Obituaries (May 19)

Again the Sidney-Sidney Center Highway was the scene of tragedy when two girls were killed and one seriously injured as their car failed to make a curve near the gas station, at South Unadilla [Otsego Co., NY], early Wednesday morning about 12:30 o'clock.  The dead are:  Miss Dorothy Elizabeth McAfee, 21, of 8 Union street, Sidney [Delaware Co.., NY], and Miss Mildred Seward, 19, of 9 Harby street, Walton [Delaware Co., NY]; injured is Miss Hazel Bouck, 22, of 10 Smith street, Sidney.  Harold Tryon, proprietor of the gas station, stated that he and his wife had just retired when Mrs. Tryon heard the crash.  He looked out the window and saw the car smashed against a tree and as he went out of the house he heard moans coming from the Seward girl who was pinned between the car and the tree.  Miss McAfee, who was riding between the two girls, was killed when her head apparently het the top of the windshield, he stated.  The Bouck girl seemed to be in a dazed condition.  Mr. Tryon called the state police and an ambulance, but the Seward girl was dead upon the arrival of the troopers.  Miss Bouck was taken to the Fox Memorial Hospital.  Miss Bouck was driving the coupe which belonged to Richard Lombard, of Sidney, a Scintilla worker.  Miss McAfee was living at the home of her sister, Mrs. Anthony Shrader, Sidney, and had been employed at the Scintilla in the inspection department since 1939.  Mildred Seward was working as a waitress at the Sidney Inn.  Hazel Bouck who is employed at the Scintilla, is a sister of Mrs. Ralph Payne, Mrs. Carleton Mott and Robert Bouck, all of Bainbridge. The investigation was made by Troopers, Roger Merritt and M. Ratner. [Bainbridge News & Republican, Apr. 17, 1941]

 

Two Bainbridge sisters lost their lives and the husband of one is in a critical condition in the Bainbridge Hospital as a result of a crash between an automobile and a freight train, Monday afternoon bout 2:10 between Bainbridge and Afton [Chenango Co.., NY].  Mrs. Robert Burdick, 23, of Mt. Pleasant, was instantly killed when the car in which she was riding was struck by a south bound D.&H. train at the Russell Partridge private crossing, near the intersection of Route 7 and Algerine street.  She received a broken neck and a fracture of the skull.  Mrs. Percy Wallace, 25, of Bainbridge East Side, died in the Bainbridge Hospital of a fractured skull and an injured brain at 5 o'clock Tuesday morning.  Robert Burdick, 25, of Bainbridge East Side, died in the Bainbridge Hospital of a fractured skull and a ruptured lung, his physician, Dr. Edward Danforth, stated.  An accidental death verdict was issued by Dr. Carl Meacham of Greene, Chenango County Coroner.  An investigation by Inspector Ernest A. Maynard and Trooper James Fleming of the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, revealed that the Burdick family had gone to the Partridge farm to see about renting the tenant house there.  The approach to the crossing coming from the Partridge farm is very steep.  It is thought by the State Police that the automobile had nearly crossed the tracks when struck in the right rear side by engine 1119.  The train which was in charge of engineer W.J. Hinkleman of Binghamton, and conductor Stanley Lavendusky, of Oneonta, was traveling at a speed between 35 and 40 miles per hour.  It is understood this was the first accident the engineer has had in his 33 years of service.  H.L. Sutton, who lives opposite the crossing on Route 7, said he was working in his garage and saw the train and car approaching but he thought the car was clear of the train when he heard the crash and saw the auto sliding down the bank onto the side of the main highway.  He stated further to the investigating officers that he heard moans and saw a woman lying near the rear of the car.  Dr. Edward Danforth was summoned and Colwell's ambulance was called and Mrs. Wallace and Mr. Burdick were taken to the Bainbridge Hosptial assisted by Russell Elander, who is in charge at night of the First Aid at the Scintilla Magneto Co.  The body of Mrs. Burdick was taken to Colwell's undertaking establishment and later removed to Sidney by Carr & Hare undertakers where the funeral will be held this afternoon t 2 o'clock.  The body of Mrs. Wallace was removed from the hospital by Kays & Guy of Deposit.  Mrs. Burdick, the mother of two small children, Julian, 6, and Ardice, 3, was born Esther Jensen, in Iola, Wis., the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Jensen, Mt. Pleasant, who reside on the farm known as the Munk farm.  Mr. Budick's condition remained the same Wednesday noon according to Mrs. Ethel Hodge supervisor of the Bainbridge Hospital.  Mr. Burdick who is the son of Henry Burdick, of Unadilla, was the person who nearly froze to death early this Spring when his car was stuck in a snow drift on Mt. Pleasant on his way home form the Scintilla, where he is employed nights.  He was found by Jesse Doolittle the next morning, and it took about three hours for him to recover.  Mrs. Wallace was born Eleanor Jensen also in Iola, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jensen.  It was reported that Mr. and Mrs. Jensen also lost a son in an automobile accident sometime ago.  Funeral services of Mrs. Wallace will be held in the First Presbyterian Church, Afton, Friday afternoon at 2 P.M.  Burial will be in Glenwood Cemetery, Afton [Chenango Co., NY].  [Bainbridge News & Republican, Apr. 24, 1941] 

 

Mrs. Charles Bennett grandmother of Mrs. Edward Gliha of this village [Bainbridge, Chenango Co., NY], died at the home of her son-in-law and daughter,  Mr. and Mrs. George Brazee, of Bainbridge, last Tuesday.  Funeral services were held at the Brazee home Saturday with the Rev. R. Lewis Johnson, of this village, officiating and burial was made in the Ouleout Valley Cemetery [Franklin, Delaware Co., NY].  Mrs. Bennett was Miss Bellzora Brundage and was born in Masonville [Delaware Co., NY], 87 years ago.  After her marriage to the late Mr. Bennett they resided on a farm at Trout Creek [Delaware Co., NY] until Mr. Bennett's death 25 years ago, when she came here to make her home with Mr. and Mrs. Brazee.  They moved to Bainbridge eight years ago.  She is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Brazee and Mrs. E.L. Anderson, of Livingston Manor' a son, Lee Bennett, of Greene; nine grandchildren including Mrs. Gliha; and four great-grandchildren; also a brother, Con Brundage of Sand Hill.  Mrs. Bennett's husband was one of the two adopted sons of the late Mr. and Mrs. Erastus Bennett, of Bennett Hollow.  [Bainbridge News & Republican, Apr. 24, 1941]

Mrs. Margaretta Warner Williams, of Oneonta [Otsego Co., NY], and formerly of Bainbridge, passed away at her home last Monday evening, at the age of 69.  Mrs. Williams made her home with the late Edward Loomis family, in West Bainbridge, until her marriage to William Williams, also of this place.  After their marriage they went to Oneonta to live and in a few years they moved to Schenectady.  They lost their only child, a son, Floyd, at the age of 27 in the year 1920, when influenza was so prevalent.  In 1925 her husband passed away leaving her alone.  Mrs. Williams had many friends here and spent a part of the Summer each year at the Ingersoll home where she will be greatly missed.  She is survived by a half sister and brother somewhere in the West, also two nephews, Ralph Payne, of Bainbridge, and Howard Payne, of North Fenton, and two nieces, Esther and Julia Payne.  They are now married, one living in Schenectady and one in Binghamton.  Funeral services were held from the Lewis funeral parlors in Oneonta last Thursday morning and burial was in Schenectady.  [Bainbridge News & Republican, Apr. 24, 1941]