Obituary reprinted from The Winona Republican-Herald, Friday, August 21, 1953.
Eugene W. Butts
Burial services for Eugene W. Butts, 50, Charles City, Iowa, who was killed Saturday when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61 near Dakota, will be held Saturday at 2 P.M. at Memorial Garden Cemetery in Rochester.
Born in Winnebago County, Iowa Nov. 6, 1906, Butts is survived by his mother, Mrs. Lillian Klenkel, Charles City, Iowa; three brothers, A.C. Butts, Marshalltown, Iowa; Sylvester Butts, Vandalia, Mo., and William Butts, also from Missouri; a sister, Mrs. John Berndt, Rochester, and a step sister, Mrs. Delvin Stabler, Charles City.
---------------
The following are reprints of news articles pertaining to the accident.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Monday August 17, 1953.
Page 1 headline reads: Transient Bicyclist Killed at Dakota
Caption below a picture of the accident scene reads:
Hurled from His Bicycle after he was struck by a car Saturday night, the body of a man identified as Eugene Butts lies sprawled on Highway 61, North of Dakota. In the foreground are the twisted wreckage of the bicycle and a bag in which the transient carried his personal effects.
Page 1 article headline reads: Identification Not Positively Established Yet, Authorities Believe Dead Man Formerly Lived in Rochester.
DAKOTA, Minn. - A check of Social Security records was being made in Washington, D.C. today in an effort to provide a positive identification of a transient killed Saturday night when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61, about 5 miles north of here.
The county's eighth traffic fatality in 1953 has been identified tentatively as Eugene Willis Butts about 50, who may have lived at one time in Rochester.
Minnesota Highway patrolmen who investigated the accident made the identification from a Social Security card carried by the bicyclist who also was in possession of a note which indicated that he may have resided recently in Rochester.
The Social Security card has been sent to Washington for information regarding the accident victim's permanent address.
Driver from Dakota
The accident occurred at about 8:20 P.M. Saturday while Butts was riding his bicycle north on Highway 61.
The driver of the car, Eugene Bearevold, 18, Dakota, said that he also was driving north and did not see the bicycle until it loomed up suddenly only a few feet in front of his headlights. The bicycle, it was found, was not equipped with a rear light and Butts was dressed in dark clothing.
In a futile effort to avoid the accident, the youth turned his car sharply to the right. It veered off on the highway shoulder, skittered along the shoulder and ditch embankment where it spun around once and finally came to rest on its side in the ditch some 90 feet from the point of impact.
Neither Bearevold nor his 17-year-old companion, Richard Schultz, Dakota, was injured, however.
Patrolmen Arrive
Patrolmen Oscar Krenzke and Eugene Molitor arrived at the scene only a few minutes after the accident occurred. They found Butts' body lying in the southbound lane of traffic, the smashed bicycle and his few personal effects scattered along the highway a short distance away.
"I was driving along the highway," the distraught Bearevold youth declared, "and all I noticed was a truck approaching. I was looking straight ahead and keeping my eyes on the road--why, we weren't even talking at the time--and then, all of a sudden, when we dimmed our lights there was this bicycle right in front of me. There wasn't a thing I could do."
Patrolmen Krenzke and Molitor interviewed the driver of the truck whose observations were similar to those of the Beerwald youth.
Joseph Kearney, Janesville, Wis., a retired policeman who was operating a southbound automobile transport, recalled, "When I came around the curve I saw the lights of another vehicle approaching. I could see nothing else on the highway, however."
"As we approached we each dimmed our lights and it was at that moment," Kearney said, "that I saw the bicycle rider directly in front of the car. At almost the same time the bicycle was struck by the car and the rider and the bike were tossed into my line of traffic." "I cut the wheel way over to the right and drove off on the shoulder to go around the man lying on the highway," he explained.
Kearney stopped his truck a short distance beyond and put up flares on the highway to warn other motorists of the accident.
Calls for Ambulance
Schultz, meanwhile, had gone to a nearby truck stop and asked that a telephone call be made to Winona for an ambulance and a doctor.
The call was received at the sheriff's office and Deputy Sheriff Clarence McElmury drove to Dakota after a Steven's Service ambulance had been summoned.
When McElmury arrived he found that the highway patrolmen already were at the accident site so the deputy return to Winona to call the coroner.
