Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 185, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1916 — CAR DITCHED—NO ONE SERIOUSLY HURT [ARTICLE]

CAR DITCHED—NO ONE SERIOUSLY HURT

Driver Goes to Sleep After Taking Morphine Tablets Given Him By Mistake.

Monticello Journal. The mistake of a physician or druggist at Rensselaer yesterday afternoon might have cost the lives of Gus Hildendorf, garage man of Delphi, his mother and a young lady, Miss Koehler, the latter residents of Chicago. Driving toward Monticello, and when about a half mile west of the Range Line on the Reynolds road, Mr. Hildendorf went sound asleep and the car, left to its own devices, ‘‘ ran off a culvert and down a four foot embankment. The front axle was broken and the right front wheel smashed. Mr. Hildendorf was not thrown from his seat but the two ladies were hurled out of the car and alighted against a fence. The force of the shock when the car hit the embankment bursted open the door of the tonneau and it was through this aperture that the ladies were hurled. Neither suffered any worse hurt than being badly shaken up and having their nerves unsettled.

Mr. Hildendorf had driven to Chicago in a new Grant car to bring his mother and Miss Koehler to Delphi. He was not feeling well on the return trip and frequently complained about a blurred vision. At Rensselaer he stopped to get some medicine and thought he was getting calomel tabItes. He took one of the tablets at Rensselaer and his mother gave him another tablet-after they had passed through Reynolds. Shortly afterward he lapsed into unconsciousness with the reshit stated. Dr. Coffin was summoned to the scene of the accident and divined the cause of Mr. Hildendorf’s condition. He gave him a hypodermic injection to counteract the drug, and from the response soon satisfied himself that the man was under the influence of morphine. He remained in a semi-conscious condition until 9 o’clock last night. Ths morning Mr. Hildendorf was greatly improved.