Enroute to the home of his wife’s mother, Mrs. Allen Stephens at Astoria, Saturday evening, Lawrence [film scratched – illegible]. Mrs. Funk and their three children were seriously injured. Mrs. Madge Geuvens, Peoria, was also killed. The accident occurred near Morton, Illinois.
A motor crash at the intersection of two highways was the cause of the deaths. Robert Turner, Leo Bennett and Gladys Geuvens, all of Peoria, were also injured.
Mrs. Funk has remained in a comatose condition at a Pekin hospital since the accident, with a return to semi-consciousness for only a few moments late Sunday afternoon.
News of the crash was made known in Astoria Sunday morning, when Carroll Wood, a son-in-law of Mrs. Stephens was notified. He immediately telephoned the mother of the injured woman, who was visiting at the home of another daughter, Mrs. Velma Beans, Vermont. The two women and Mr. Wood went immediately to Pekin where they remained until late yesterday.
It is thought that the Funk family had planned to visit at Astoria during the Thanksgiving period and that Mr. Funk figured on spending part of the time hunting.
The children, Stephen, 6, Laura Lee and Rosemary, 4, twins, are all in the Pekin hospital, suffering from injuries of a serious nature, the former according to advice from the hospital, being badly cut about the head and face.
Turner, driver of the Peoria car, was taken from the hospital to the county jail at Pekin where he is being held until responsibility for the crash can be determined. He has refused to talk. Bennett’s condition is such that it is impossible to question him or to remove him from the hospital.
The Funks were going west on route 9 in a Oldsmobile sedan. The Peorians in a Chevrolet sedan was going south on a dirt road. The collision was terrific, both cars being practically demolished. The Funk auto struck a concrete culvert at the side of the road and was wedged there. The Chevrolet rolled over several times in a distance of 50 feet or more but landed on its wheels. All the occupants of the machine were thrown out along the road except Turner, who was found in the wreckage of the Peoria car.
The men seemed dazed at the hospital and Pekin police were unable to get much information from them. Turner [film scratched] said the two women picked him up for a ride and later they met Bennett and took him in the car. Gladys Geuvens, when carried into the hospital, according to police said: “I’m sober now. I’m all right now.”
“Della Funk” lapsed into unconsciousness at the hospital and is feared she may be fatally hurt. Her pulse was very slow and doctors were watching her closely. She had a concussion and it is believed there is a fracture of the skull.
Gladys Geuvens has a cut on her leg extending from the knee up the thigh and around to her back. The flesh was laid wide open “as if hit by a meat cleaver,” according to one of the witnesses who assisted in picking up the injured.
Little Stephen Funk’s face is cut literally into shreds and he is believed to have a fracture of the skull.
Laura Lee Funk has a broken right leg.
Rosemary Funk is the least seriously hurt of the group. She has a cut over the right eye and a bump on the back of her head.
Turner has a badly bruised hip and an injury to his eye.
Bennett’s face is terribly cut. One wound on the right side starts at the right side of his lips and extends back to his ear.
The Funk’s have visited here on many occasions and are pretty generally known.
Current Obituaries in the Astoria South Fulton Argus