Caption below a picture of the overturned car that struck the bicyclist reads:
After Striking A Bicycle near Dakota, the car skidded off Highway 61 and overturned in the ditch. The driver and one passenger in the car escaped injury in the mishap. Investigation revealed that the bicycle was not equipped with a rear light.
In the absence of Winona County Coroner R. B. Tweedy, Dr. A. E. Meinert served as acting coroner and pronounced that Butts died of accidental causes.
Death was caused by a skull fracture and crushed chest. The bicyclist also suffered severe leg injuries.
The bicycle was struck just left of the center of the bumper and a burned out and smashed left headlight indicated that the body might have been hurled against the left front portion of the car before it was tossed into the other lane of traffic.
After authorities had arrived to conduct the investigation, Bearevold went to the William Harris home nearby to call his parents and notify them of the accident. When he heard of the mishap Harris went to the highway and assisted in the direction of traffic past the site.
Carries Two Bags
Butts was found to be carrying only two small bags. In one were a razor, blades and several tools.
He also had half loaf of bread and a small slice of meat.
Persons residing in the area recalled that they had seen the man riding his bicycle along the highway earlier in the day.
There were reports that he had stopped at one roadside café a short time before the mishap.
Winona police and the patrol contacted other law enforcement agencies immediately to determine whether the bicycle rider could be identified in any nearby cities.
Probably in La Crosse
La Crosse police said that a man believed to be about 50 years old who gave his name as Eugene Butts had been given lodging in the La Crosse gel Friday night and also had been arrested there earlier in the month on a misdemeanor. At the time, La Crosse authorities said, he gave his address as Rochester.
In addition to his Social Security card, Butts was found by Krenzke and Molitor to be carrying a paper showing that he had applied for unemployment compensation at Hannibal, Mo., but there was no further clue as to his address.
First Since May 17
Butts' death was the first traffic fatality to be recorded in the county since an elderly pedestrian was killed as he crossed the street at the West Howard and Main Street intersection in Winona May 17.
The last previous traffic death in the county outside the city of Winona occurred March 31 in a two-car collision on Highway 14 near Lewiston.
There have been four traffic deaths in the city of Winona and four in the remainder of the county.
Butts' body has been taken to the Breitlow Funeral Home, Winona, but no arrangements have been completed for funeral services.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Tuesday, August 18, 1953.
Page 11 headline reads: Dead Bicyclist Brother of Rochester Woman
Positive identification was effected today of a bicyclist killed Saturday night in a traffic accident near Dakota.
Up to yesterday the only clue to the accident victim's identity had been a Social Security card found on the body bearing the name of Eugene W. Butts.
Monday, Mrs. John Berndt, Rochester, read an Associated Press news story of Butts' death and told Olmsted County authorities that she believed the victim was her brother.
The Olmsted County Sheriff contacted authorities here and determined that the man killed in the highway accident was Mrs. Berndt's brother.
Butts' mother also lives in Rochester and three brothers also survive.
Earlier, the Winona District field office of the Social Security Administration had been contacted by Minnesota Highway Patrolmen Eugene Molitor and Oscar Krenzke in an effort to obtain identification through Social Security records.
Office manager Philip E. Beardsley forwarded the request to the administration's Central accounting office in Baltimore and this morning received information gained from Butts' Social Security file.
According to the records, Beardsley said, Butts was born in Winnebago County, Iowa, Nov. 6, 1902, and had filed his Social Security registration at Middleton, Mo.
The last record of employment was in Pontiac, Mich., in 1948.
Beardsley pointed out that such checks are made only on the request of law enforcement authorities and said that because of a person's moving from one city to another it is often difficult to obtain recent information about a missing person from such records.
He added that the request for information was filed here at 1 P.M. Monday and, because of the time differential between here and Baltimore, the wire reached Baltimore almost at the close of the work day. Otherwise, Beardsley said, a reply might have been expected on the same day the request was made.
Butts' body is at the Breitlow Funeral Home and funeral arrangements are pending instructions from relatives in Rochester.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Thursday, December 31, 1953.
Page 12 headline reads: Here Are Top Ten Area News Stories of Year
Subheading reads: Highlights of 1953 in Minnesota and Wisconsin Communities
DRESBACH, Minn.-- Willis Butts, a 50-year old itinerant, was killed Aug. 15 when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61, five miles north of here.
