John W. Norton

Fatal Automobile Accident

The following articles are courtesy of the Wyoming Newspaper Project. The first one below was published in the Lusk Herald, and the second in the Niobrara County News.

Some time Tuesday morning, while driving in his car on the north road near Earl Bliss' place on a down grade, John W. Norton lost his life when the car overturned, pinning him underneath. There was no eye-witness to the accident, but it is supposed that he was driving down hill at a fairly fast gait, and, in an endeavor to get out of the rut or to avoid an obstruction in the road, had turned the steering wheel too much when the front wheels "buckled" and the car immediately upset. When discovered, life was found to be extinct.

The coroner, accompanied by several citizens, went out in two cars to the scene of the accident, and brought the body to town when it was placed in the Boyd undertaking rooms to be prepared for burial. An examination disclosed the fact that his chest had been crushed in and that in all probability death was instantaneous. The coroner decided that no inquest was necessary.

Mr. Norton, who had conducted a saloon business for a number of years, and had a large circle of friends in Lusk and Niobrara county, was an old resident of Wyoming, covering a period of 30 to 35 years.

He was born in Butler County, Pa., in 1853. From there he moved first to Brown county, Illinois, thence to Ringgold, Iowa, where he was married, and later to Wyoming.

He is survived by his widow and four sisters, two of whom live in Kansas and two in Iowa. These distant relatives have been communicated with and on their arrival the funeral will take place, probably tomorrow.

Much sympathy is expressed for Mrs. Norton on account of the great shock and her sudden bereavement, and her more intimate friends are giving her all the comfort and consolation they can.

Niobrara County News
April 19, 1917
John Norton Killed in Auto Accident

John Norton, a well known and prominent Niobrara county citizen, and resident of Lusk, was instantly killed in an auto accident Tuesday, while riding alone to the oil fields north of that city. The car was found a short time after the tragedy, turned over with the body pinned underneath and signs showed that he had been instantly killed. It is tho't the accident was caused by the front wheels becoming "jack knifed" in his attempt to turn from a rut in the road, which at the high rate of speed he was traveling, caused the car to overturn.

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