.
Narrow Escape
George Shriber, Chicago truck driver, narrowly escaped serious injury Saturday at 5:45 p.m. when the big tractor-trailer he was driving overturned on the corner south of Moffett’s hill west of Newton on highway 6. The outfit is owned by G. H. McLaughlin of Chicago.
The trailer turned over on one side of the road and the tractor crashed on the other side of the highway. Shriber was thrown out of the tractor. The tractor would have crushed Shriber as it fell – had it not been for the fact that the door swung open and kept the heavy machine propped off the ground on which the driver lay.
Shriber said he was en route to Des Moines to get a load of horses for Detroit, Mich.
Source: Newton Daily News; Monday, May 10, 1937