Surnames: Mason, Bettenhhusen

----Sources: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Clark County, Wis.) 10/19/1950

Mason, Donald (1918? - 11 Oct. 1950)

Donald Mason, age 32, of Tinley, Ill., was fatally injured last week Wednesday evening when the automobile in which he was a passenger failed to negotiate a curve on Highway 13, about a mile south of Unity, and rolled over three times.

The driver of the car, Henry J. Bettenhhusen, 55, also of Tinley, suffered only minor cuts and bruises.

According to the story told Marathon County Traffic Officer Clifford Berg by Bettenhhusen, he failed to see the curve, which is located near the Unity park, and ran headlong off a ditch and rolled, finally coming to rest on its top. When a Spencer ambulance arrived on the scene Bettenhhusen was walking aimlessly about the highway, and Mason was lying on a dirt road near by.

Both were taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital, Marshfield, where Mason died about an hour later of a skull fracture and a crushed chest. Bettenhhusen’s condition was listed as "good" by doctor’s today. He suffered cuts about the head and bruises to the body in addition to a chest injury, apparently sustained when he hit the steering wheel.

The automobile, a 1950 model, was listed as a total wreck.