Cars along downtown Plymouth, IN in the 1930s.
This article is from about 100 years ago from the Bourbon News Mirror on June 3, 1926. It can be found in our vast collection of microfilms from various newspapers in Marshall County. It has been edited lightly for clarity.
“TRAGIC DEATH OF J. NILAS WOLF FALLS FROM RUNNING BOARD OF AUTO AND SUSTAINS THE FATAL INJURY
Nilas Wolf is dead!
Death came to him Tuesday afternoon, about 4:45, following a fall from an auto. He never regained consciousness from the time he fell, which was about eleven o’clock a.m., until he died.
His death was one of the greatest shocks the community has had in a long time, and the bereaved family and innumerable friends of the deceased are dazed even yet.
The accident happened as follows:
Chauncey Berkey and Mr. Wolf had the same kind of cars. Both were new. Mr. Berkey came into town Tuesday morning and on seeing Mr. Wolf asked him if his car had a peculiar click as it ran. Mr. Wolf replied that it did not. Mr. Berkey explained to him what he had noticed about his car for a few days whereupon Mr. Wolf said he would get in the car and ride a piece to see if he could detect it. They went east on Center Street. When about the Walter Senour home, Mr. Wolf told him he heard it and asked that Mr. Berkey stop and he would get on the running board, with the left side of the hood open and ride there to see if he could find just where the trouble was. Mr. Berkey drove about 12 to 14 miles per hour. When near the Orville Martin home, Mr. Wolf raised up and called “Oh,” or “Woah,” Mr. Berkey did not know, and before the car could stop, he had fallen off. The car did not hit him and was stopped within about thirty feet. Mr. Berkey rushed back to Mr. Wolf, to find him unconscious and with blood flowing from a small wound in his head and some from his mouth. He began calling for help and Orville Martin heard it, at the same time his little daughter, Frances, was telling her father she had seen a man fall off the car. It was Mr. Wolf she saw. Mr. Martin rushed out, Herbert Sickman came, too, and a young man and lady going by stopped and the limp body of Mr. Wolf was taken into the Martin home where Dr. Graham and Dr. Marshall were called. Indications were that a fracture of the skull had taken place, as well as a concussion of the brain, and he never regained consciousness.
Just what was the real cause of the fall never will be known. Some thought he had touched a wire of the machine and got shocked so that he fell: others believed he had been attacked with a dizzy spell and fell, though he had not complained of this to his wife. But Frank Newcomb, partner of Mr. Wolf. In the auto business, stated to us that Mr. Wolf had not been feeling well for a few days and had complained of some slight dizzy spells at times. Mr. Wolf was in this office the night before and we visited with him quite a little while, but he did not complain, though we suspicioned by his conversation he was not feeling as well as usual.
Where Mr. Wolf fell from the car there is much coarse gravel and the wound in the back of the head indicated a stone had caused it. His glasses were found later on, devoid of the glasses, only the frame remaining and it was in fair state of preservation.
Mr. Berkey remained at the Martin home all the time the injured man was there and went after the mother, Mrs. Sarah Wolf, and brought her to the home. The grief of the wife, the mother and other members of the family is too pitiful to narrate.
No blame whatever is attached to Mr. Berkey, for it is more than likely, in fact more than possible, that Mr. Wolf had been attacked with a dizzy spell when he rode on the running board and fender of the car, and this caused the fall.
One peculiar incident was the fact that Mrs. Wolf felt a premonition that day that something terrible was to happen. Try as hard as she might she could not dispel the idea, and the tragedy verified her fears.
Mr. Wolf had been identified with the business interests of the community for a number of years and for several years was postmaster. At the time of his death, he was director of the Chamber of Commerce, being recently elected. He was a member of, and a hard worker, in the U.B. Church, a fine man, highly esteemed by everyone.
The funeral is Friday afternoon at the U.B. Church with burial in the Parks Cemetery.
Obituary later.”
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