The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-03
Riddle, Jones, Meehl and Mentzell We're Returning to Ensley After
 Fishing Trip
STEERING GEAR WENT WRONG AND MACHINE
 FELL TO LAKE SHORE
Mentzell Killed Almost Instantly. Others Not Fatally Hurt-Are We'll Known Department Heads of
 the Tennessee Company
 Employed at Ensley

A defective steering gear cost one life and serious injury to three other men about -i30 o'clock last night at Lake Purdy. when the automobile of O. NJ. Riddle plunged down 75-foot embankment.
 The dead,
 William V. Mentzcll. aged IS years, master mechanic of the furnaces of the Tennessee Coal. Iron and Railroad conn pany at EnsIey.
 The ipiured:
 Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad com pany.
 Jack Jones. superintendent of the rail mill of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company.
 A. E. (Connie) MeehI. n liquor dealer of EnsIey.
 Were on Fishing Trip
 All four men had left the hall of the Bnsley lodge of Elks yesterday
 morning In MT. Biddle's automobile to go on a fishing trip to Lake Purdy, about 13 miles southeast of Birming
 ham. The party was on the return trip when the accident happened. There
 were no actual eyewitnesses, although Frank H. Gafford. Jr., and pr. A. F. Toole of Birmingham, were near
 enough to hear the crash and the
 shrieks of the men as the automobile
 plunged down the embankment. Dr. Toole attended the injured imme ediately, but could do nothing for Mir. Mentzell,
 who was killed almost instantly The
 base of MT. Mentzell's skull was crushed within few minutes.
 According to Frank H. Gafford, Jr.,
 the automobile of MT. Riddle could not have been going very fast when the accident occurred. The car was on its way to Birmingham. and was about 50 feet to the right of the dam at Lake Purdy. The embankment there is about 75 feet high and a barbed-wire fence separates the road from the edge of the precipice. In some unexplainable
 manner the steering gear of Riddles
 machine failed to work and the car plunged through the wire fence, through about 25 feet of bushes and wild undergrowth and then hurtled over the embankment to the edge of the lake below.
 As the automobile started on its downward plunge, MT. Mentzell, Meehl
 and MT. Jones jumped and the auto
 mobile turning over three times landed on its wheels with Riddle still tightly grasping the steering mechanism.
 Mentzell, Neal and Jones struck the ground near the automobile. It was
 at once seen that Mentzell was fatally hurt, and he was bleeding badly from his ears, eyes and nose Riddle also was stunned, so that he was not cogni-
 zant of what was going on around him and Meeh1 and Jones were also | badly stunned.
 Dr. Toole Hurries to Scene Dr. A. F. Toole and Frank H. Gaf- ford, Jr., who were In boat about 50 feet away from the accident, heard the crash and the cries of the falling men and at once hurried to snoI-. There pr. Toole did what he could for the injured men and then hurried to a telephone to summon ambulances. MT. Mentzell died just as pr. Toole arrived on the scene.
 Of the injured it was stated at a late hour last night that A. F. Meehl, who resides at 1919 Avenue F. Ensley, was the most seriously injured. MT.
 Meehls back Is strained and he suffered | serious bruises about the head and
 shoulders. MT. Riddle, who stuck to his automobile, had both his hips hurt and also suffered some minor bruises. He Is not considered dangerously in jured. Mr Jones is bruised about the head and shoulders but not dangerously. All of the injured men arrived In Ems ley last night about II o'clock in War
 her & Smiley's ambulance and were re-
 moved to their homes for medical at tention. The body of MT. Mentzell was taken to the undertaking parlors Of Echols & Angwin.
 William V. Mentzell was 39 years old, and had resided in the Birmingham dis trict for the past four years. He came to Ensley from the Bethlehem Steel
 works. He Is survived by his wife and a 10-year-old daughter. Margaret Mrs. Mentzell was prostrated with grief when told the tragic news at her home, 33OS Avenue D, Fairfield last night. by K. Laudgrehe, superintendent of the blast furnaces of the Tennessee Coal Iron and Railroad company, and a friend of the family. MT. I.audgrehe was also a Bethlehem steel man before
 he came to Birmingham,
 Funeral arrangements will not be an- nounced until later.
 The news of the accident became known in Ensley about s:30 o'clock last night, and from then up until very late hour The Age-Herald was asked for news of the injuries of Meehl, Bid de, Jones and Mentzell, who are well known and popular in the industrial suburb of Birmingham. It was not un- til very late hour that anything defi- nite could be given out as there were no teIephonic communications where the accident occurred and the roughness o1 the roads made the trips of the ambu- lances necessarily slow.
 As the accident occurred in Shelby county, Coroner Charles L. Spain did not go to the scene to investigate.