Beckham County, OK - Deaths: Ellis, 1920
20 Jan 2008
Submitted by: delma25@pldi.net (Delma Tindell)

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ELLIS, ELIZA CAROLYN "JANE"
(10 Dec 1920, Elk City Newspaper, Elk City, Beckham Co, OK):
Last Saturday night several car loads of young people of the Hammon school
left with their basketball team to play at Strong City that night.
The first car of six boys was driven at a good pace when they left the
city.  About one mile west of Hammon on the D. C. D. Highway, the bridge
over the Washita had been washed away some three weeks before.  Nothing
had been done by the county to warn travelers of the danger.  The auto
load of six boys was going at such a speed they had gone over the
twenty-foot bank, clearing the old debris and piling and landed squarely
in the waters of the Washita.  None of them were hurt further than some
slight bruises, and they scrambled out of the chilly water.  Two boys were
left to warn others that were coming and the rest went back to Hammon.
The two boys did warn the second load, but being cold, also went back to
town.  About thirty minutes later the third car came, and their speed
being slower, they turned over in the lunge and the car pinned some of the
occupants.  In this car was Miss Jane Ellis principal of the Hammon
schools, who was almost instantly killed.  Miss Foster and Daney Trent
received severe bruises, and Newman Baggott suffered two broken ribs.
The injured were rushed to the City Drug Store where they were given first
aid.
Miss Ellis' body was sent to her home in Corinth, Miss., for burial.
Roger Mills county is probably due to face a heavy damage suit.

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