Simpson, Roy E. (1943)

SIMPSON, LANGSTRAAT

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 5/3/2010 at 16:05:43

Grinnell Herald-Register (Grinnell, Iowa) Feb. 1, 1943

MEETS DEATH IN FALL FROM MOTORCYCLE

Roy E. Simpson of Kellogg Instantly Killed Friday

Roy E. Simpson, 19, of Kellogg, met his death Friday noon in a motorcycle accident on Highway 6 two miles east of Newton. Ernest Langstraat, 18, of Newton, who was riding on the machine with Simpson, is in a Newton hospital suffering with a fracture of his left arm and shock.

Both young men were employed on the night shift of the Maytag factory in Newton and both were to have been inducted into the army service this week.

They were returning from Kellogg and were following an auto which had slowed for a curve. Simpson swung wide to pass the car and as the riders of the motorcycle leaned to one side, a pedal scraped the pavement and threw the machine out of control, according to Deputy Sheriff Ed Scoville of Jasper county.

BOLT PENETRATES SKULL

Simpson was thrown against a guard rail from which a bolt protruded about four inches. The bolt entered his skull and he died instantly. Landstraat struck the pavement shoulder as he was thrown from the motorcycle.

Jasper County Coroner Ralph Toland stated that Simpson's death was accidental and that no inquest would be necessary.

Simpson was a son of Mose Elbert Simpson, Rock Island railway section foreman at Kellogg. His mother, a brother, Ray, and sister, Dorothy, also survive.

This was the first 1943 Jasper county highway fatality.