Shultz, Dezell R.

SHULTZ

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 9/4/2012 at 10:45:08

Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; Dec. 24, 1956

COUNTY'S 5TH TRAFFIC FATALITY
Monte Farmer Killed Thursday As Car Misses Turn In Heavy Fog

Fifth person to die this year on Poweshiek county roads was Dezell R. Shultz, 56, Montezuma farmer who was killed early Thursday evening when the car he was driving failed to make a turn on a gravel road about eight miles northwest of Montezuma.

HEAVY FOG

Shultz was enroute from his home northeast of Montezuma to the Carroll Billman farm south of Grinnell when the accident occurred about 5:30 p.m. during a heavy fog. Shultz was alone in his vehicle at the time.

Where the accident took place, the gravel road on which he was traveling connects with a north-south road and the intersection forms a big Y. Since he was well acquainted with the road on which he was driving, investigating officers believe that the fog obscured his vision causing him to be unable to determine his actual position.

SKID MARKS

It is believed that Shultz died instantly from injuries received when his head struck the windshield of the auto. He apparently realized too late that he had missed the turn as skid marks were visible on the road for a distance of almost 45 feet.

A number of people were nearby when the accident took place. An eye-witness was Rilla Watson, 16-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Watson whose home is across the road from the crash scene. Mrs. Watson said her daughter was looking out the window at the time and saw the lights of the car and heard it crash into the road bank.

RUSH TO SCENE

"She knew right away it as an accident," Mrs. Watson said. Watson and Rilla went immediately to the scene of the accident, arriving about the same time as Wesley Tish and Worth Belden from the next farm.

Belden gave this account of the accident: He and Tish were working behind some buildings on the Belden farm when they heard the crash. Belden said it was somewhere around 5:30 p.m. and that the road was foggy.

MOTOR RUNNING

The two men rushed to the site. "There were long skid marks," Belden said, but somehow the car must have gotten out of gear because the motor was still running." Belden said he shut off the motor. His wife called an ambulance from Grinnell and later notified the sheriff.

Shultz was apparently dead instantly, Belden stated. Belden added that no one moved the body until the authorities arrived. When the coroner, Dr. W.M. Page of Montezuma, arrived, he pronounced Shultz dead. The body was removed to Grinnell and later taken to a funeral home at Brooklyn.