Eugene W. Butts
Burial services for Eugene W. Butts, 50, Charles City, Iowa, who was killed Saturday when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61 near Dakota, will be held Saturday at 2 P.M. at Memorial Garden Cemetery in Rochester.
Born in Winnebago County, Iowa Nov. 6, 1906, Butts is survived by his mother, Mrs. Lillian Klenkel, Charles City, Iowa; three brothers, A.C. Butts, Marshalltown, Iowa; Sylvester Butts, Vandalia, Mo., and William Butts, also from Missouri; a sister, Mrs. John Berndt, Rochester, and a step sister, Mrs. Delvin Stabler, Charles City.
---------------
The following are reprints of news articles pertaining to the accident.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Monday August 17, 1953.
Page 1 headline reads: Transient Bicyclist Killed at Dakota
Caption below a picture of the accident scene reads:
Hurled from His Bicycle after he was struck by a car Saturday night, the body of a man identified as Eugene Butts lies sprawled on Highway 61, North of Dakota. In the foreground are the twisted wreckage of the bicycle and a bag in which the transient carried his personal effects.
Page 1 article headline reads: Identification Not Positively Established Yet, Authorities Believe Dead Man Formerly Lived in Rochester.
DAKOTA, Minn. - A check of Social Security records was being made in Washington, D.C. today in an effort to provide a positive identification of a transient killed Saturday night when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61, about 5 miles north of here.
The county's eighth traffic fatality in 1953 has been identified tentatively as Eugene Willis Butts about 50, who may have lived at one time in Rochester.
Minnesota Highway patrolmen who investigated the accident made the identification from a Social Security card carried by the bicyclist who also was in possession of a note which indicated that he may have resided recently in Rochester.
The Social Security card has been sent to Washington for information regarding the accident victim's permanent address.
Driver from Dakota
The accident occurred at about 8:20 P.M. Saturday while Butts was riding his bicycle north on Highway 61.
The driver of the car, Eugene Bearevold, 18, Dakota, said that he also was driving north and did not see the bicycle until it loomed up suddenly only a few feet in front of his headlights. The bicycle, it was found, was not equipped with a rear light and Butts was dressed in dark clothing.
In a futile effort to avoid the accident, the youth turned his car sharply to the right. It veered off on the highway shoulder, skittered along the shoulder and ditch embankment where it spun around once and finally came to rest on its side in the ditch some 90 feet from the point of impact.
Neither Bearevold nor his 17-year-old companion, Richard Schultz, Dakota, was injured, however.
Patrolmen Arrive
Patrolmen Oscar Krenzke and Eugene Molitor arrived at the scene only a few minutes after the accident occurred. They found Butts' body lying in the southbound lane of traffic, the smashed bicycle and his few personal effects scattered along the highway a short distance away.
"I was driving along the highway," the distraught Bearevold youth declared, "and all I noticed was a truck approaching. I was looking straight ahead and keeping my eyes on the road--why, we weren't even talking at the time--and then, all of a sudden, when we dimmed our lights there was this bicycle right in front of me. There wasn't a thing I could do."
Patrolmen Krenzke and Molitor interviewed the driver of the truck whose observations were similar to those of the Beerwald youth.
Joseph Kearney, Janesville, Wis., a retired policeman who was operating a southbound automobile transport, recalled, "When I came around the curve I saw the lights of another vehicle approaching. I could see nothing else on the highway, however."
"As we approached we each dimmed our lights and it was at that moment," Kearney said, "that I saw the bicycle rider directly in front of the car. At almost the same time the bicycle was struck by the car and the rider and the bike were tossed into my line of traffic." "I cut the wheel way over to the right and drove off on the shoulder to go around the man lying on the highway," he explained.
Kearney stopped his truck a short distance beyond and put up flares on the highway to warn other motorists of the accident.
Calls for Ambulance
Schultz, meanwhile, had gone to a nearby truck stop and asked that a telephone call be made to Winona for an ambulance and a doctor.
The call was received at the sheriff's office and Deputy Sheriff Clarence McElmury drove to Dakota after a Steven's Service ambulance had been summoned.
When McElmury arrived he found that the highway patrolmen already were at the accident site so the deputy return to Winona to call the coroner.
