Obit: Merkley, John (1874 - 1942)

Contact: Stan

Surnames: Merkley, Witte, Suplick, Johnson, Fechtner, Kasten, Holland, Baer, Riley, Adams, Brown, Dix, Apfelbeck, Colby, Fasbender

----Sources: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Clark County, Wis.) 05/28/1942

Merkley, John (4 Dec. 1874 - 24 May 1942)

John Merkley of Colby, age 67, died at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield Sunday morning of injuries he sustained when he was struck by an automobile, driven by Frank Suplick of Superior, Saturday afternoon on Highway 13.

The accident happened just in front of the Ed Witte filling station and near the same place where Clayton Johnson was fatally injured on May 11th. Merkley had stopped at the edge of the highway to permit a southbound car to pass and then stepped directly into the path of the northbound car driven by Suplick. He was tossed to the hood of the automobile and then to the pavement. He was taken to Colby clinic where he was given first aid treatments and then he was taken to the Marshfield hospital. He suffered a fractured skull, compound fracture of the right leg, a dislocated arm and multiple contusions. He was on his way to inspect the plowing on the Mueller lots.

Dr. H. H. Fechtner, Marathon county coroner, and Frank Cartwright, captain of the Marathon county traffic patrol, investigated the accident and reported that there would be no inquest. The death, they said, was accidental.

Merkley was born on December 4, 1874, in Vinland, Winnebago county, but lived in the vicinity of Colby for more than 40 years. For several years, he operated a farm but was employed on various farms near Colby for many years. He was a divorced man and had no children.

Surviving are four sisters and three brothers - Mrs. Emil Kasten and Miss Laura Merkley of Milwaukee, Mrs. Josephine Holland of Neenah, Mrs. Emma Baer of Oshkosh, William Merkley of Menasha and Frank and Louis Merkley of Neenah.

Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon at the Lulloff Funeral Home in Colby, Rev. A. C. Riley officiating, and internment was made in the Colby cemetery. Pall bearers were Chas. Adams, Otto Brown, Oscar Dix, Peter Apfelbeck, Frank Colby and Emil Fasbender.