A Road Trip Gone Awry: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Road Trip”

Runaway Horse Leads to Serious Buggy Wreck

Claire Stroy: 1895-1998

 

While researching the Stroy family for my previous post, I happened to run across an amazing news story from 1913 Nebraska that demonstrated that travel was dangerous long before cars ruled the roads.

Claire Stroy was my second cousin twice removed, the grandchild of my second-great-grandmother Sophia Streu Hoffman’s brother, Johann Streu/John Stroy. Claire was born October 13, 1895 in Murdock, Nebraska to parents John Stroy and Margaret Augusta Deusing. She attended local schools, along with her brothers Arthur and Herbert.

On August 4, 1913, sixteen year old Claire and two friends were traveling by buggy near Murdock when the horse bolted. The newspaper reported the resulting accident as follows:

“The young lady with two lady friends were returning from Murdock when the horse took fright and became unmanageable. In the course of its flight it struck a bridge, and jumped over the banister into a deep gulley, throwing the young ladies out with terrible force. Miss Stroy being terribly crushed, while the other two escaped with only minor bruises. The horse’s neck was broken and the buggy reduced to a mass of splinters. Miss Stroy was taken home at once and physicians called. Her condition is quite alarming.”

Horse and buggy image from around 1913

What a wild and terrifying incident! The horse must have been completely crazed to actually jump over the bridge railing, dragging the buggy behind, and plunge into a ravine. This is proof that accidents with horses could be just as serious as car accidents can be a century later.

The loss of the horse was probably also a financial blow to the family, as good horses could be expensive. I wish the article provided more details about how Claire was rescued and moved to her parents’ home. Did the other two girls go for help? Did someone happen along the road and discover the wreck?

While Claire’s condition sounded very serious, the newspaper reported two weeks later that she was “gradually improving from the serious accident”. She was able to return to school in the fall.

Claire went on to attend the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and married Fred T. Henderson in April, 1922. The couple had three children and eventually moved to Fred Henderson’s hometown, Winter Haven, Florida.

Obviously Claire’s injuries didn’t leave her with long-term health problems. She lived to the amazing age of 103, outliving her husband by forty years!

Sources:

“Miss Clara Stroy is Dangerously Injured”. Ashland Gazette, Ashland, Nebraska. August 7, 1913.