Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1912 — ANOTHER FATAL AUTO ACCIDENT [ARTICLE]

ANOTHER FATAL AUTO ACCIDENT

Chicagoan Killed and Companion Got Leg Broken. CAR TURNED SOMERSAULT. Both Men Prominent In Chicago, \\ here One Was Connected With the Federal Life Insurance Co.

Two Chicago men, driving an American Roadster- auto, ran into the ditch beside the; road north of the Norman corner, one mile north of town, about 5 o'clock yesterday morning, and the driver was instantly killed and his companion bruised up somewhat and his left leg broken above-the ankle, '

The man killed was R. W. Baradach, special manager of the financial department of the Federal Life Insurance Co., Chicago, and was about 35 years of age. He w-as a member of the Illinois Athletic Association and a Scottish Rite Mason. lie was a nice, clean looking man, well built and, as the position he held would indicate, a man in easy circumstances and of good business ability. Be was the owner of the car.

His colnpanion was Dr. W. H. Barricklow, a dentist of 3901 Cottage Grove Ave., Chicago. From the latter it was learned they had left Chicago about II p. nt.. Thursday and were on their way to Indianapolis. He was unconscious when found, but revived on the way to town. He could give no reasonable account how the accident occurred. He was .taken back to Chicago at 3:20 p. m„ yesterday. Dr. Barricklow said they w*ere going quite fast when the accident happened, and that a thin bank of fog across the road evidently ob-

scured Baradach's vision, and perhaps in making a slight turn to avoid a bump in the road the car skidded, but there was no evidence of skidding in the track left by the car. They had an appointment with some insurance people at Indianapolis at 9 a. m., yesterday and wanted to reach there by that time, he said. After transacting their business in Indianapolis they were going to Arcola 111., to spend Sunday with Mr. Baradach’s mother, Mrs. Eliza Barahach, Barricklow said. The man killed had his left side and chest crushed in, and death was probably almost instantaneous. There were no other marks on his body. On advice from his people Undertaker Wright took the body to Chicago on the Hoosier Limited last evening. The car was discovered in the

ditch a few moments after the accident by Lewis Tudor, a 19-year-old lad who was going out north on his bicycle, and he hurried back to J. W. Clouse’s,'’ on the former Norman place, and telephoned to Marshal Mustard, who with Dr. Kresler hurried to the scene in the latter’s auto. Both men were easily pulled from under the auto., the machine not having them pinned down, and they were brought to town. The dead man was taken to Wright’s undertaking establishment and Dr. Barricklow to the Makeever House, where his injuries were looked after. He was not seriously hurt except for the broken leg. He is a somewhat, older man than the one killed, and is also a man of good appearance.

The car hangs very low, and as the wheels on the west went in the ditch the front axle scraped the hard bank of the ditch next the road and evidently turned a complete somersaiilt, as when found it lay bottom up and the front of the machine was headed north. The machine was not very badly injured, the glass only being broken and one fender bent and a few other minor injuries. Judging from the track left by the car the brake had been applied just as the front right wheel entered the ditch, but too late to stop the momentum of the car to any extent. ,

The machine passed the Alf Donnelly farm at five o’clock, and was not running extra fast then, but when it passed N. Henson's place, the first house south of Donnelly’s,

they are said to have been running very fast. The accident happened perhaps 300 yards north of the Norman corner, on a nice stretch of road, and the driver was no doubt hitting the high places” when he either lost control of the car or had let loose of the steering -wheel for some purpose and the car took an angling turn from the east side to the west side of the road, where there is a ditch perhaps two feet deep. *

M hile it is probable the men had been drinking some, whether that was the cause of the accident or not will probably never be known. Some small whiskey bottles were found in the machine, some partly' full and two that had not been opened.