Broken Brake Fluid Line is Found Following Fatal Mishap
A broken brake line is seen as the possible cause of the three-car automobile accident last Sunday afternoon, which took the life of one person and sent five others to Memorial hospital, three of them in serious condition. The accident took place at an intersection of a Pine Valley town road and with Highway 10, a mile west of Neillsville near Pine Valley town hall.
Dead was Louie Hause, 57, foreman and long time employee at Kurt:Marg Fur Foods, Inc. He was Clark County's first traffic accident victim of 1967.
Taken in serious condition to Memorial hospital were Hause's wife, Viola, 39, who later was release to a Marshfield hospital for treatment of serious chest and internal injuries: their young son, Scott, 4, Mrs. Merlin Lindow, 34. rt. 2, Neillsville, suffering from fractured sternum and ribs; and her daughter, Marilyn, 14.
David Hause, 17 year-old Neillsville high school student and driver of the car in which members of the Hause family were riding suffered bruises. Also suffering minor injuries was Penny Hause, 11, a daughter of the dead man.
In Front Seat
Mr. Hause was sitting on the right front seat, while Mrs. Hause and Penny were in the rear seat.
All except Mr. Hause were thrown from the car as its rear end virtually disintegrated following impact on either side. However, examination of the car revealed that the door latches remained locked in position. They were tom from the metal door by the force of the accident.
Frank Sarafin, Neillsville garage owner also expressed the belief after an examination of the Hause Car, a new automobile with just slightly more than 5,000 miles on its speedometer - that the blowing out of a spare tire in the trunk contributed to the extensive damaged to the rear end. He pointed to a large hole which had been pierced through the sidewall of the tire, apparently by metal puncture, although it was protected and fastened down in the trunk.
"Nothing Happened"
Frank Sarafin of Thorp, county traffic officer who made the report said that the Hause car was traveling west on Highway 10 when it was struck nearly in the middle of the right side by a car approaching the intersection from the north. This car was driven by Gordon Schesel, 20, of Neillsville, a serviceman home on furlough. Schesel said he attempted to stop at the "T" intersection but when he applied his brakes "nothing happened".
His car went out into the intersection and collided with the Hause car, hitting it a glancing blow that threw the back end to the south and into the lane of Mrs. Lindow, who was driving eastward. The Lindow car struck the left side of the Hause car and veered to the right into the south ditch.
At a local garage where the Schesel car was taken following the accident, mechanics confirmed in fact that a brake line in the car indeed was broken. It had been worn through contact with a metal pin.
At the time of the fatal mishap most members of the Clark county law enforcement organization were engaged in work resulting from the swamping of two canoes in Black river a mile south of the city and the recovery of two bodies from the icy waters of the Black.
Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon from United Church for Mr. Hause. The Rev. W.C. Koehler officiated, with burial taking place in the Neillsville cemetery.
Mr. Hause was born January 10, 1910 in Greenwood, son of the late William and Minnie (Bishman) Hause. He attended schools in Clark county and for the past 30 years had been employed by the Kurt Marg Fur Farms near Neillsville.
In 1947 he was married to the former Viola Van Kirk in Neillsville.
Mr. Hause is survived by his wife; five children, Mrs. Warren (Delores ) Van Kirk of Humbird; Norman Hause of Conrad Mont.; David, Penny and Scott Hause at home.