Caption below a picture of the overturned car that struck the bicyclist reads:
After Striking A Bicycle near Dakota, the car skidded off Highway 61 and overturned in the ditch. The driver and one passenger in the car escaped injury in the mishap. Investigation revealed that the bicycle was not equipped with a rear light.
In the absence of Winona County Coroner R. B. Tweedy, Dr. A. E. Meinert served as acting coroner and pronounced that Butts died of accidental causes.
Death was caused by a skull fracture and crushed chest. The bicyclist also suffered severe leg injuries.
The bicycle was struck just left of the center of the bumper and a burned out and smashed left headlight indicated that the body might have been hurled against the left front portion of the car before it was tossed into the other lane of traffic.
After authorities had arrived to conduct the investigation, Bearevold went to the William Harris home nearby to call his parents and notify them of the accident. When he heard of the mishap Harris went to the highway and assisted in the direction of traffic past the site.
Carries Two Bags
Butts was found to be carrying only two small bags. In one were a razor, blades and several tools.
He also had half loaf of bread and a small slice of meat.
Persons residing in the area recalled that they had seen the man riding his bicycle along the highway earlier in the day.
There were reports that he had stopped at one roadside café a short time before the mishap.
Winona police and the patrol contacted other law enforcement agencies immediately to determine whether the bicycle rider could be identified in any nearby cities.
Probably in La Crosse
La Crosse police said that a man believed to be about 50 years old who gave his name as Eugene Butts had been given lodging in the La Crosse gel Friday night and also had been arrested there earlier in the month on a misdemeanor. At the time, La Crosse authorities said, he gave his address as Rochester.
In addition to his Social Security card, Butts was found by Krenzke and Molitor to be carrying a paper showing that he had applied for unemployment compensation at Hannibal, Mo., but there was no further clue as to his address.
First Since May 17
Butts' death was the first traffic fatality to be recorded in the county since an elderly pedestrian was killed as he crossed the street at the West Howard and Main Street intersection in Winona May 17.
The last previous traffic death in the county outside the city of Winona occurred March 31 in a two-car collision on Highway 14 near Lewiston.
There have been four traffic deaths in the city of Winona and four in the remainder of the county.
Butts' body has been taken to the Breitlow Funeral Home, Winona, but no arrangements have been completed for funeral services.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Tuesday, August 18, 1953.
Page 11 headline reads: Dead Bicyclist Brother of Rochester Woman
Positive identification was effected today of a bicyclist killed Saturday night in a traffic accident near Dakota.
Up to yesterday the only clue to the accident victim's identity had been a Social Security card found on the body bearing the name of Eugene W. Butts.
Monday, Mrs. John Berndt, Rochester, read an Associated Press news story of Butts' death and told Olmsted County authorities that she believed the victim was her brother.
The Olmsted County Sheriff contacted authorities here and determined that the man killed in the highway accident was Mrs. Berndt's brother.
Butts' mother also lives in Rochester and three brothers also survive.
Earlier, the Winona District field office of the Social Security Administration had been contacted by Minnesota Highway Patrolmen Eugene Molitor and Oscar Krenzke in an effort to obtain identification through Social Security records.
Office manager Philip E. Beardsley forwarded the request to the administration's Central accounting office in Baltimore and this morning received information gained from Butts' Social Security file.
According to the records, Beardsley said, Butts was born in Winnebago County, Iowa, Nov. 6, 1902, and had filed his Social Security registration at Middleton, Mo.
The last record of employment was in Pontiac, Mich., in 1948.
Beardsley pointed out that such checks are made only on the request of law enforcement authorities and said that because of a person's moving from one city to another it is often difficult to obtain recent information about a missing person from such records.
He added that the request for information was filed here at 1 P.M. Monday and, because of the time differential between here and Baltimore, the wire reached Baltimore almost at the close of the work day. Otherwise, Beardsley said, a reply might have been expected on the same day the request was made.
Butts' body is at the Breitlow Funeral Home and funeral arrangements are pending instructions from relatives in Rochester.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Thursday, December 31, 1953.
Page 12 headline reads: Here Are Top Ten Area News Stories of Year
Subheading reads: Highlights of 1953 in Minnesota and Wisconsin Communities
DRESBACH, Minn.-- Willis Butts, a 50-year old itinerant, was killed Aug. 15 when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61, five miles north of here.
