MENLO TAXI DRIVER INSTANTLY KILLED (1926)

LAURITSEN, KIMPLE, KNIGHT

Posted By: Ken Akers (email)
Date: 3/11/2010 at 21:28:23

Audubon County Journal (IA)
Jan. 14, 1926, pg. 1
MENLO TAXI DRIVER
INSTANTLY KILLED

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Fred Lauritsen Meets Instant Death
West of Adair Last Wednesday

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Fred Lauritsen, Menlo taxi driver,
met instant death on White way-7-
Highway just west of the McDer-
mott school house in Cass county
Wednesday evening of last week when
he was struck by a Ford touring car
driven by Morgan Kimple of Adair.
Lauritsen was on his way from Menlo
to Brayton where he was taking mem-
bers of a colored orchestra to play
for a dance which was to be given.
He was forced to stop about a hun-
dred yards west of the McDermott
school house to fix a punctured tire
and was in the act of doing so when
he was hit by the Kimple car which
was coming from the west and was
instantly killed.

Mr. Kimple was accompanied by
John Knight and as soon as the ac-
cident happened they stopped to rend-
er assistance. The dead man was ta-
ken to the Long undertaking parlors
in Anita and the coroner notified. At
the inquest Mr. Kimple was exoner-
ated from all blame. The Lauritsen
car had but one headlight and it was
very bright and this blinded Mr. Kim-
ple so that he was unable to see the
road clearly. It was brought out that
Kimple was not driving over fifteen
miles per hour at the time of the ac-
cident.

Mr. Lauritsen, who was killed,
formerly conducted a store at North
Branch, but closed out the business
about four years ago. After dispos-
ing of the North Branch store the
family moved to Adair and resided
there a few months. Later he pur-
chased a store at Menlo and the fam-
ily moved to that town. He disposed
of the store there some time ago and
lately has been conducting a taxi
business. He leaves a wife and sever-
al children.

Mr. Lauritsen recently managed
two dances at the local Legion Hall,
the colored players furnishing the
music.