Peffley Family Association Database

Peffley Family

Wynn Wallace PEFLEY

Idaho Daily Statesman
Boise, Idaho
July 1941, pg. 2

Hurtling Car Crushes Boise Resident
(Underneath is a picture of the car upside down)

WYNN WALLACE PEFLEY of Boise was killed instantly Sunday morning when he was pinned beneath this overturned car, on the north end of Thirteenth street. According to police, Pefley tried to turn a corner at too fast a speed. Officer Robert Flood of the Boise police points to the corner of the cab which crushed Pefley (Photo by H. W. Steward)

Idaho Daily Statesman
Boise, Idaho
Monday, July 21, 1941, front page.

Accidents Kill Three Near Boise - Two Car Crashes And Mill Mishap Claim Lives

Accidents claimed three lives in Boise and vicinity Sunday, two dying in automobile accidents and the third victim being fatally cut in a sawmill. The dead are:

1. Wynn Wallace Pefley, 64, of 1214 North Thirteenth street Boise, killed when his car failed to made a turn on the north end of Thirteenth street Sunday at 8 a. m.

2. Ervin Bilbrey, 31, of Emmett died at a Weiser hospital Sunday afternoon after being injured in an auto accident 12 miles north of there at 11:15 a. m.

3. Lester Bechtel, 41, sawmill worker, died in a Boise hospital Sunday less than 24 hours after he was injured when his clothing caught on a saw, dragging him against the blade, in the mill at Cascade.

Boise police said Pefley, who lived his entire lifetime in Boise was apparently traveling at a high rate of speed when his car caught in loose sand an overturned Sunday morning. The pioneer resident, according to Corner Clyde Summers, was an inexperience driver and had owned the car, a early model, for only tow months.

Tries to Turn

J. L. Butterbaugh, 2320 North Thirteenth street, told police he witnessed the entire accident. According to the witness, Pefley was driving north on Thirteenth street and signaled a left turn onto Irene street. Finding he would be unable to make the turn, Pefley endeavored to continue north but his car became enmeshed in the loose sand on the shoulder of the road.

“The front end left the ground, then the back end,” Butterbaugh said. “One front wheel hit the ground nine feet from where it left the ground, while the other front wheel didn't touch ground for about 20 feet.”

Driver Pinned Beneath

The car turned onto its top, pinning the driver beneath, with the car resting on Pefley's chest, Butterbaugh said. The vehicle traveled 356 feet from where the driver lost control to where it finally stopped, according tot police measurements. D. C. Arnold, 2305 North Fourteenth street, pulled the victim from the car.

Coroner Summers said Pefley, long interested in mining, had made an appointment with A. A. Kimmel, Boise Route 4, to go on a prospecting trip in the hills Sunday. Kimmel had breakfast with Pefley at the latter's home.

Ready to start the trip, Pefley found he was unable to start his car. Kimmel, the corner said, used his car to push Pefley's car. When the motor finally started Pefley continued to drive, presumably to warm the motor. Soon afterward the accident occurred. Wife in California
Mrs. Pefley, visiting a daughter in California, is expected to return Tuesday.

Mr. Pefley was born in Boise March 9, 1877. His parents had settled here in the 1860's. He was a Spanish-American War veteran and had always been interested in mining properties.

In addition to his wife, Mrs. Mary Pefley, he is survived by two sons, Wallace B., who is attending summer school at Moscow but was expected home sometime Sunday night, and Edward M., of Boise; a daughter, Etha Asvitt, Oakland, Calif., where her mother is visiting; and two sisters, Mrs. Maud Phipps and Mrs. Claudia Randolph both of California.

Arrangement of services is awaiting the arrival of Mrs. Pefley.

(The article continues with the report on the other deaths.)

Idaho Daily Statesman
(Boise, ID), July 1941 pg. 1 and 3, col. 2

Boise Man Crushed As Car Rolls

Wynn W. Pefley, 64, a Boise mining engineer, was dead Monday after his car struck loose gravel early Sunday at a curve on North 13th street and overturned, pinning him underneath.

Boise police, who investigated the accident, said Pefley “must have been traveling pretty fast” when he lost control of the car, and it skidded 356 feet and four inches to somersault from the road into a barrow pit. He died from a crushed chest.

According to their report of the mishap, Pefley was warming the motor of his car after getting a push to set the machine in motion. As he drove north on 13th street and signaled for a left turn onto Irene street, his car hit the soft sand, and he lost control.

Endeavoring to regain control, Pefley attempted to continue in a northerly direction, but the car began what police said was “a series of hops and skips.”
After skidding nearly the entire 356 feet, it jumped 20 feet and then somersaulted into the barrow pit and pinned Pefley beneath, crushing his chest.

Eyewitnesses to the accident, including D. C. Arnold of 2305 North 14th street, and J. L. Butterbaugh of 23220 North 13th, extricated Pefley from under his car after it pinned him down. He was dead when officers and Coroner Clyde E. Summers arrived, the report disclosed.

Pefley was born in Boise March 9, 1877. His parents came her in the 1860's. He was a Spanish American war veteran.

Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Mary Pefley, and two sons, Wallace B. Pefley, attending Moscow summer school, and Edward M. Pefley of Boise; one daughter, Etha Asvitt of Oakland, Cal., and two sisters, Mrs. Maud Phipps and Mrs. Claudia Randolph, both of California.

Funeral arrangements await the return of Mrs. Pefley, expected home Tuesday from California.