Coffee, Robert E. 1876-1917

COFFEE, FRIEZE, MORGART

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 1/6/2012 at 16:49:21

The Grinnell (IA) Herald; June 19, 1917

DROWNS NEAR KELLOGG
-------------------
Robert Coffee Perishes When Auto Rolls Off Embankment Into a Small Ditch.
-------------------
IS BURIED BENEATH THE AUTOMOBILE.
-------------------
Mr. and Mrs. Frieze, the Other Occupants of the Car, are Also Injured but Only Slightly.
-------------------

Robert Coffee of near Kellogg, met a tragic death by drowning in a little ditch about two miles north of Kellogg, Sunday morning.

He and his brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Frieze, were driving to see a relative southeast of Kellogg and Mr. Coffee was in the rear seat. The car came to a place in the road where the embankment was about ten feet high with water in the ditch at the side of the road. Mr. Coffee called Mr. Frieze's attention to the fact that the top was loose from the windshield. Mr. Frieze looked up, just as he was turning out to avoid a mudhole, and the car, instead of turning back into the road, rolled down the embankment.

Mr. Coffee was pinned beneath the machine and the water dammed up over his head, drowning him,. Mr. and Mrs. Frieze were also pinned beneath the car but were not caught in the water. Mrs. Frieze sustained three broken ribs but aside from scrathces and bruises her husband was unhurt. They remained beneath the car until passers by found them and took them home. The body of Mr. Coffee was taken to the undertaking parlors at Kellogg and it was discovered that he was not even scratched, death being due solely to drowning.

Mr. Coffee was about 42 years of age and was the brother of Frank Coffee, brother-in-law of N.J. Morgart of this city.

Transcriber Note: Buried Our Silent City Cemetery in Kellogg, Jasper, Iowa