Obit: Cook, Henry #2 (1861? - 1936)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: COOK REDNER BRADBURY LUDOVIC PETERSON WASHBURN PIERCE

----Sources: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Clark County, Wis.) 07/23/1936

Cook, Henry (1861? - 16 July 1936)

On Thursday, July 16th, Henry Cook, age 75, a Clark county resident living near Humbird, met his death when the light farm truck he was riding struck a large transport truck driven by Paul Redner of Minneapolis. Traffic officer Louis Bradbury and Coroner P. C. Ludovic were at the scene of the accident soon after it occurred. Mr. Cook, the deceased, was taken to Black River Falls and died at a hospital there about two hours after the accident, and thereafter immediate arrangements were made to hold an inquest. A jury was impaneled and viewed the scene of the accident and the body of the deceased, then adjourned to July 20th at the village of Humbird, at which time parties involved and other witnesses testified. The testimony of the witnesses as to how the accident occurred agreed in all material details. Mr. Asa Washburn, driver of the light farm truck, drove onto highway 12 without stopping for an arterial sign, and although he had practically an unobstructed view of the main highway in the direction of the approaching transport truck, he drove into the side of it, which caused the light truck to swerve around, thus throwing Mr. Cook, who was riding in the back, to the concrete highway, fracturing his skull. The driver of the transport truck stopped in a very short distance, as his speed was about thirty miles per hour. District Attorney, John M. Peterson, and Coroner P. C. Ludovic conducted the inquest. The jury’s verdict was that "Henry Cook came to his death by a skull fracture caused by the collision of the truck of Asa Washburn running into the Redner truck. Asa Washburn neglected to make the proper arterial stop for this intersection."

Immediately after the verdict was returned, both Asa Washburn and Paul Redner were arrested, the former for failure to stop at arterial, and Paul Redner for excessive speed at an intersection. Both plead guilty and were fined.

This was the second highway death during July in Clark county, and the first death of the year due to highway accident in the southern part of the county. The driver of the light farm truck and another passenger, Mr. George Pierce of Humbird were injured but not so seriously but what they could attend the inquest. The transport truck driver was uninjured.