Surnames: Tessmer, Meyer, Lorenzen

----Source: OWEN ENTERPRISE (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 08/05/1943

Tessmer, Gust #2 (28 NOV 1899 - 2 AUG 1943)

(Because of the poor quality of the copy, some words may be paraphrased)

Clark County’s seventh fatal traffic death of the year occurred on Highway 29, just east of here (Owen, Clark Co., Wis.), at midnight Monday, when Gust H. Tessmer, 43, of Dorchester (Clark Co.), was instantly killed in an auto-truck crash.

The car driven by Tessmer and a milk truck driven by Raymond Lulloff, collided on a curve at the outskirts of the city, and the passenger car was completely smashed.

A wrecking car had to be called to pry the vehicle open enough so that Tessmer’s body could be extricated from it. His skull was fractured, his left arm shattered, and he suffered other injuries.

Lulloff, panic-stricken by the crash, drove two miles beyond the scene without stepping, then turned and came back, he told authorities.

He was operating a light milk truck, laden with whey and empty milk cans, owned by his employer, Theodore Mech of Greenwood, and was returning from a visit with an uncle, George Meyers, at Abbotsford, Wis.

Mech said the truck was being driven without authorization, declaring he had given orders that it was not to be driven except on the milk route.

The front left fender, headlight and running board of the Tessmer car were wrapped around the rear of the vehicle in the crash, and the car was smashed entirely out of shape, but the truck was not badly damaged empty milk cans were scattered about the scene.

Lulloff was taken to the office of a doctor for examination, but was found to be suffering only from shock. Traffic Officer Ken Mathewson began an immediate investigation of the scene and was joined by Dist. Atty. Bruce Beilfuss and Coroner H.L. Brown of Neillsville.

Tessmer, an electrician who lives on a farm a mile west of Dorchester, had gone to Withee to pay for a team of horses and was on his way home when the accident occurred.

Lulloff, whose original home is in Ashland County, has been living at the Herb Spencer home at Greenwood for the past five years. He told the authorities that he had received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army at an embarkation point, because of a stomach ailment.

A Coroner’s jury, at the conclusion of an inquest into the death of Gust Henry Tessmer here Tuesday, brought in a verdict to the effect that Tessmer "was instantly killed accidentally due to injuries received in a collision between a car he was riding in and a milk truck," at about 11:40 p.m., Aug. 2.

The inquest was conducted by the City Hall by Coroner H.L. Brown and Dist. Atty. Bruce Beilfuss, and witnesses called to testify were Carl Tessmer of Thorp; Raymond Lulloff, Greenwood, driver of the truck involved, Eino Luoma and Officer Ken Mathewson, Owen; and Theodore Mech, Greenwood, employer of Lulloff.

Members of the jury were A.M. Wilson, Harold Wendt, Frank Hull, ? Tiedeman, W.P. Hilt, and Ray ??mius.

Tessmer was born near Dorchester, on a farm just north of the present home, on Nov. 28, 1899, and was married at Dorchester on May 24, 1924, to Rose Meyer. He had lived on the present farm since 1923.

He is survived by his wife and son, Donald, 17, and by the following brothers and sisters: Charles, Thorp; Albert, Detroit; Mrs. Otto (Emma) Schultz, Chicago; Mrs. Herman (Freda) Meyer, Marshfield; and Mrs. Herman (Alvina) Lorenzen, Embarrass, Minn.