Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1912 — ONE JOY RIDER INSTANTLY KILLED [ARTICLE]

ONE JOY RIDER INSTANTLY KILLED

And Five Others Bruised Up When Machine Turns Over SUNDAY NEAR RENSSELAER Accident Put Dampner on Spirits of Party of Medaryville and Lafayette Speeders.—■ One Attempts Suicide. ' i.■ 5 By the overturning of an auto- ' mobile Sunday afternoon, near the Alter farm 1 % miles east of town, 1 Miss Enolia Retherford, daughter of William Retherford, a West La- ! fayette truck farmer, was almost ' instantly killed and others of the party of six’ people, three men and three girls, more or less bruised. Ihe auto was a new Lambert, owned by Charles Franks, a Medaryville widower, aged 42 years, and the other men in the machine with him were O. L. Ballard and Scott Lanan, also of Medaryville. The j young women were Ruth Davis, ' May Steele Jolly and Enolia Rether- ! ford, all of Lafayette. The Jolly woman has been married but is now divorced, her maiden name beI ing Steele. Both the other women | were single. I The facts concerning the accident ■as we are able to gather from the inquest held Sunday evening by i Coroner Wright, are about as follows: j Franks, who is a Medaryville , hardware merchant, met the Jolly I woman at Monon the Sunday previi ous, when one of t!he young men hired him to take him there to meet her. and they had an auto i ride to Medaryville. It seems to have been arranged then that she would come to Monon last Sunday i.again with two other young women and Franks and the young man

i were to meet them with a partner i for tihe third girl. This was carried out and they all got in the auto and started for Rensselaer where they expected to , eat dinner and then go up on the ! Kankakee for a little outing. A supply of wet goods, it appeared I from the broken bottles about the i scene of the accident, was provided ito do the party until out of the | dry regions. i Franks and the Jolly woman ocjcupied the front seat and Ballard, ■ Scott and the other two young wo- { men the rear seat of the five' passenger car.

Shortly after pulling out of Monon the Jolly woman wanted to drive the car saying that her brother owned an auto and she had driven it a great deal. Franks let her take the wheel and she seemed to understand handling a machine all right, and was still driving when tihe accident occurred. Stories of the speed they were going differ. The parties themselves say it was not more than 15 or 20 miles an hour while others who saw them say it was at least 30 miles an hour. When near the Dr. Alter farm they passed a machine that was stalled by the road side, and after passing tit the young woman seemed to lose control of the car, and 1 it took an angling route to the ditch, where one of the rear wheels broke down and the car run up on the opposite bank and toppled over, pinning all the parties tinder it. Franks was the first to release himself and he got one of the young men out. Young Joe Nissius, who occupies the Alter farm and some men who were there to dinner ran to the scene and all' were soon iescued, but the Retherford girl, whom the young men say was sitting in the middle on someone’s lap. was pinned down by the irons of the top where it fastens to the tbnheau and by the edge of the latter, and her forehead crushed in, and she only gasped a few times after being rescued. “Scotty” Lanan was pinned down with the tonneau across his chest, and was pretty well in when rescued. Franks was held fast by one leg and one arm being pinioned under the machine, but he is a strong man and by a superhuman effort leased himself. The others with minor bruises.

Undertaker Wright went out with his ambulance and brought the dead girl in. Her folks were notified at Lafayette and the girl’s father came up on the Hoosier Limited, returning to Lafayette on the night train. The body, accompanied by Ballard and Scott and the other two women, was taken to Lafayette Monday on the 11:20 a. m., train for burial there yesterday. Franks’ business partner, Mt. Lowe, came over from Medaryville in an auto Sunday night and he returned home.

Ballard is a railroad fireman and Lanan is a Medaryville barber. The former attempted to shoot himself right after the accident, and a revolver was twice taken away from him. Hie took on greatly and tore handsful of hair from his head. Mrs. Jolly formerly resided in Jasper county and after the death of her father and re-marriage of her mother, she was raised by Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Saidla of Barkley tp. She later worked as a domestic in Rensselaer, finally going to Lafayette where she was married. She is said to be employed now as an office girl. Rose DaVis (also called Rose Cooper) is or was a domestic in Lafayette. The Retherford girl was also a domestic, but for the last eight or ten months, her father testified, had not done much of anything, staying at home most of the time. The young men paid all the undertaker’s and burial expenses of the dead girl. Coroner’s Wright’s verdict was death by accident.