Obituary of Russell DeLAP, Williamson & Franklin County, Illinois This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Susan Merrell ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ************************************************************************ Obituary clipping found among my grandmother and great grandmothers belongings. Obit of Russell DeLap Dated in by hand in ink May 17, 1949. Newspaper: Daily American in West Frankfort ILL. Clipping carries a picture of the subject. Russell DeLap, 27, Killed in an Auto Accident. Russell DeLap, 27-year-old West Frankfort cigarette salesman, was killed and Matt Sheley, Pinckneyville newspaper editor, was injured early today in an automobile accident on the blacktop road between Hurst and Desoto, in Williamson County. DeLap, who lives at 208 West Poplar street, was a passenger in the car being driven by Sheley that was crowded off the highway, struck a culvert and knocked both men onto the pavement. Sheley is in St. Andrews hospital at Murphysboro where it was said his injuries were not regarded as serious. He suffered multiple contusions and abrasions. Sheley told Pete Carneghi, Herrin, state patrolman, that another car crowded him off a curve near the Big Muddy river bridge, about three miles east of Desoto. Sheley said his car was forced off the right side of the road and swerved across to the opposite side of the pavement, striking a concrete culvert. Sheley said he was hurled from the car when it struck the culvert and DeLap was thrown out when the car swerved back onto the road before finally coming to a halt in a ditch. DeLap was apparently killed instantly by a possible broken neck and skull fracture. Relatives were told that DeLap and Sheley had been to a meeting in Royalton and apparently were on the way back to Pinckneyville when the accident occurred. They were told that DeLap and Sheley left a Pinckneyville hotel at which the local man was a guest lat last night. Sheley was said to have talked incoherently at the hospital in Murphysboro this morning. An unidentified motorist who stopped to investigate a tire in the road near the accident found DeLap's body and the dazed Sheley about 2 am. The local man was a 1939 graduate of Community high school and was in the United States army during World War II, after which he accepted employment with the Ligget-Meyers Tobacco Co. DeLap is survived by his wife, the former Miss Evelyn Austin, and their one and one-half year old son, Don Jay. Also surviving are his mother, Mrs. Sarah DeLap, 410 West St. Louis street; four brothers Wayne and Kenneth DeLap, of this city; Nolan DeLap, Metropolis, and Howard DeLap, Bridgeport, and two sisters Mrs. Clifford Whittington and Miss Eloise DeLap, both of this city. The body was taken to the Reedy Funeral home from where it will be removed to the home of DeLap's parents at 6 o'clock this afternoon. Funeral arrangements today were incomplete.