Obituary reprinted from The Winona Republican-Herald, Friday, August 21, 1953.
Eugene W. Butts
Burial services for Eugene W. Butts, 50, Charles City, Iowa, who was killed Saturday when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61 near Dakota, will be held Saturday at 2 P.M. at Memorial Garden Cemetery in Rochester.
Born in Winnebago County, Iowa Nov. 6, 1906, Butts is survived by his mother, Mrs. Lillian Klenkel, Charles City, Iowa; three brothers, A.C. Butts, Marshalltown, Iowa; Sylvester Butts, Vandalia, Mo., and William Butts, also from Missouri; a sister, Mrs. John Berndt, Rochester, and a step sister, Mrs. Delvin Stabler, Charles City.
---------------
The following are reprints of news articles pertaining to the accident.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Monday August 17, 1953.
Page 1 headline reads: Transient Bicyclist Killed at Dakota
Caption below a picture of the accident scene reads:
Hurled from His Bicycle after he was struck by a car Saturday night, the body of a man identified as Eugene Butts lies sprawled on Highway 61, North of Dakota. In the foreground are the twisted wreckage of the bicycle and a bag in which the transient carried his personal effects.
Page 1 article headline reads: Identification Not Positively Established Yet, Authorities Believe Dead Man Formerly Lived in Rochester.
DAKOTA, Minn. - A check of Social Security records was being made in Washington, D.C. today in an effort to provide a positive identification of a transient killed Saturday night when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61, about 5 miles north of here.
The county's eighth traffic fatality in 1953 has been identified tentatively as Eugene Willis Butts about 50, who may have lived at one time in Rochester.
Minnesota Highway patrolmen who investigated the accident made the identification from a Social Security card carried by the bicyclist who also was in possession of a note which indicated that he may have resided recently in Rochester.
The Social Security card has been sent to Washington for information regarding the accident victim's permanent address.
Driver from Dakota
The accident occurred at about 8:20 P.M. Saturday while Butts was riding his bicycle north on Highway 61.
The driver of the car, Eugene Bearevold, 18, Dakota, said that he also was driving north and did not see the bicycle until it loomed up suddenly only a few feet in front of his headlights. The bicycle, it was found, was not equipped with a rear light and Butts was dressed in dark clothing.
In a futile effort to avoid the accident, the youth turned his car sharply to the right. It veered off on the highway shoulder, skittered along the shoulder and ditch embankment where it spun around once and finally came to rest on its side in the ditch some 90 feet from the point of impact.
Neither Bearevold nor his 17-year-old companion, Richard Schultz, Dakota, was injured, however.
Patrolmen Arrive
Patrolmen Oscar Krenzke and Eugene Molitor arrived at the scene only a few minutes after the accident occurred. They found Butts' body lying in the southbound lane of traffic, the smashed bicycle and his few personal effects scattered along the highway a short distance away.
"I was driving along the highway," the distraught Bearevold youth declared, "and all I noticed was a truck approaching. I was looking straight ahead and keeping my eyes on the road--why, we weren't even talking at the time--and then, all of a sudden, when we dimmed our lights there was this bicycle right in front of me. There wasn't a thing I could do."
Patrolmen Krenzke and Molitor interviewed the driver of the truck whose observations were similar to those of the Beerwald youth.
Joseph Kearney, Janesville, Wis., a retired policeman who was operating a southbound automobile transport, recalled, "When I came around the curve I saw the lights of another vehicle approaching. I could see nothing else on the highway, however."
"As we approached we each dimmed our lights and it was at that moment," Kearney said, "that I saw the bicycle rider directly in front of the car. At almost the same time the bicycle was struck by the car and the rider and the bike were tossed into my line of traffic." "I cut the wheel way over to the right and drove off on the shoulder to go around the man lying on the highway," he explained.
Kearney stopped his truck a short distance beyond and put up flares on the highway to warn other motorists of the accident.
Calls for Ambulance
Schultz, meanwhile, had gone to a nearby truck stop and asked that a telephone call be made to Winona for an ambulance and a doctor.
The call was received at the sheriff's office and Deputy Sheriff Clarence McElmury drove to Dakota after a Steven's Service ambulance had been summoned.
When McElmury arrived he found that the highway patrolmen already were at the accident site so the deputy return to Winona to call the coroner.
