Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1921-03-30
KILLED IN
AUTO ACCIDENT
w. X. Perty, of Oelwein Fatally In
jured in Auto Accident in De-
cOrah Last Saturday Night
EDWARD SHEMA is
SERIOUSLY INJURED
Accident Happened on the Winnie
bagO Street Bridge a Block
South of the Court House

Last Saturday night a fatal auto
mobile accident occurred in Decorah,
which resulted in the death of one
man and serious injury to another.
The accident occurred on the Winnie
bago street bridge, just south of the
Norwegian church. The automobile
party was composed of Edward
Shema, A. Leytze, Raymond HER
leid, r. Neugebaur and w. r. Perty,
and they were riding in Mr.. Shemas
four passenger sport model Nash car
and Mr.. Shema was at the wheel.
Messrs. Neugebauer and Perty have
been in Decorah considerable por-
tion of the winter, the former selling
oil stocks and the latter interested
in the development of oil on the West
Side. The gentlemen had business
conference with the ,Decorah men
Saturday night, relative to the leas-
ing of the lands on the West Side
with the idea of drilling for oil, and
was interesting them in stock in the
enterprise. After the meeting was
over it was suggested to take an auto
ride, and Mr.. Shema took his car
and the five started out for drive
around the town. They drove south
on Washington street and turned
west to the public school, and then
turned north on Winnebago street.
The street was muddy and slippery
and Mr.. Shema was driving at
pretty good gait, and when nearing
the Winnebago street bridge saw the
lights of another car coming towards
them. He had turned to the edge of
the road before coming to the bridge
which by the way, is some narrower
than the street, and misjudged the
distance to the bridge, and before he
was able to turn the car onto the
platform it mounted up the span of
the bridge and went nearly to the
center when it caromed off on to the
floor of the bridge, and turned COM
pletely over. All of the men with
the exception of Mr.. Leytze were
pinned underneath the car. He secured
assistance Immediately from some
men who happened along, and the
car was lifted up enough to get
the four men out. DR.. Fritchen was
summoned and gave aid to the in
jured. All of the men were uncor
scious for a short time. Mr.. Perty
was rushed to the hospital, in an
unconscious condition, from which he
never rallied. An examination dis
closed a broken collar bone, but he
had no other marks or bruises on
him. He passed away at eight o'clock
Sunday morning.
Mr.. Shema was quite seriously in,
iured about the head and face, and
he was taken to the Winneshiek ho-
tel. His upper jaw bone ami his face
loose all the way around and his face
was badly cut and swollen, his nose
being injured so that it was impos-
sible to breathe through it for a
time. He was taken to the hospital
Sunday evening and is resting now
as we'll as could be expected under
the circumstances.
Mr. Hjerleid escaped without any
injury, as did Mr.. Leytze. He was
thrown clear of the car AMI was not
pinned underneath. Mr.. Neugebauer
received several scratches on his
face and his right wrist was injured
some.
The automobile was badly smashed
up. The motor and front and rear
axels were all right, but the top and
windshield were smashed as was the
steering wheel, radiator and dash.
The fact of the car having a good,
strong top no doubt saved the lives
of some of the other men. John Me-
Call was on the scene of the accident
few moments after it happened
with his service car and took the car
to his garage.
The death of Mr.. Perty brought
sorrow to large number of friends
here, as he was a man highly
thought of and well liked by all who
knew him. He was GA years old and
was born in Canada on an island in
the Lake of the Woods, March 2S,
1859, and came to the states at the
age of nine years. On May Is, 1900
he was married to Ella M. Billmeyer.