Long - Ruby Dowell
Source: Crawfordsville Journal Review 23 Nov 1957 p 1 typed by Walt W
A Crawfordsville woman had a second to realize that something was wrong with her car before she died in an early Saturday morning accident. The woman, Mrs. Ruby M. Long, 43, of 811 E. Voris St., was driving on the Putnam-Montgomery County line road about four miles east of the Ladoga-Roachdale Road. The time was 12:30 a.m. With her was Kenneth Adams, 20, 808 E. Voris St. Traveling on the gravel road at an undetermined rate of speed, she commented to Adams, "Something is happening to the car." Adams said the car went into a ditch on the left side of the road immediately after she made the statement. The car hit a wire fence, ran through it and into a field. Both occupants of the car were thrown out, and Mrs. Long was under the car when it came to rest. Adams was about 10 or 12 feet from the car. He landed on the fence, but by a miracle was injured only slightly, and did not require medical aid. Adams said he jacked up the car and pulled Mrs. Long from underneath, placed her in the front seat of the car and attempted to get her to a doctor. The car started, but wouldn't move. The wheels were spinning and the axle was suspected of being broken. He ran east to a farm house owned by Otis Stewart about 300 yards away. With Mr. Stewart, he got the victim and took her to Roachdale to a doctor. The doctor told them to get her to a hospital. She died on arrival at Culver Hospital. Mrs. Long had died of multiple injuries --- skull fracture, broken collar bone, compound fracture of jaw, crushed chest and lacerations, according to Richard Pack, state trooper. The sheriff's office and state police investigated the accident. Mrs. Long's car was a 1952 Studebaker. She was the eighth person to die in a traffic accident in Montgomery County in 1957. Mrs. Long was born in Crawfordsville, May 29, 1914, the daughter of George and Mary Weaver Dowell. She was first married to Orville Douglas, who preceded her death in 1951. They were the parents of one son, Donald Lee Douglas, who survives. She later was married to Lewis Long. Mrs. Long had been a resident of the Crawfordsville community for practically her entire lifetime. She was employed at the One Hour Martinizing Cleaners, 121 N. Washington St. Surviving are her father, George Dowell; the son; her husband, Lewis Long; two brothers, Lloyd Dowell and Floyd Dowell, both of Crawfordsville, and one sister, Mrs. Hazel Allen, of Goshen. Her mother, her first husband, a brother and a sister preceded her in death. Funeral services will be conducted at the Russell E. Brown Mortuary Tuesday at 2 p.m., with Rev. Grant Barton, of Bloomington as the officiating minister. Burial will be in the Harshbarger Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home.