Caption below a picture of the overturned car that struck the bicyclist reads:
After Striking A Bicycle near Dakota, the car skidded off Highway 61 and overturned in the ditch. The driver and one passenger in the car escaped injury in the mishap. Investigation revealed that the bicycle was not equipped with a rear light.
In the absence of Winona County Coroner R. B. Tweedy, Dr. A. E. Meinert served as acting coroner and pronounced that Butts died of accidental causes.
Death was caused by a skull fracture and crushed chest. The bicyclist also suffered severe leg injuries.
The bicycle was struck just left of the center of the bumper and a burned out and smashed left headlight indicated that the body might have been hurled against the left front portion of the car before it was tossed into the other lane of traffic.
After authorities had arrived to conduct the investigation, Bearevold went to the William Harris home nearby to call his parents and notify them of the accident. When he heard of the mishap Harris went to the highway and assisted in the direction of traffic past the site.
Carries Two Bags
Butts was found to be carrying only two small bags. In one were a razor, blades and several tools.
He also had half loaf of bread and a small slice of meat.
Persons residing in the area recalled that they had seen the man riding his bicycle along the highway earlier in the day.
There were reports that he had stopped at one roadside café a short time before the mishap.
Winona police and the patrol contacted other law enforcement agencies immediately to determine whether the bicycle rider could be identified in any nearby cities.
Probably in La Crosse
La Crosse police said that a man believed to be about 50 years old who gave his name as Eugene Butts had been given lodging in the La Crosse gel Friday night and also had been arrested there earlier in the month on a misdemeanor. At the time, La Crosse authorities said, he gave his address as Rochester.
In addition to his Social Security card, Butts was found by Krenzke and Molitor to be carrying a paper showing that he had applied for unemployment compensation at Hannibal, Mo., but there was no further clue as to his address.
First Since May 17
Butts' death was the first traffic fatality to be recorded in the county since an elderly pedestrian was killed as he crossed the street at the West Howard and Main Street intersection in Winona May 17.
The last previous traffic death in the county outside the city of Winona occurred March 31 in a two-car collision on Highway 14 near Lewiston.
There have been four traffic deaths in the city of Winona and four in the remainder of the county.
Butts' body has been taken to the Breitlow Funeral Home, Winona, but no arrangements have been completed for funeral services.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Tuesday, August 18, 1953.
Page 11 headline reads: Dead Bicyclist Brother of Rochester Woman
Positive identification was effected today of a bicyclist killed Saturday night in a traffic accident near Dakota.
Up to yesterday the only clue to the accident victim's identity had been a Social Security card found on the body bearing the name of Eugene W. Butts.
Monday, Mrs. John Berndt, Rochester, read an Associated Press news story of Butts' death and told Olmsted County authorities that she believed the victim was her brother.
The Olmsted County Sheriff contacted authorities here and determined that the man killed in the highway accident was Mrs. Berndt's brother.
Butts' mother also lives in Rochester and three brothers also survive.
Earlier, the Winona District field office of the Social Security Administration had been contacted by Minnesota Highway Patrolmen Eugene Molitor and Oscar Krenzke in an effort to obtain identification through Social Security records.
Office manager Philip E. Beardsley forwarded the request to the administration's Central accounting office in Baltimore and this morning received information gained from Butts' Social Security file.
According to the records, Beardsley said, Butts was born in Winnebago County, Iowa, Nov. 6, 1902, and had filed his Social Security registration at Middleton, Mo.
The last record of employment was in Pontiac, Mich., in 1948.
Beardsley pointed out that such checks are made only on the request of law enforcement authorities and said that because of a person's moving from one city to another it is often difficult to obtain recent information about a missing person from such records.
He added that the request for information was filed here at 1 P.M. Monday and, because of the time differential between here and Baltimore, the wire reached Baltimore almost at the close of the work day. Otherwise, Beardsley said, a reply might have been expected on the same day the request was made.
Butts' body is at the Breitlow Funeral Home and funeral arrangements are pending instructions from relatives in Rochester.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Thursday, December 31, 1953.
Page 12 headline reads: Here Are Top Ten Area News Stories of Year
Subheading reads: Highlights of 1953 in Minnesota and Wisconsin Communities
DRESBACH, Minn.-- Willis Butts, a 50-year old itinerant, was killed Aug. 15 when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61, five miles north of here.
