Our Past Is Present March 8, 2018

March 8, 2018

                        This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Oscar Sylvester and three soldiers narrowly escaped death on March 8, 1911, when their car skidded from a culvert and backed off into a gully.  The fall was about seven feet. It was a miracle the whole party wasn’t killed.  Sylvester and the soldiers had left Junction City for Topeka early in the afternoon in an E.M. F. belonging to Herman Wetzig. The roads were slippery from the rain.  At about three miles past Ogden, they were crossing the culvert and the car skidded and fell to the bottom of the gully.  Sylvester was pinned down by the steering wheel and the soldiers were trapped inside of the car.  One of them eventually freed himself and succeeded in rescuing the other men.  All were considerably bruised, but not seriously hurt.  The body of the car was a total wreck and the engine badly damaged.  However, if it hadn’t been for Sylvester’s quick thinking, the accident might have been more serious.  As they were going over the culvert he shut off the engine otherwise the car would have undoubtedly been destroyed by fire and the injuries to the men would have been a great deal more serious. 

            Remember they were driving an E.M. F. vehicle in this story?  This name was gleaned from the three men who were the founders of the company and a picture of an E.M. F. can be seen on line.  E stood for Everitt.  Barney Everitt was a car body builder from Detroit.  M stood for Metzger. William Metzger formerly worked for Cadillac and F stood for Walter Flanders who served as Henry Ford’s production manager. The E.M. F. cars were built between 1909 and 1912.

            And… that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.