William Martin Mease (1909)

MEASE

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 4/21/2010 at 08:50:57

The Winterset Reporter
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, April 15, 1909
Page 5

East Peru

A very sad accident occurred late Sunday night in which Mart Mease, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus Mease, lost his life. He had been to the Easter service at the M.E. church and on his way home in the darkness of the night his team, in some way, got off the bridge across the small stream near his home. His father, while taking the teacher and his little daughter to school in the morning, was almost paralyzed to find the awful spectacle, the dead horse almost covering the body of his son, who had lain there for hours. No one will ever know how the accident happened or whether he lived any time after the fall. Sympathizing friends are doing all they can to comfort the bereaved family. We are glad to know they realize a Father’s love even in this dark hour and have a hope of seeing their child again for he was a Christian boy. The funeral occurred from the home Wednesday, after which interment was made in the Ebenezer cemetery.
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The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, April 15, 1909
Page 1, Column 3

FATAL ACCIDENT NEAR EAST PERU

Martin Mease Meets Death on the Way Home from Church Sunday Night. Father Finds Lifeless Body Beneath Horse.

One of the saddest accidents in the history Madison County caused the death of Martin Mease, the 19-year-old son of Cyrus Mease living near East Peru, on last Sunday night. Mr. Mease had attended church in East Peru in the evening and then drove to the home of some of his friends north of town about 3 miles. He left there for his home 3 miles southeast of town about 10 o'clock.

Monday morning as the father was taking the teacher and one of his children to school he was horrified to find the dead body of his son lying at the bottom of the ditch about 50 rods from his home. The accident occurred - unreadable line - about 10 feet below. The buggy was standing on the bridge with the dash bent forward and the bolt of the doubletree broken. Both horses were in the ditch below, one of them tangled in the harness, and the other lying dead. Beneath the body of the dead animal lay the lifeless form of Martin Mease.

He was alone at the time of his death and just how he was killed always remains a mystery. The broken dash on the buggy would indicate that the young man had been drawn forward out of the buggy in an attempt to hold the team, but if such were the case it is not easy to determine how his body got under that of the horse. The distance from the bridge to the bottom of the run was not great enough to cause his death by the fall. The face and head of the body were badly bruised, one injury on the forehead being sufficient to produce unconsciousness, if not death. There were other bruises about the shoulders and body, but no indication of drowning. The rain of Sunday night caused a run of water in the ditch but the run may have been dry when the accident occurred.

Cyrus Mease, the father of the deceased is one of the old settlers of Madison County and has lived in the neighborhood all his life.

Martin Mease was an exemplary young man, genial end of excellent habits. He graduated from the East Peru school last June and made a splendid record as a student.

The funeral was held at the residence at 10 o'clock Wednesday, and the interment made at Ebenezer Cemetery.

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