Eugene W. Butts
Burial services for Eugene W. Butts, 50, Charles City, Iowa, who was killed Saturday when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61 near Dakota, will be held Saturday at 2 P.M. at Memorial Garden Cemetery in Rochester.
Born in Winnebago County, Iowa Nov. 6, 1906, Butts is survived by his mother, Mrs. Lillian Klenkel, Charles City, Iowa; three brothers, A.C. Butts, Marshalltown, Iowa; Sylvester Butts, Vandalia, Mo., and William Butts, also from Missouri; a sister, Mrs. John Berndt, Rochester, and a step sister, Mrs. Delvin Stabler, Charles City.
---------------
The following are reprints of news articles pertaining to the accident.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Monday August 17, 1953.
Page 1 headline reads: Transient Bicyclist Killed at Dakota
Caption below a picture of the accident scene reads:
Hurled from His Bicycle after he was struck by a car Saturday night, the body of a man identified as Eugene Butts lies sprawled on Highway 61, North of Dakota. In the foreground are the twisted wreckage of the bicycle and a bag in which the transient carried his personal effects.
Page 1 article headline reads: Identification Not Positively Established Yet, Authorities Believe Dead Man Formerly Lived in Rochester.
DAKOTA, Minn. - A check of Social Security records was being made in Washington, D.C. today in an effort to provide a positive identification of a transient killed Saturday night when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61, about 5 miles north of here.
The county's eighth traffic fatality in 1953 has been identified tentatively as Eugene Willis Butts about 50, who may have lived at one time in Rochester.
Minnesota Highway patrolmen who investigated the accident made the identification from a Social Security card carried by the bicyclist who also was in possession of a note which indicated that he may have resided recently in Rochester.
The Social Security card has been sent to Washington for information regarding the accident victim's permanent address.
Driver from Dakota
The accident occurred at about 8:20 P.M. Saturday while Butts was riding his bicycle north on Highway 61.
The driver of the car, Eugene Bearevold, 18, Dakota, said that he also was driving north and did not see the bicycle until it loomed up suddenly only a few feet in front of his headlights. The bicycle, it was found, was not equipped with a rear light and Butts was dressed in dark clothing.
In a futile effort to avoid the accident, the youth turned his car sharply to the right. It veered off on the highway shoulder, skittered along the shoulder and ditch embankment where it spun around once and finally came to rest on its side in the ditch some 90 feet from the point of impact.
Neither Bearevold nor his 17-year-old companion, Richard Schultz, Dakota, was injured, however.
Patrolmen Arrive
Patrolmen Oscar Krenzke and Eugene Molitor arrived at the scene only a few minutes after the accident occurred. They found Butts' body lying in the southbound lane of traffic, the smashed bicycle and his few personal effects scattered along the highway a short distance away.
"I was driving along the highway," the distraught Bearevold youth declared, "and all I noticed was a truck approaching. I was looking straight ahead and keeping my eyes on the road--why, we weren't even talking at the time--and then, all of a sudden, when we dimmed our lights there was this bicycle right in front of me. There wasn't a thing I could do."
Patrolmen Krenzke and Molitor interviewed the driver of the truck whose observations were similar to those of the Beerwald youth.
Joseph Kearney, Janesville, Wis., a retired policeman who was operating a southbound automobile transport, recalled, "When I came around the curve I saw the lights of another vehicle approaching. I could see nothing else on the highway, however."
"As we approached we each dimmed our lights and it was at that moment," Kearney said, "that I saw the bicycle rider directly in front of the car. At almost the same time the bicycle was struck by the car and the rider and the bike were tossed into my line of traffic." "I cut the wheel way over to the right and drove off on the shoulder to go around the man lying on the highway," he explained.
Kearney stopped his truck a short distance beyond and put up flares on the highway to warn other motorists of the accident.
Calls for Ambulance
Schultz, meanwhile, had gone to a nearby truck stop and asked that a telephone call be made to Winona for an ambulance and a doctor.
The call was received at the sheriff's office and Deputy Sheriff Clarence McElmury drove to Dakota after a Steven's Service ambulance had been summoned.
When McElmury arrived he found that the highway patrolmen already were at the accident site so the deputy return to Winona to call the coroner.
Caption below a picture of the overturned car that struck the bicyclist reads:
After Striking A Bicycle near Dakota, the car skidded off Highway 61 and overturned in the ditch. The driver and one passenger in the car escaped injury in the mishap. Investigation revealed that the bicycle was not equipped with a rear light.
In the absence of Winona County Coroner R. B. Tweedy, Dr. A. E. Meinert served as acting coroner and pronounced that Butts died of accidental causes.
Death was caused by a skull fracture and crushed chest. The bicyclist also suffered severe leg injuries.
The bicycle was struck just left of the center of the bumper and a burned out and smashed left headlight indicated that the body might have been hurled against the left front portion of the car before it was tossed into the other lane of traffic.
After authorities had arrived to conduct the investigation, Bearevold went to the William Harris home nearby to call his parents and notify them of the accident. When he heard of the mishap Harris went to the highway and assisted in the direction of traffic past the site.
Carries Two Bags
Butts was found to be carrying only two small bags. In one were a razor, blades and several tools.
He also had half loaf of bread and a small slice of meat.
Persons residing in the area recalled that they had seen the man riding his bicycle along the highway earlier in the day.
There were reports that he had stopped at one roadside café a short time before the mishap.
Winona police and the patrol contacted other law enforcement agencies immediately to determine whether the bicycle rider could be identified in any nearby cities.
Probably in La Crosse
La Crosse police said that a man believed to be about 50 years old who gave his name as Eugene Butts had been given lodging in the La Crosse gel Friday night and also had been arrested there earlier in the month on a misdemeanor. At the time, La Crosse authorities said, he gave his address as Rochester.
In addition to his Social Security card, Butts was found by Krenzke and Molitor to be carrying a paper showing that he had applied for unemployment compensation at Hannibal, Mo., but there was no further clue as to his address.
First Since May 17
Butts' death was the first traffic fatality to be recorded in the county since an elderly pedestrian was killed as he crossed the street at the West Howard and Main Street intersection in Winona May 17.
The last previous traffic death in the county outside the city of Winona occurred March 31 in a two-car collision on Highway 14 near Lewiston.
There have been four traffic deaths in the city of Winona and four in the remainder of the county.
Butts' body has been taken to the Breitlow Funeral Home, Winona, but no arrangements have been completed for funeral services.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Tuesday, August 18, 1953.
Page 11 headline reads: Dead Bicyclist Brother of Rochester Woman
Positive identification was effected today of a bicyclist killed Saturday night in a traffic accident near Dakota.
Up to yesterday the only clue to the accident victim's identity had been a Social Security card found on the body bearing the name of Eugene W. Butts.
Monday, Mrs. John Berndt, Rochester, read an Associated Press news story of Butts' death and told Olmsted County authorities that she believed the victim was her brother.
The Olmsted County Sheriff contacted authorities here and determined that the man killed in the highway accident was Mrs. Berndt's brother.
Butts' mother also lives in Rochester and three brothers also survive.
Earlier, the Winona District field office of the Social Security Administration had been contacted by Minnesota Highway Patrolmen Eugene Molitor and Oscar Krenzke in an effort to obtain identification through Social Security records.
Office manager Philip E. Beardsley forwarded the request to the administration's Central accounting office in Baltimore and this morning received information gained from Butts' Social Security file.
According to the records, Beardsley said, Butts was born in Winnebago County, Iowa, Nov. 6, 1902, and had filed his Social Security registration at Middleton, Mo.
The last record of employment was in Pontiac, Mich., in 1948.
Beardsley pointed out that such checks are made only on the request of law enforcement authorities and said that because of a person's moving from one city to another it is often difficult to obtain recent information about a missing person from such records.
He added that the request for information was filed here at 1 P.M. Monday and, because of the time differential between here and Baltimore, the wire reached Baltimore almost at the close of the work day. Otherwise, Beardsley said, a reply might have been expected on the same day the request was made.
Butts' body is at the Breitlow Funeral Home and funeral arrangements are pending instructions from relatives in Rochester.
The Winona Republican-Herald, Thursday, December 31, 1953.
Page 12 headline reads: Here Are Top Ten Area News Stories of Year
Subheading reads: Highlights of 1953 in Minnesota and Wisconsin Communities
DRESBACH, Minn.-- Willis Butts, a 50-year old itinerant, was killed Aug. 15 when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car on Highway 61, five miles north of here.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
